When Marko Grdesic tries to make a change to his itinerary, a Travelocity representative tells him it will cost another $300. It doesn’t. The online agency bills him $4,000, and despite promises to refund the money, it won’t. What now?

Question

I’m writing to you because of a really difficult situation that I have with Travelocity.

My girlfriend and I had a set of multi-destination tickets that we booked through the site. We called Travelocity to ask if we could change one of our flights from Chicago to Washington. An agent told me it would cost another $300. She was nice, but her English was not all that great. I got a confirmation email, but without any numbers.

Instead of charging me $300, Travelocity billed me another $4,000. They re-issued all the flights again, including the transatlantic flight.

I’ve been on the phone with their agents for the past month or more, trying to get this fixed. Eventually, they told me that if I canceled the remaining flights I would get a refund, which I agreed to. The refund was to appear on my credit card in one to two billing cycles. I rearranged my travel plans and bought the tickets I needed elsewhere.

However, I then received an e-mail that said Travelocity is “unable to refund” the money. I called to see what was happening, and several agents and supervisors said that the refund is no longer possible but that I can get credit for future purchases, provided that flights take place within a year. Do you have any advice? — Marko Grdesic, Madison, Wis.

Answer

Next time, don’t change your flights. Oh, who am I kidding? Plans change, and Travelocity should have been able to handle this request without sucking another $4,000 from your bank account.

Your Travelocity refund story is a cautionary tale about offshore phone agents and the needless complexity of airline reservation systems. It helps to look at this from the perspective of an online travel agency and an airline.

A big online travel agency wants to save money, so it hires inexpensive agents for whom English isn’t a first language. It figures the cost savings will be more than the added expense of reservations that get screwed up because of language issues.

An airline, on the other hand, wants a sure thing. It wants cheeks in seats, or, more precisely, it wants the money from those tickets. Once you commit to a fare, it’s in the carrier’s best interest to make it difficult to change. So it hits you with fees for making changes and it almost certainly gave Travelocity a hard time when it tried to make a single tweak to your multi-itinerary trip.

These two forces are conspiring to create your $4,000 Travelocity refund headache.

How could you have prevented this? First, you should have stayed off the phone as much as possible. Some flight changes can be made online — it’s not clear if yours was one of them — but I would have tried that before phoning Travelocity. When you were connected with an agent who you couldn’t understand, you could have asked for another representative or simply ended the call (politely) and called back until you got through to someone who could speak your language.

As for the refund, the phone is the least efficient way to inquire about that. Put your request in writing. Send an email. Your case will get a tracking number and Travelocity will be able to refer to it whenever you inquire about the money.

We get a fair number of Travelocity complaints. Here’s another recent case involving a hotel refund.

You reached out to my advocacy team for help. I asked Travelocity to have another look at your case. It promised to investigate, but five months later, you still hadn’t received your money. So I asked the company again, and this time, it issued a full refund.

Having the wrong name on your airline ticket is no longer a minor inconvenience, now that the TSA has begun enforcing its name-matching requirements for airline tickets. And that could be a show-stopper for Jesse Demastrie and his wife, who are scheduled to fly from Washington to Las Vegas for the holidays.

The problem? Demastrie’s father, who booked the flights through Travelocity, got his wife’s name wrong.

“He inadvertently used my wife’s old middle name,” he says. “She actually dropped her middle name and now uses her maiden name as her middle name. So the ticket she was issued has her correct first and last name but her old middle name.”

Passengers must now provide their full names as they appear on a government-issued ID, their date of birth and their gender when they book a flight.

Demastrie is concerned his wife won’t be allowed on the plane.

I have called United Airlines and Travelocity numerous times and no one will confirm with me that we will have no issues travelling because of this issue.

Do you have any advice for dealing with this? It feels as though the people on the phone are telling me it “should be OK” partly to just get me off the phone.

I am just worried that we will get to the airport and they won’t let my wife travel. I would rather know now and cancel her ticket/book her another one now, rather than have to pay top dollar for a new ticket that day.

I agree with Travelocity and United that Demastrie’s wife should be OK. But I base that on a few things. First, I’ve mediated dozens — if not hundreds — of wrong-name cases, and have only come across a few where an intransigent ticket agent refused to allow a passenger to board.

