Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Help with securing Expedia paper ticket which I didn't receive when sent earlier.

Hi all,

I hope i'm placing this in the right place.

I booked a multi destination international flight using expedia.com and while finalizing my purchase, i was told that this is a paper ticket and need to pay extra fee for mailing them, which i did and completed the transaction.

After couple of weeks, i called the airline to get seat assignments and remembered that i didn't receive the paper tickets yet. Called Expedia about it and they gave me a tracking number from UPS which shows that it was delivered and placed at the rear porch of my place but i didn't get anything.

So i called expedia again about it and to see if they can re-send the paper tickets, but ofcourse they said no and that i need to go to the airline counter at an airport and file a LTA (Lost Ticket Application) and that airline will get me the paper tickets for $100. Mind you i paid $25 to get them shipped from expedia. I asked them how about contacting UPS to file a claim and see if they can find it but they said that they can't do that.

So my question is, do i really need paper tickets and what's the point of them? Can't i just go to the counter and get boarding passes when checking in?

I would also like to hear from you if i should approach this in a different way and get it resolved.

Thanks in advance

If the itinerary cannot be ticketed electronically then yes, you will need a paper ticket. If there is no electronic ticket in the system then the airline(s) will need the ticket coupons for accounting purposes.

I don't know what the rules are where you live (USA?), but here in the UK delivery companies are not allowed to dump deliveries in people's porches/sheds/whatever unless they have been given specific permission to do so. My guess is that UPS have probably lost the ticket and are now lying to about having left it in your porch. You may well have a claim against UPS, but that's not going to get you on the flight... so you should concentrate on getting a replacement ticket and worry about claiming compensation from UPS and/or Expedia later.

Expedia are wrong in one respect - they are your agent, they are responsible for getting your ticket to you. (Many airlines won't even talk to customers direct if the booking was made through an agent) Expedia should arrange for a replacement ticket to be issued and left for you at the airport (it's called "ticket on departure", or "TOD" for short). They are entitled to charge you for it, but they should do the arranging, not you.

Commando82, welcome to FlyerTalk. I've edited your thread title to make it more specific and will move this thread to our Online Booking/Bidding forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

[With mod. hat off, suggest you need to escalate within Expedia and not just by phone but by email/snail mail to the agent's customer service supervisors. Keep copies of what you sent. As aviatrix said, Expedia is your agent, not just a website.]

Was a signature required? I can't imagine sending anything that expensive without requiring a signature.

I get really frustrated with UPS. As a recipient, you can't deal with them. And if Expedia won't deal with them, then you have a problem.

If you charged the tickets, then tell Expedia you will dispute the charge with your credit card company. You never received the tickets you paid for.

You shouldn't have to pay a reticketing fee because you never received the tickets. You have only UPS word that they delivered the tickets. (I didn't get something that UPS said they delivered. The sending company kindly replaced it and then several weeks later I did get the package which looked like it had been run over.)

I agree you need to write a letter and make sure you have notes about all your conversations, letters etc.

The problem with UPS is that they may have a replacement driver who puts it on the wrong house, or puts it somewhere "safe", like under a door mat, that many people would never look for them at.

It's also disturbingly common that UPS (among other delivery companies) simply employs lazy drivers that lie about delivering items when they actually don't.

It's also disturbingly common that UPS (among other delivery companies) simply employs lazy drivers that lie about delivering items when they actually don't.

Given the ease of tracking, I don't quite buy this. If drivers have more than a super low amount of lost packages, they get in trouble, or fired, or have to pay for losses. At least my driver mentioned something like that when I asked her about a package that I sent that got lost.

I've shipped close to 10,000 packages via UPS, and only ever had one that I'm sure was lost. Maybe a dozen damaged, and a couple that were reported missing by the customer, but were delivered. I think someone walked off with them, but the driver is responsible in such cases.

sorry took me a while to find the post with the name change and new forum :) but thanks OCN...

Well good news here: i was soo pissed off yesterday that i did what i hate the most which is walking to my neighbors' houses and asking them if they got my package, whether next or across the street from me. I hate it because i would think that if someone has MY mail, they will come and give it to me instead of waiting for me to go to them. Anyways, lo and behold, I found the package was placed 2 houses down from me and since i travel a lot, i didn't realize the house is being sold and the people in there already moved. DAMN UPS!!!

So to answer questions: Most of the time when i called expedia, i was transferred to supervisors and talked to them about the problem, but as mentioned before, they were not willing to help much and usually tell me to either call UPS or Airfrance. And the last time i called before posting the thread, i yelled at the supervisor that they are very unprofessional and it's as if they are penalizing me because i didn't get my package in the mail when telling me that i have to pay an additional $100 for new tickets.

