Trying to book a flight and hotel room on Orbitz is un-fucking-believably painful. My reservations have been inprocess (and unconfirmed) for going on three hours now.
After an informational dry run last night, I went to Orbitz early this afternoon to make my bookings. I went through the search, and, from the list of available flights, chose one, and clicked the “Book It”.
We’re sorry. An error has occured. Please try again.
I tried again.
We’re sorry. An error has occured. Please try again.
I chose the next flight down.
We’re sorry. An error has occured. Please try again.
Again. And again, and again.
We’re sorry. An error has occured. Please try again.
I jumped up a hundred bucks and tried to book that flight.
We’re sorry. An error has occured. Please try again.
None of them would book. So, assuming there was an error on the website, I called Orbitz. It only took a lightning-quick 25 minutes to get to the flight bookings department, who told me that the rates on Orbitz.com updated so frequently that they couldn’t be relied upon from the time of the search through the 30 seconds it takes to scroll down and click the “Book It” button.
All my desired flights, I was told, were no longer available, though the site showed the operator and me that they were. “You have to give our site time to update,” she said a few times during our 20 minute conversation. From start to finish, nothing had changed on the site despite flushing my browser cache and accessing from a second computer.
She tried blaming my computer a few times, but then reluctantly confirmed that she saw the same results as I. Still, she said, it wasn’t her fault.
She would happily book me on a flight with unusable departure times (I would have to have flown out of Boston during the middle of my meeting) and for more than $100 more than the still quoted price for the flight.
From this, am I to infer that Orbitz is in the business of bait-and-switch? The flight bookings operator said everything short of that phrase.
I’m waiting for a call back now from the vacations package specialist–flight bookings operators “aren’t trained to book” hotel rooms. The vacations package specialist was professional and very, very customer service oriented. She was everything the first couple of operators were not.
Christ! I hope I get to book a flight et al soon before the rates hikes have me taking out a second mortgage!
When in doubt talk to a human, I think that the loss of the travel professional is very regretable, and not worth the few dollars that you might save in your wallet but lose in aggravation.… Happy trails
When in doubt talk to a human, I think that the loss of the travel professional is very regretable, and not worth the few dollars that you might save in your wallet but lose in aggravation.… Happy trails
Wanna get a cheap flight? There is no other way!!
Wow. I just booked a flight to Boston, using Travelocity. I had a moment of regret afterwards that I hadn’t even looked at prices on Orbitz… so, and not that this will make you feel any better, thanks for getting rid of my guilt!
I was talking with a human.
I tried the website for a half-hour (total), then spent more than five additional hours on the phone with people in various departments trying to get a flight and room booked. After many erroneous Orbitz statements, then helpful false starts, excited almost-theres, and crushingly disappointing last minute failures, I hung up the phone and went back to the site.
At 7pm (I had started at noon and had done nothing but deal with Orbitz in the interim) I tried once more on the website. This time it worked. I wound up with the flight and hotel I wanted for $250+ less than what Orbitz personnel told me on the phone was the best they could do.
After I paid Orbitz.com I called the airlines and hotel to confirm my reservations–I didn’t trust Orbutz.
Long story short: I’m booked. I’m flying out, and I have a place to stay. The rental car I’ll take care of on my own, without Orbitz’s help.