If Demastrie is allowed to print a boarding pass, then the Secure Flight process is already complete, and there’s no need to argue with an agent when you go through security at the airport. You can read the details at the TSA’s Secure Flight section of its website.

TSA even addresses Demastrie’s situation — to a point.

What if a passenger’s boarding pass and ID do not match exactly?
…
At the security checkpoint, TSA strives to ensure your identification and boarding pass are authentic and validate you are who you say you are. Small differences in the name on the boarding pass and ID, like middle initials, should not impact your travel. It is not uncommon for the information printed on boarding passes to differ slightly from the information on IDs, depending on the boarding pass printing practices of individual airlines.

Demastrie is already planning to bring a copy of their marriage certificate to show his wife’s maiden name, as well as her passport, which also has her maiden name. But he wants to know if there’s anything else he can do.

I always recommend trying to get any assurances that an airline will make a notation in your reservation in writing, not by phone. He could have contacted Travelocity and United to get something by email.

But Demastrie wants a sure thing, so he’s also purchased a fully-refundable ticket for his wife — just in case.

None of this ought to be necessary. There should be a simple way to change the name on an airline ticket without having to jump through all of these hoops. But there never will be, as long as air carriers make inordinate amounts of money from change fees.

I’m unhappy that neither Travelocity nor United could just edit his wife’s name. Given the government’s requirement that names on tickets and IDs match, it’s the least they could do. But I’m also reasonably confident that the couple will fly to Las Vegas without incident.

So what do you think? Should I mediate this case, or are the Demastries good to go?

Survey says … he’s good to go.

(Photo: jp ellgen/Flickr Creative Commons)

Question: I recently lost a paper airline ticket to Spain that I booked through Travelocity. I was told to fill out a lost ticket refund application through Iberia Airlines, which I did. Both Travelocity and Iberia assured me that I would receive a refund for the second ticket I had to buy, minus a $100 fee.

Since my return, I have contacted Iberia numerous times to get the status of my refund, but they said they were not able to help me directly. I asked Travelocity to contact Iberia, which they did. I also provided Travelocity with background information and sent them the original paper tickets (which were subsequently found).

Travelocity contacted Iberia to request a refund on my behalf, but I have not heard anything since then. It’s been four months. I requested that Travelocity follow up, but they told me to contact Iberia directly. When I contact Iberia directly, they tell me they will only speak to my travel agent. What should I do? — Karen Smith, Stamford, Conn.

Answer: Did you say you had a paper ticket? I thought those were obsolete. Travelocity and Iberia should have issued an electronic ticket. (In fairness, this case was brought to my attention a few months ago, but still — paper tickets were supposed to go the way of the dodo in 2008.)

Of course, you should have paid closer attention to the envelope you received from Travelocity. If you had, then you would have noticed that you had a paper ticket and taken care not to lose it.

Lost ticket applications, like refunds, can take months or even years, so I’m not surprised by the lengthy wait. Adding to the frustration is the fact that Iberia referred you to your online travel agent, and Travelocity only referred you back to the airline. They should have both been falling all over themselves to help you.

I mean, they’re more than happy to take your money instantly when you want to buy an airline ticket. Is it unreasonable to expect them to show just half the enthusiasm when you deserve a refund?

Sadly, that’s not how it works.

If a refund takes more than two to three billing cycles and the company that owes you the money isn’t responding, you may want to ask your credit card company to get involved. A bank with a competent dispute department can help you reverse the charges and secure a fast refund, if you can show a company is holding on to your money.

I note that most of your contacts with the airline and online travel agency appear to be by phone. This is not an efficient way of tracking the progress of a refund. A brief, polite email will do the trick.

I sent one to Travelocity, and you had a full refund within a few weeks.

(Photo: marc p moz/Flickr Creative Commons)

Question: I am writing to complain about poor service I received in connection with Travelocity’s price guarantee. We recently returned from an 11-night trip to Cancun, Mexico. Our package, which included airfare and accommodations at the Valentin Imperial Maya all-inclusive resort, cost $4,615.

About a week before we left, I found the exact same package on Travelocity for $1,170 less. I filled out a form on its site and followed up several times by email. I sent screenshots as proof. Each time they responded they claimed to have not received the proof. Finally, I posted the proof to a website to be sure they could see it.