I called airfrance few times to get my seat assignment done since I'm trying to sit next to my future wife, but I'm able to search for my reservation on their website using confirmation number and last name and can do the seat assignment online if i wanted to... i thought that was an e-ticket but guess not... funny thing here, i had one airfrance agent telling me that i have an eticket while the other telling me its a paper ticket. ( how awesome is it to be wrong many times and not be fired from your job :) )

Well now i'm worried and will be calling airfrance soon, as i bought 2 tickets, for me and my wife-to-be, with different flights out of the U.S. because of different dates but the same route back, but she had it as an e-ticket while mine is paper. Need to check with them what makes mine a paper ticket and see if my girl needs to have paper tickets too

IF you have the time, you should talk to UPS about this issue... that misdelivery is unacceptable.

Glad to know you found the package.

IF you have the time, you should talk to your Postmaster about this issue... that misdelivery is unacceptable.



Why would the Postmaster care about UPS misdelivering a package? :confused:

I do find that UPS management does pay attention to complaints made to their 800 number. (800-PICK-UPS, I think). I've have complaints against drivers that I made to the local number, and never got any response. My normal UPS driver told me that if I call the 800 number, that it really gets their attention.

I would certainly call UPS and let them know the grief you've gone through. You won't get anything more than an apology, but it may do some good.

Make sure that they have the tracking number, so they can find the driver who delivered it. Often fill in drivers are the ones that misdeliver. If they get a certain number of complaints, they'll never make full time driver, which is a good thing, if they can't deliver stuff right.

So i called Airfrance and the agent told me that i need to call Expedia since i bought the ticket from them. Called Expedia, and the lady could not tell me why one ticket is a paper ticket and the other is e-ticket lol, she blamed it on the system. I made a comment that as an ex developer, i can totally understand how a system decides on things by itself without any logic behind it, i don't think she liked that joke though... the only thing she mentioned is that Expedia does not issue any paper tickets for purchases after OCT 1st which does not help me as i bought mine in September. ( I'm tired of dealing with dumb people for this week)

Do verify that Air France staff does acknowledge that you have a valid, ticketed, confirmed reservation on file for your days of travel. It's not beyond the realm to assume that with the earlier calls you made to Expedia before you found its ticket package that someone in Expedia could have sent a cancellation msg. to the airline or that the airline never received the needed ticketing info from Expedia to begin with, or never set it up correctly.

While there are so many wonderful travel agencies around the world, I've done my own travel directly with the airlines for years as I've had a few too many gaps between TAs and airlines when my employer used them for my travel.

My bad... I mistyped.... was thinking of another thread when I responded.

Definitely follow this advice and contact UPS....

Why would the Postmaster care about UPS misdelivering a package? :confused:

I do find that UPS management does pay attention to complaints made to their 800 number. (800-PICK-UPS, I think). I've have complaints against drivers that I made to the local number, and never got any response. My normal UPS driver told me that if I call the 800 number, that it really gets their attention.

I would certainly call UPS and let them know the grief you've gone through. You won't get anything more than an apology, but it may do some good.

Make sure that they have the tracking number, so they can find the driver who delivered it. Often fill in drivers are the ones that misdeliver. If they get a certain number of complaints, they'll never make full time driver, which is a good thing, if they can't deliver stuff right.

It's also disturbingly common that UPS (among other delivery companies) simply employs lazy drivers that lie about delivering items when they actually don't.

Given the ease of tracking, I don't quite buy this. If drivers have more than a super low amount of lost packages, they get in trouble, or fired, or have to pay for losses. At least my driver mentioned something like that when I asked her about a package that I sent that got lost.

I've shipped close to 10,000 packages via UPS, and only ever had one that I'm sure was lost. Maybe a dozen damaged, and a couple that were reported missing by the customer, but were delivered. I think someone walked off with them, but the driver is responsible in such cases.

Actually, I have experienced outright lying by a UPS driver. I shipped something to someone, it showed as "left at front door at 11.45am" or some time before noon. The recipient told me that he actually met the UPS driver in the driveway about 3pm (by chance) and when the recipient asked about having to sign for the package, he was told it was not necessary. The UPS driver knew the package had a 12 noon guaranteed delivery time and since he was not going to make it, he just scanned the package as if it were delivered before noon. UPS gave me a refund on that shipment, but I sure hope that employee was fired.

Unfortunately deliveries by UPS to residential addresses in the US do not require a signature unless specifically requested by the sender.