Comments on: Orbitz Price Assurance Has Plenty of Holes But Still Marginally Useful

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:55:18 +0000

Orbitz is a scam do not use them

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:45:38 +0000

I had 185$ refunded on flight to cancun. They are a little slow sending you an email and even slower the refund (6-8 weeks!) but it came.

By: DM

DM — Fri, 20 May 2011 13:53:13 +0000

Is there a way we could set a forum for other people to track and help them out so that Orbitz cannot cheat them. A forum where one can request others to put their post to see if someone booked the same ticket with lower price for the same itinary. Orbitz says that they will send an email if one does but who knows…..they could be cheating us.
Please pass on ur comments as i am in that situation now.
flying from SFO to DFW on 07/04/11 and ticket prices have dropped by $50 each and Orbitz says someone else has to book the same itinary for less price thru ORBITZ ONLY.

By: gYgYbYs

gYgYbYs — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:39:14 +0000

I’d like to clear up a couple of misconceptions that keep popping up in the above comments.

Number one, none of the airfares offered on the Orbitz site are set (or changed) by Orbitz. All fares are provided by the airlines, and are only changed when the pricing algorithm parameters SET BY THE AIRLINES indicate that they should change. So Orbitz is not ‘baiting and switching’ because they have no control over the prices.

Number two, if Orbitz offered a refund EVERY TIME the price of a flight dropped after the customer’s booking, Orbitz would no longer exist due to bankruptcy. The airlines calculate fares depending on a number of factors, including availability. It is not uncommon for fares to go down as there are fewer seats left on a flight, as the airline tries to fill that flight the rest of the way in the interest of efficiency.

Most complaints I’ve seen about this seem to ignore two points -

I work as a customer service rep for an Orbitz competitor, who does not offer ANYTHING similar to this program. As unlikely as it may be to actually receive a refund from price assurance, at least Orbitz offers SOME possibility for compensation when the price of a ticket drops, which they are not obligated to do. People constantly ask ME why the site I work for does not offer something similar to price assurance; I imagine that CSRs at Orbitz are constantly accused of running a ‘scam’ because price assurance doesn’t work the way customers assume it should – BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T READ THE FINE PRINT. This is a constant source of aggravation for anyone who has worked in customer service. For some reason people are willing to throw down hundreds or thousands of dollars on the purchase of airfare without reading the airline policies about changes, cancellations, etc. Then they fly into a rage and scream ‘ripoff’ when they try to refund their non-refundable ticket. They then invariably blame me, and my employer, for policies that are set by the airlines which we are contractually REQUIRED to follow. I have looked at the Orbitz website, and just like on the site I work for, the terms and conditions for every product offered are readily available for perusal. People feel cheated because they don’t take the time to actually learn about what they’re buying before they buy it.

By: CF

CF — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 04:25:26 +0000

It’s a good question, and I think it’s something of a gray area. If a flight changes by a couple minutes, then there’s really no reason that it should need to be canceled because of the change. That being said, there’s nothing in most airline contracts of carriage that says there’s a certain amount of time change required before it can be refunded. So it might come down to the person you end up dealing with.

By: Troy

Troy — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:18:05 +0000

Here’s a question for everyone. Say you see a flight for $100 cheaper. Then you receive a notice from Orbitz saying the flight time has been changed (if only by a couple minutes). Can you legally cancel the flight because of the time change…and then rebook it?

By: Zeke

Zeke — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:52:17 +0000

I bought tickets from DFW to RAP (texas to south dakota). I saw teh tickets for $292 one day then it went up to $340. I waited 3 more days and they went up to $360. I checked back today and its back down to $292!!! thats $68 i could have saved!
Im thinking about booking another flight and then cancelling within 24 hours :-p.
a customer “technically booked for cheaper” who said they had to keep the tickets? huh? Orbitz get real or get out of this gimmic! Im a college student and know more about advertising than your company does (and I havent even taken my advertising classes yet!)
I will be giving Orbitz a call and letting it out on them real soon!

By: Otsie

Otsie — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:56:07 +0000

The Price Assurance commercial is misleading. We recently discovered we could have booked our hotel cheaper on our own and were refused a refund for the difference because the policy does not include packages. What do I need Ortbiz for if I can book cheaper myself?

By: Scott Rosen

Scott Rosen — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:18:48 +0000

@ Claudia Holt: Going to the AG won't do anything. We must start a class action lawsuit against Orbitz then advertise and get other people added to the suit.

By: Claudia Holt

Claudia Holt — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:07:29 +0000

I too purchased 2 tickets just before the 4th of July thinking that the fares would go up. They didn’t in fact they have been lower by over $130. I cannot believe the Attorney General is not contacting Orbitz for misleading the public!

I thought I read all the fine print but missed that the flights had to be the SAME TIMES as the flights I booked! What are the chances of that ever happening?

In my job if I mislead the public in my advertising it opens me up for a Treble Damages Suit.

Maybe we should all write to the AG?!

Thanks for listening to my rant.