Last night, I called Travelocity and was told they would get back to me in a few hours by phone. They did not. I have always been happy with Travelocity’s service — until now. Why is this such a problem? Travelocity has a guarantee. Is it asking too much for them to honor it? — Steven Estrella, Fort Washington, Pa.

Answer: You qualified for Travelocity’s price guarantee, which promises a $50 coupon and up to $500 back if you find a “qualifying” lower rate up until the day before you check in. Travelocity should have processed your claim — or at least responded to it — promptly.

Here’s a link to the full guarantee.

It appears that the proof Travelocity needed never arrived. You say you sent the files several times, but Travelocity’s representatives say they never saw them. Rather than simply resending the files, you might have considered reducing the size of the files. Often, email spam filters block large images.

Still, it’s unlikely that the files sent through the form, email and finally posted to a website, were all rejected by the system. Instead, it’s far likelier this was an electronic hiccup on Travelocity’s side.

I’m given the impression from dealing with many price guarantee complaints (not just Travelocity’s) that these types of requests aren’t assigned a high priority. As with any travel business, a lot of effort is expended on quickly processing your purchases. It takes only a few seconds to remove the money from your credit card account, but weeks, months and even years to return it.

What incentive — other than making a customer happy — does an online travel agency have to expeditiously refund the money under a price guarantee? I can’t think of one.

You took all the right steps by sending your request through the site, then by email and finally posting the evidence of the bargain online. I have a few contacts at Travelocity on my site that might have been useful.

I contacted Travelocity on your behalf. A representative emailed you and offered the maximum $500 refund, plus a $50 voucher toward future travel.

Question: Last year, I booked a flight from Washington to Bozeman, Montana on US Airways, through Travelocity. About a month later, US Airways changed my flight schedule, leaving too little time for my connection in Denver.

Travelocity worked with the airline to make the change so that I could take a later flight to alleviate this problem and there was to be no charge. But when my credit card statement arrived there was an additional charge of $1,534 for this same flight.

I have contacted Travelocity numerous times through calling and e-mails and I am still being told it is US Airways holding it up. I have contacted US Airways and am getting nowhere. I have contacted my credit card company and was told that if I said I did not authorize the charge my flight would be canceled.

Am I in some sort of bureaucratic travel hell? What can I do to get this refund? — Peggy Kite, Charlottesville, Va.

Answer: You shouldn’t have been charged extra to fix your flight. Instead, Travelocity should have worked with US Airways to ensure you were taken care of.

According to US Airways’ contract of carriage — that’s the legal agreement between you and the airline — you’re entitled to a new ticket to your destination “without additional charge.” If the airline can’t get you to your destination, “US Airways may attempt to rebook the customer on the next available flight of another airline with which US Airways has an agreement allowing the acceptance of each other’s tickets,” according to the contract.

Travelocity’s “guarantee” makes similar assurances. It promises to look out for you “all trip long,” adding, “Everything about your booking will be right, or we’ll work with our partners to make it right, right away.”

It’s unclear why your credit card was charged an extra $1,534. It appears your first ticket was canceled and a second one was booked at a higher rate, without your consent. That’s highly unusual.

I would have written Travelocity immediately to alert them of the overcharge, and if I didn’t hear back, I would have gotten in touch with US Airways. By the way, I’m not sure your new tickets would have been canceled if you’d questioned your credit card charges with your bank. Formal credit card disputes take a long time to work their way through the system. You probably would have used the ticket long before US Airways had a chance to cancel it.

I suggested you contact Travelocity for help, in writing. You did, but despite appealing to the highest level at the online agency, it couldn’t make the refund go any faster.

I asked US Airways to have a look at your case. It refunded the charge for your second ticket.

Question: I’ve been haggling with Travelocity for almost three months about a flight, and I need your help. I recently booked flights from Newark, N.J., to Madrid, Spain via Continental Airlines and on to my final destination of Barcelona, Spain, via Iberia.

The outbound trip was completed without issue, although I had to claim my baggage in Madrid, go through customs, and go back through the ticketing counter to get my second boarding pass.

