Weddingbee Blog

Perfect timing, I just got an email saying there was a change in our itinerary, too! Of course this is our third one, but still- SUCKS. It turns out that after the first change (Of an hour departure time), the last things that changed were the flight numbers.

So sorry your plans were changed, Miss Bluebell. Stupid people.

Delta is no better. We had a similar issue with our honeymoon. About 2 months ago I was online trying to book another flight and i checked our honeymoon itenary just for fun- well thank goodness! They had canceled our flight from San Fransciso to Hawaii and put FI and I on two separate flights leaving for Hawaii on separate days! I called and called and had horrible customer service and the only thing they could do was have us leave 12 hours earlier from San Fran. Now we are missing almost an entire day that we had planned in Sonoma. We get to Hawaii earlier, but had already booked a hotel close to the airport on the big island b/c originally we were arriving so late we couldn’t catch the island hopper to Kauai.

And are they offering me anything for my time, trouble or stress? No. They said we don’t give vouchers or compensate for reschedulings.

I see why the airlines are going down the tubes-no other business could survive operating this way with no customer service.

I’m sorry for your aggravation and change of schedule. That stinks.

my hubby works for an airline and since i’ve known him, he has always been trying to help our friends “travel smarter.” online travel sites like cheaptickets, expedia, etc., are really just second rate booking agents.

those sites are always risky because they don’t have to adhere to an airline’s customer service rules and travel policies. what’s more, there are certain airlines who will not help customers who book with a second party because of that. (i.e. my parents had a 20 minute connection window because of booking through expedient, and a certain airline would not help them because of it.)

in today’s market, it is always safer to book with the actual airline (especially if they have an online sysytem, which most do). that way, you are more likely to be taken care of when schedule chanes arise. it’s also either the same cost or less expensive to do so.

We’re doing our flights through IcelandAir. Years ago a friend discovered that if you stopped over in Reykjavik on your way to Europe, the ticket prices were slashed. Back in the day, you actually had to stay in Reykjavik for 24 hours, but that’s no longer the case. Our flights from Boston to Reykjavik to Heathrow, then from Copenhagen to Reykjavik to Baltimore, were so low the FILs inisited that the number we were telling them was only one person’s airfare. Nope, that was for both of us.

And yes, going through IcelandAir’s website was remarkably cheaper than any of the online travel sites.

Miss BlueBell - I subscribe to National Geographic Traveler and Travel & Leisure magazines. I don’t remember which one does it, but one of them has a column where you write in and tell them about your travel nightmare (the ones about honeymoons will always pull the heartstrings) and they call on your behalf to get compensation or any refund that they originally refuse you. Most of the time, it works. Like the couple on their honeymoon to arrive back to their honeymoon suite only to find they already CHECKED ANOTHER COUPLE INTO THEIR honeymoon suite!! Get this, they already had their luggage in the room, and the couple inside refused to open the door. The hotel did not offer them another suite (they were all booked) and they had to wait until the next morning to get their luggage out of the room!! The hotel did not compensate until they wrote in to the magazine…good luck!

good luck!

I had a similar situation a couple weeks ago that was soooo frustrating! Me and my SO decided to fly up sat morning for a afternoon surprise bridal shower we were invited to in NYC. We get to the airport and the second leg of our flight was cancelled. Instead of going through DC we had to go though Charlotte. But the flight to Charlotte was delayed. We ended up getting to Charlotte too late, and didn’t make it to be standby on the only flight that would get us to NYC on time. After talking to any and everyone, finally someone lets us know there was another flight we could make (which was completely booked) and somehow we got the last two seats. I called to complain to Expedia and USAirways, but each blamed the other, and we couldn’t be compensated because they made other arrangements for the same day. Bottomline- we didn’t get any compensation, we got to the party late but at least didn’t miss it all together, but the bride was THRILLED that we came and we had a fantastic afternoon and night with my SO’s family and the bride-to-be. I will not ever be flying without checking the status of the flights, booking directly with the airline, and leaving a lot more buffer time. BUT, the flight attendants felt bad for us, and gave us some bloody mary’s for free. OH! And we got the bride-to-be a set of glasses from her registry with a bottle of Sangria all wrapped up wonderfully at William Sonoma, and I wince when I think of the carnage as the ripped off the box with the sangria in it at security. Feels good to vent…thanks for listening!

Unfortunately, my big angry Delta honeymoon fiasco was when I purchased it directly through Delta. It doesn’t matter who you book through, in my experience, unless you are a Platinum Preferred Frequent Flyer of that airline they don’t give 2 cents about how they mangle or mess with your trip.

Airline industry and I are currently on bad terms:)

Easy answer for me, I HATE CHEAPTICKETS MORE (read on)
We booked our trip to Puerto Vallarta Mexico well in advance. We checked our itinerary on the web site the night before our trip. We noted no changes in our itinerary since booking the trip so we proceeded to airport. We arrived two (2) hours before departure as recommended for domestic flights (as our first leg of the trip was to JFK in New York).

When we checked in at the counter, the airline rep asked us what time we were expecting this flight to take off. We showed her our itinerary and she proceeded to tell us this flight was currently being boarded and would take off in a few minutes; we could not make this flight. The only alternative she could offer us was to take the shuttle to LaGuardia, then take a taxi to JFK to catch our connecting flight. In addition to having to claim our baggage at LaGuardia, we loaded it into a cab, pay cab fare, then rechecked bags at JFK. Also, the only way we were able to catch the connecting flight was to go to the head of the lines at both the airline counter and security checkpoint and explain the situation. To say the least, this caused of a great deal of stress and some additional cost to our trip.

In addition to this ticketing problem, we booked a rental car during the airline ticketing process (we were offered a car rental as part of your web final purchase process). The rental with Dollar Rental was booked. When we attempted to pickup the car, the Dollar counter was closed (it was nearly 11:45pm). When I called the next day, I was told the rental pickup time was set at 12:00AM, so when I did not show, our car was rented to someone else; they had no car for us. This problem occurred because the flight arrival and car pick-up was off by 12 hours (this again is a direct result of problems with your web site).

All correspondance with the company about this problem has been ignored! AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS!!