Trouble with Expedia.com
 

I need help with getting justice from my horible experience with purchasing airline ticket from Expedia.com.

Here it goes...

Problem with Expedia.com

I recently purchased round trip ticket from Japan to Thailand while I was traveling between Chicago & China on business. I have ticket from work which allows me to have 1 week between the time I arrive Tokyo on July 12 and returning to Chicago on July 19. I gave your sales representative all my work flight details information and checked with your sales representative (twice) to see what flight can I take which will be best with the connection time. Expedaia.com representative told me “all you need is 1 hr at the most, so there is no problem since I was arriving in Tokyo at 5:35PM and the flight that I purchased from Expedia.com leave at 6:50PM, which will give me 1 hr and 15 minutes. So, as Expedia.com rep reassures me that I have no problem connecting the flight, I was convince to purchase the ticket. This was the worst purchased I even made.
The reasons are as followed:
1. I did not make the connection b/c Japan Airline (JAL) told me I need at least MINIMUM of 90 minutes to make the connection. The ticket was not usable due to insufficient connection time.
2. I lost 2 days of my life due to Expedia.com mistake.
3. I upset my mother who has not seen me for over 3 years with expectation and vacation plans to spend quality time with together in Thailand. She took a flight with my nephew to Bangkok to meet me for no reason which cost time and money too!
4. I had to spend 3 ½ hrs at Narita Airport, Tokyo trying to figure out what to do since I was stranded without any help or options from Expedia.com (after being on the phone for 2 hrs pleading my case) or any help from Japan Airline since they are not at fault since Expedia.com sale representative is incompetent and did not know the rule and regulation and just want to sell the ticket to me.
5. I had to spent money for both food & lodging in Japan b/c I could not leave for Thailand since that was the last flight of the day.
6. I was told by JAL that I had to pay $1,800 for a new ticket which I don’t have the money to spend since I already purchased the ticket with Expeida.com in the 1st place.
7. I had to trouble my wife & my sister in USA at 2 & 4 AM in the morning, so they can get a hold of Expedia.com personal who promised to call me (Rep name: Ellie), but NEVER did.
So, I am asking to be fully refunded of my ticket cost of $570 plus hotel in Japan $55, plus food & transportation $88.15, plus luggage storage of $7.50, International phone card $9.50. There is a minimum total of $730.15 out of my pocket.
This is not covering 2 vacation days that I lost and all the heartache that I could not see mother after telling her that I was going to take her on a vacation and all the stress that everyone had to go through to try to help me.
I had traveled the world everywhere and this is the worst experience I ever had! I truly hope that your company will do the right thing and stand up to what is right and not hide your mistake and your staffs on the phone.

Sincerely,

Chettha Saetia

I am truly sorry you missed your flight, but I cannot imagine why you believed that one hour and 15 minutes would be sufficient to catch a flight on a separate ticket.

If Expedia sold you a ticket with illegal connection (under 90 minutes) you can hire an attorney and get not only all money you spent, but also emotional distress and legal charges paid to you.

While I feel bad about what happened, it seems to me that you had 2 seperate tickets:

1 for Trip b/w US and Japan and the other for travel b/w Japan and Thailand.

If this is indeed the case, then there is no way that you should have booked the trip to Thailand. It would be your own fault.

If this was all on 1 ticket then it is Expedia's issue and the airline then you would be entitled to a refund.

I don't take layovers for domestic flights for less than 90 minutes, let alone international

We have an international layover of less than an hour next month, but only because it's all one airline/ticket, and they'd have to "fix it" if we're late. With separate tickets, you'll get nowhere. The best you can hope is that with PROOF (i.e. something in writing) of what you were told by the Expedia rep, that Expedia might choose to compensate you in some way. But you won't "win" a legal case. (Oh, and emotional distress is only recoverable in very limited circumstances, missing a flight and vacation not being one of them).

too bad there is no emoticon for sarcasm!

DmLove, I have 2hr 10' int's layover and dreading it! you're giving me hope :) one airline, of course!

What someone said is not evidence unless you taped it. The only thing that matters is what's in wriitng.

It sounds like you had 2 separate tickets - therefore neither airline, nor expedia, is responsible for you missing your flight. You accepted that responsibiilty when you bought the ticket.

It's very unfortunate that all of this happened.

But there is no provable fault on the part of Expedia. It's not that I don;t believe you - it's that you have no proof. And without proof, you don;t have a case.

"It sounds like you had 2 separate tickets - therefore neither airline, nor expedia, is responsible for you missing your flight."

I agree and disagree with this. I wish those on-line agencies like Orbitz, Expedia, and such, were legally obligated to display a warning that connection time may be not enough.

"this is the worst experience I ever had!"

If missing a flight is the worst experience of your life, consider yourself fortunate.

Faina, I agree that they should warn us but isn't it up to us to use our common sense when booking flights.

Yes, common sense for us, Fodorites. We have experience, or we ask each other.

What if this is a first ever trip abroad? Many people are naiive. They trust "big names".

Per my effort, Expedia finally paid me back and even give me $100 coupon to use for thier hotel. So, I hope we all learn something about consumer's rights.