Unfortunately, the return trip through Brussels was less successful. The itinerary that Travelocity sold me left me just one hour to make my connecting flight in Brussels to the U.S., but I had to claim a bag, go through customs, and then back to the ticketing counter again to get my boarding pass for the U.S.-bound flight.

When I arrived at the empty Continental ticket counter approximately 35 minutes before my flight, I managed to track down a Continental customer service agent, who refused to check me in because it was too late. She also told me the next flight was the following morning.

When I tried to dial the number provided by Travelocity for assistance outside of the U.S., the number would not connect. I tried multiple phones in the airport. Without other options, I collect called my fiancee in the U.S. and had her call the domestic Travelocity telephone number and after more than 30 minutes of international telephone calls, I was booked on the flight for the following morning.

My problem with this scenario is that I incurred a telephone bill of $378 in order to correct this situation caused by Travelocity selling me an itinerary that was physically impossible to achieve. Travelocity won’t refund my phone bill. Any ideas? — Jeffrey Grim, Boston

Answer: Travelocity shouldn’t have allowed you to reserve the itinerary that you did.

If your flights were connected on the same itinerary (which they appear to be) then the system should stop you from reserving a flight that doesn’t meet the minimum connect time rules. Something appears to have gone wrong, because you obviously didn’t have enough time to transfer to your overseas flight in Brussels.

Travelocity also should have provided you with a number that worked from Brussels. I think you did your best to contact the online travel agency through normal channels before resorting to an expensive collect call. And yes, calling Travelocity was the best option, since this was an immediate concern. Had it been something less urgent, I would recommend sending an email.

But I think you could have prevented this from happening, too. Did you take a moment to read your itinerary after you booked your tickets? If you had, you might have noticed the short connection times, and could have asked Travelocity to fix it. One hour is barely enough time to change planes domestically, so this is a challenge that could have been identified and addressed long before your trip.

You had a second chance to fix this when you experienced a tight connection on your inbound flight. You might have wondered if the connection problem would happen on your return flight, reviewed your itinerary and contact Travelocity.

It’s unusual for an online travel agency to refund a phone bill, but in this case, I think it should consider doing so, at a minimum. I contacted Travelocity on your behalf. It apologized and agreed to refund your phone bill.

The pre-checked box, a clever technique that travel companies use to extract a few dollars more from customers booking their trips online, may be checking out.

Last month, the Minnesota Department of Commerce alleged that National Union Fire Insurance and Travel Guard Group had violated state law by automatically enrolling consumers in travel insurance without their express consent when they booked on Travelocity.com.

Unless they specifically opted out of the insurance, customers were buying policies that cost $25 to $45 per traveler, according to the state. The companies have agreed to issue nearly $2.5 million in refunds and pay a $250,000 civil penalty.

And in January, the Transportation Department’s new full-fare advertising regulations for airfares went into effect. They include a rule that prohibits so-called opt-out provisions in ads, further closing a loophole that had cost consumers millions and generated thousands of complaints.

No surprise, then, that online agencies are slowly backing away from the practice.

A shift in consumer awareness

“Opt-outs are no longer being presented to consumers via our member companies to the extent that they were offered before,” says Joseph Rubin, president of the Interactive Travel Services Association, which represents the major online travel agencies, including Travelocity.

To get a sense of what was wrong with opt-out, let’s rewind to a 2010 column of mine on this subject. In it, I spoke with customers who booked airline tickets online only to discover that a box indicating that they also wanted to buy optional travel insurance had been pre-checked. I interviewed Terri Widder, a retiree from Carol Stream, Ill., who bought American Airlines tickets through a site operated by Travelocity. She nearly ended up with precisely the same insurance that Minnesota took action against: a Travel Guard policy.

At the time, a Travel Guard spokesman said that opting out instead of in was well on its way to becoming a “standard” in travel. He told me that the complaint rate on the company’s policies had been less than one-tenth of 1 percent.

Perspective on opt-out practices and consumer advocacy

A Travelocity representative also said that most of its customers — more than eight in 10 — uncheck the box before they click the “buy” button. If they had buyer’s regret, the site allowed for a refund within one credit card billing cycle.

