Warning - Hotwire "switched" airline tickets?

[chicail16]

We thought we checked and checked before making an airline multi-city online purchase through Hotwire and for our upcoming Brillance Med. cruise.

 

Recently, we checked our tickets again and to our surprise, we noticed that they have us coming out of the Barcelona port instead of Rome. Hotwire now claims they don't issue multi-city tickets. We went through Sidestep first and at the bottom of the page, there was an ad about cheaper tickets at Hotwire, so we clicked into the Hotwire website.

 

It provided the same itinerary as Sidestep just cheaper. Now there are no Hotwire ads at Sidestep and the Hotwire website finally states they don't issue multi-city tickets. We thought we took every precaution in buying our airline tickets but somehow after we hit the purchase button, they must have "switched" the itinerary.

 

Good news is we caught it before we were in Rome. Bad news is we have shell out extra money.

 

Check your tickets and be careful.

[cb at sea]

Too bad! Even tho I always book my own air directly through the airline for domestic flights, I think I'd use a TA for anything overseas. Just wouldn't want to deal with unfamiliar places without a "safety net" at home!

[lmurf]

I had a horrible experience with hotwire a couple of years ago. I bought a pair of tickets for my elderly aunt and uncle. I also purchased the trip cancellation insurance through Hotwire's company Access America. Long story short, we had to cancel the flights because of my uncle having a heart attack. It took months and months to finally get the refund. It was like pulling teeth! They were very hateful to deal with, too. I wouldn't recommend hotwire to anyone!

[dsvd79]

I have never had a problem with Hotwire. I use them all the time. I do not use them when booking cruises, because I want to leave around a certain time. But for the hotel prices, you cannot beat it. I have booked hotel deals in San Fran, Miami, and now Los Angeles. I have booked 10 flights with hotwire and have not had one problem, even one ended up being first class.

[Rancher Dave]

I usually use Hotwire or Expedia to find what carrier has the best connections or rates and then use the carrier site to book directly. There are a couple of carriers who I can use for most of my flights which makes life nice.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience.

[robtulipe]

I usually use Hotwire or Expedia to find what carrier has the best connections or rates and then use the carrier site to book directly. There are a couple of carriers who I can use for most of my flights which makes life nice.

 

Sorry to hear about your experience.

Try using a airline flight search engine like kayakdotcom or bookingbuddydotcom which cheaks both online agencies and the airlines for the best rates and connections.

Also I always cheak out the airline site even if these sites indicate a online agency has the best deal. I did this this pass weekend for the flights to Rome for our Legend cruise next month. These site indicated an online agency had the best price for the Air Canada flights we settled on but I found a better price at Air Canada's site thus booked with them directly.

[Pat&Liz]

Hmm, I think it doesn't matter what site you're using, as things can always 'change'.

 

Last christmas my fiance's dad took the entire family to Palma for the holiday, and had to book mine and my fiance's tickets separately as we needed to return home a day earlier than the others for work. The first step of our journey from Palma to London was fine; but when we tried to check in at London for our connecting flight, THAT ticket had been booked for travel in September instead of December - We had to fork out for new tickets...

 

I don't understand how half of a flight ticket could have been booked on a separate date to the other half!! Stupid websites!!

 

Lizzi xx

[lmurf]

I have booked occasionally through hotwire and travelocity, but I book most often through Expedia; they are usually correct and problem free, at least with me. I've had only a couple of small complaints which I have had satisfactorily resolved. Travelocity has been fine, but they are usually higher than Expedia. Hotwire's price is great, but their service, etc. really sux, plus you don't know the arrangements until after you've bought.

 

:(