Travelocity declined to comment on the Minnesota ruling, because it was not party to the settlement. (The online agency made its decision about opt-out marketing in consultation with the travel insurance companies, but the insurers approved the way in which their products were sold, according to Travelocity.) But the agency defended its opt-out practices.

“Travelocity believes that our 16-year track record of providing great values for consumers and being their advocate speaks for itself,” says Joel Frey, a company spokesman. “We viewed pre-checking travel insurance as a service to our customers, and we rarely received any complaints about it. We went out of our way to ensure that the manner in which we did that was not deceptive to our customers.”

Although Travelocity no longer asks its customers to opt out of purchases, Frey says that the practice benefitted travelers because it allowed them to “give greater consideration to the need for travel insurance, something we believe they tend to undervalue until they need it.”

The ripple effect

But Minnesota’s actions, plus the recent federal ruling, probably mean that other states will consider similar actions against the opt-out box, says John Cook, president of QuoteWright.com, a travel insurance site.

“Tour operators, travel agents, motor coach operators and cruise lines that use the same marketing method for travel insurance could put the insurance company at risk for a deceptive practice,” he says. “My gut reaction is that we’ll see more enforcement actions from other states and involving other companies.”

Is pre-checking the box on an online transaction always unethical? It could spread to other industries, too. When’s the last time you tried to sign up for a “free” offer online, only to find that the radio button signing you up for the company’s newsletter had been pressed, too? Pre-checking is done almost everywhere, though not to the same level as in online travel.

The ethical debate

I agree with Travelocity that more people should consider insurance when they travel, but making them opt out isn’t right. I’m also certain that making customers uncheck the box was profitable to companies selling travel online and that at some level money, and not the welfare of their customers, was a driving motivator. (Here’s how to handle the TSA when you travel.)

Travel companies are constantly innovating and pushing the boundaries, and if they can figure out a way to nudge you into making an online purchase while not breaking the law, they’ll try. I can’t see what’s behind the firewalls of the usual suspects — the discount airlines and tour operators whose business models depend on deception — but I wouldn’t put anything past them.

The only way to ensure that opt-out is properly euthanized is to hammer away at it whenever you see it. If you find yourself paying for something you don’t want, it’s not enough to get your money back. Send an e-mail to the Department of Transportation, the Federal Trade Commission or your state insurance commissioner. Tell them what happened.

Opt-out marketing is a deceptive practice, according to the federal government. It’s up to us to keep up the pressure until it goes away.

Thank goodness for the new 24-hour rule. That’s what Joan Weiner thought when she booked an airline ticket from Philadelphia to Vienna through Travelocity, only to find a cheaper fare a few hours later.

She made a new reservation through American Express, only to discover that her original ticket hadn’t been canceled. Now she had two tickets.

“The cancellation — or what I thought was the cancellation — was made within the 24 hour rule,” she says. “I had the Amex website open and did not complete the reservation until I made the call to cancel. Their records show that I called Travelocity at 8:12 p.m. and made the reservation at 8:18 p.m. on the Amex site that apparently Travelocity also handles.”

As a refresher, the 24-hour rule allows you to hold a reservation without payment, or cancel a booking without penalty, for 24 hours after the reservation is made, as long as you make the reservation one week or more prior to a flight’s departure date.

Here’s where things get interesting.

A Travelocity’s supervisor confirmed I had called [to cancel] but not that the reservation had been canceled.

He tried to be helpful, contacted US Airways, and said they would cancel and refund one of the flights.

However, they would charge $50 and would use the higher fare and refund the lower one, minus the $50. So the cost would be $1,090 instead of $847.

That’s not ideal, but at least she’s not paying for a second ticket. But then things got worse.

Last evening, I spent 2 1/2 hours with Travelocity and with a supervisor. US Airways indicated that it would not refund the first ticket and would only cancel and rebook with a $290 penalty within the year.

Obviously, that is the “usual” airline policy — with no help from Travelocity.

Uh-oh. That’s not an ideal resolution, and it seems someone dropped the ball on this cancellation. Now US Airways wants to keep Weiner’s money.

I contacted Travelocity on her behalf, but did not hear back from the company. I contacted it again, and someone from the online agency’s executive office finally responded with a different resolution.

Here’s what it’s offering:

We have spoken to US Airways who advised they have a policy regarding duplicate bookings. US Airways will allow a refund on the most recent booking (American Express Travel) to be processed minus a $50 processing fee.

As previously advised, Travelocity will process the refund request through US Airways refund department directly and also take care of the $50 processing fee as a courtesy.

Regrettably, Travelocity will not be able to refund any difference in the cost of the two tickets (i.e. Travelocity booking versus American Express-Travel booking).

Wiener wants to know if she should take this offer or keep fighting for the better fare.

In reviewing my notes on this case, it appears Travelocity was called within 24 hours of the cancellation, but that for some reason, the cancellation wasn’t made with US Airways.

The airline is well within its rights to keep all of Weiner’s money. But should Travelocity cover the price difference between fare number one and fare number two?

If it were me, I’d probably take the new ticket and the refund and consider myself lucky. I could have been on the hook for two tickets, after all. Also, this would be a lesson to me to always cancel a booking online instead of by phone. (I see some back-and-forth between Travelocity in which it suggested it had either not recorded or deleted the phone records between it and Weiner.)

The 24-hour cancellation rule is relatively new, so glitches like this are to be expected. Weiner’s flight leaves in a few weeks. What do you think she should do?

In a world of airline codesharing and outsourced call centers, who takes ultimate responsibility when something goes wrong with your flight?

For Robert and Roberta Blazek, that’s no academic question. And it has taken more than a year to find the answer. The Blazeks, from Viera, Fla., were visiting Poland in August when an electronic error voided their airline reservations, forcing them to spend $5,873 for a new pair of tickets to fly home.

Their repeated attempts to secure a refund from Travelocity, Lufthansa and United Airlines lift a veil on the often confusing agreements found in modern-day air travel and on the often strained relationship between online agencies and air carriers.

They also show how customers can be left with nowhere to turn when they run into trouble while they travel.

Codeshare confusion with Lufthansa

In July, Robert Blazek, a retired engineer, paid $2,984 for two round-trip tickets on Continental Airlines from Orlando to Krakow, Poland, through Travelocity.com. Although the tickets were purchased from Continental, the flights were operated by Lufthansa, a practice referred to as codesharing.

“The first leg of the journey went as planned,” he says. “But when we checked in for our flight at Lufthansa in Krakow, we were told we did not have valid tickets. The supervisor told us we needed to call and resolve the matter and would not allow us to board the plane.”

Blazek tried to phone Travelocity but says he had trouble making an overseas call from his cellphone. “Since we did not want to remain in Krakow and the plane would be leaving shortly, we did the only thing that was left in order to return to the United States and not remain in Krakow overnight,” he recalls. “We purchased new tickets.”

You’d think a quick call to Travelocity would yield a speedy refund. But that didn’t happen.

Nine months later, the codeshare confusion continues

No one knows exactly what became of Blazek’s money, but nine months later when he contacted me for help, he had gotten absolutely nowhere. Maybe the glitch happened on Continental’s side. At the time, the airline was in the throes of a messy merger with United Airlines. Lufthansa and Travelocity may have also been to blame for the crossed wires.

One thing was clear: No one would own up to the problem and refund Blazek’s $5,873.

Even as recently as last week, the companies were blaming each other. A Lufthansa representative said the couple didn’t have a valid return ticket and pointed out that the actual ticket belonged to Continental, not Lufthansa, and that it was sold through Travelocity. “Please understand,” she added, “our passengers are of the utmost priority to Lufthansa, and we always
try to make matters right.”

To that end, she said, Lufthansa had apologized and credited the Blazeks with 4,000 frequent-flier miles.

Travelocity said it contacted Continental and then United but had no luck securing a refund. “The airline advised us that Lufthansa canceled the return flights on January 29, 2011,” a Travelocity representative said in an e-mail to Blazek. “Continental Airlines will not provide additional compensation. We understand that this is a very frustrating matter and we have done all we can to try and get the carriers to offer you some kind of reimbursement.”

Travelocity: Here’s $100 for the codeshare confusion

Travelocity offered Blazek a $100 voucher, which could be redeemed for a future trip through the online agency.

What should have happened? Someone needed to take responsibility for the mess, starting with the online travel agency that sold the ticket. At least that’s what a spokesman for a large bricks-and-mortar agency told me when I asked him about the situation. Simply put, said Steve Loucks of the Minneapolis-based travel agency Travel Leaders, the agent should “own” the problem until they fix it to everyone’s satisfaction.

“Since our travel agents’ businesses are built on repeat customers, typically in local communities, it’s in their best interests to work in their client’s best interests as true advocates on their behalf,” he told me. “Treat them poorly, and they’ll never come back and let others know. But give them what they want, and they’ll keep coming back and offer referrals.”

He added, “If they right a bad situation, they have customers for life.”
But even if the buck stopped with Travelocity, there’s still plenty of blame to go around. One of the airlines should have owned up to the lost-reservation problem, preferably the carrier that owned the ticket: United. And the codeshare partner could have done more than offer a few miles to fix the problem. But passing the buck is becoming far too easy in an age of electronic transactions. That’s what happens when airlines pretend they are other airlines.

Airline codesharing is, without a question, beneficial to airlines like United and Lufthansa. Not only are they allowed to legally share passengers and other resources, but they are given the government’s blessing to stop competing on certain routes: a “win-win,” as they say in corporate America.

Can DOT fix the codesharing problems?

The Transportation Department has taken recent steps to solve some of the problems related to codesharing. A rule that took effect in April requires carriers to apply the same baggage allowances and fees to all segments of a trip. It’s a good start.

Yet a whole list of problems, from disclosure of joint flights to refunds, still plagues those who are unfortunate enough to find themselves on a codeshare flight.

I asked Travelocity and United to take another look at the Blazeks’ tickets. Scott Quigley, Travelocity’s vice president of sales and customer care, pointed out that his company handles “millions” of travel reservations without incident every month.

“When issues arise, our strong supplier relationships usually allow us to resolve them quickly, conveniently and to the satisfaction of our mutual customers,” he said.

To that end, Travelocity has several departments dedicated to fixing reservations problems. “However, there are still cases where things go wrong for our customers,” he added.

This happened to be one of those cases. Quigley said that Travelocity took a closer look at the Blazeks’ problem and determined that “we could and should have escalated it more quickly with our airline partner.” Travelocity reimbursed the Blazeks in full for their remaining expenses and apologized.

How about United? I inquired about the Blazeks’ tickets. After conducting a “further” review, an airline representative said, “we believe we erred in not refunding the full amount that the Blazeks paid to get home.” United processed a full refund.

I know what you’re thinking: Wait, the Blazeks got their money back twice? Yes, it appears that they did.

I wonder whether it will take another year to fix that error. Stay tuned.

The total price for a three-night Bahamas cruise package came to $2,058 on Travelocity. But that was before John Zimmerman applied a $1,000 rebate offered for a mid-level cabin through the online agency.

Then the rate was too good to be true – literally.

Shortly after booking the cruise, Travelocity unexpectedly reduced the $1,000 rebate offer to $100 and then eliminated it entirely. Appeals to the company were met with silence, so Zimmerman asked me to help.

”No $9 first class airfare to Europe situation”

Zimmerman insists he did everything by the book. “The rebate offer appeared throughout the booking process in pop-up windows,” he remembers.

He wanted to make sure he wasn’t mistaken. The cabin class and the ship, RCCL’s Majesty of the Seas, passed the litmus test.

“We cleared browser cookies, opened an incognito window to ensure the offer was for this particular cruise, and took copious screen shots during the booking process,” he remembers. “The total price, with the rebate applied, was still more than twice the price of a regular cabin, but I felt this would be an opportunity to splurge.”

In other words, “This wasn’t a $9 first class airfare to Europe situation.”

Zimmerman showed me the screen shots, and after reviewing them, I agreed to contact Travelocity.

I can already hear some of you crying foul. But bear in mind, asking a company to review a transaction doesn’t guarantee anything.

I thought Zimmerman had a few things going in his favor:

Watertight documentation. It’s unusual for a customer to take screen shots of a transaction all the way through, but that’s exactly what he did. He didn’t seem to be trying to hold Travelocity’s feet to the fire if this turned out to be a mistake, but to ensure that this deal was legit.

Not too good to be true. Even after factoring in the rebate, he was still paying $1,058 for a three-day cruise for two people. That’s not a “fat-finger” rate, from all outward appearances.

The right motives. Travelocity offered the rebate in a pop-up window. He didn’t find it on a blog or website dedicated to pricing errors. Had Zimmerman learned about this “deal” online and attempted to take advantage of a rebate he knew was a mistake, then I would have politely declined his case.

Then I heard back from Travelocity. A representative told me there’d been a “typo” in the terms and conditions on the promotion.

“The $1,000 credit should have read $100,” said the representative. “We recognize this as our error, however, and will give him the full $1,000.”

Is that right?

I have mixed feelings about this resolution.

On one hand, I’m happy for Zimmerman. He got an excellent deal on his Caribbean cruise, subsidized by Travelocity. On the other hand … well, it was subsidized by Travelocity. Maybe it caved because I contacted it on Zimmerman’s behalf. I wouldn’t have done that if it had responded to his emails asking about the status of his rebate.

If you venture off this site to some of the darker crevices of the blogosphere where people intentionally book mistake fares — yes, I still call it stealing — you’ll find my critics who say the “consumer advocacy” I do is really nothing more than a form of high-tech extortion. When I contact a company on behalf of a consumer, there’s an implied threat that if I don’t get what I want, I’ll write a story.

These critics apparently don’t read my blog, where I write about my many advocacy failures and often side with the companies that say “no.”

But after reading this case, I can see how the haters would think I’m just running a racket. Travelocity might have just ignored Zimmerman and correctly charged him $2,058 for his Majesty of the Seas sailing trip if I hadn’t gotten involved.

A part of me wonders if I should have.

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Patrick Kerr books a hotel in Paris for the unbelievable rate of 10 euros a night. Then Travelocity, his online agency, changes the rate to 100 euros but promises a refund. But it offers him a voucher, instead. What should Kerr do?

Question

I recently booked a hotel in Paris through Travelocity for 10 euros a night. Great rate, huh? Afterward, I booked airline tickets separately.

Not long after that, in the course of e-mail conversations with the hotel, they told me this was a mistake and that they could not honor the rate. Instead, they offered to increase my rate to 100 euros a night.

I then contacted Travelocity via phone, told them the problem and they called back and left me a voice mail saying it was a mistake and to go ahead and travel and then when I got back to contact the consumer relations department for a refund. I still have the voicemail. I contacted the hotel via e-mail and I said I would accept the new rate.

Now Travelocity has offered me a $50 voucher for my trouble. A few days later, they upped it to $250. This is pretty much worthless to me as I usually travel using miles and book my hotels using points. Can you help? — Patrick Kerr, St Louis

Answer

You’re right, that’s a great rate for a hotel room. Unbelievably good. And if Travelocity hadn’t left a voice mail promising to refund 90 euros a night, your case wouldn’t stand much of a chance.

Think of it like this: If you see a kitchen appliance on sale for 99 cents at the department store, instead of $99, would you demand the store honor the first price? No. Someone obviously put the wrong tag on the merchandise.

Contacting Travelocity was a good call. Saving the voice mail was even smarter. An email might have worked in this case, too. But the point is, you have a Travelocity representative on tape promising to make good — and it didn’t.

Do I really need to quote the Travelocity “Guarantee” that promises, “Everything about your booking will be right, or we’ll work with our partners to make it right, right away.” No, I don’t.

Ensuring Travelocity’s accountability

Never mind guarantees. If a company promises you something — as in, a refund of your rate — it should deliver.

I have mixed feelings about your problem. On the one hand, Travelocity shouldn’t have offered to pay the difference between the real rate and something that was obviously a decimal point error. On the other hand, because it did, I think it should be held to its promise — not allowed to backtrack and offer you a voucher. (Related: Travelocity refund problem. Where’s my $4,000?)

I would advise you to review each price carefully before booking. But a 10-euro a night hotel room in Paris at the time you were buying it, when hotel rates were at their lowest levels in decades, almost could have been correct.

This is all so confusing. (Here’s the best travel advice.)

I contacted Travelocity on your behalf. It took another look at your case and found “obvious breakdowns in communication,” for which it apologized. You’ve received a full refund, as promised.