Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Expedia changes "valid" flight connection to 5 minutes. Help!

One of my clients booked a flight USA to Spain through Expedia. Her original return was this:

Seville (SVQ) to Barcelona (BCN) 05/18/10 9:20 AM - 10:50 AM Spanair 6605
Barcelona (BCN) to Philadelphia (Philadelphia Intl.) 05/18/10 12:00 PM - 3:05 PM US Airways 743

This morning she received an email from Expedia with the following change:

Seville (SVQ) to Barcelona (BCN) Depart 9:20 am Arrive 10:50 am JK Spanair Flight: 6605

Barcelona (BCN)to Philadelphia (PHL) Depart 10:55 am Arrive 1:55 pm US Airways Flight: 743

She called Expedia and they said "Tough. It is a valid connection. If you want to change you will have to pay $150."

Advice you can offer?

Call back and see if you can get to a supervisor. If that does not work, ask Christopher Elliott for help. Check him out at www.elliott.org.

Check the minimum connection times as stated on the website of Barcelona's airport. Surely it's more than 5 minutes. Then tell expedia about this and if they still tell you its legit, ask them to provide you with information that 5 minutes is enough...

Check the minimum connection times as stated on the website of Barcelona's airport. Surely it's more than 5 minutes. Then tell expedia about this and if they still tell you its legit, ask them to provide you with information that 5 minutes is enough...

My understanding is that MCTs are set by the airlines, not the airports. Though I'm not really sure how that works between different airlines.

Did Orbitz ticket this as a single ticket, or two separate tickets? If it is a single ticket, then the MCT of the ticketing airline might apply. If so, get that info and have your client try Orbitz again.

Also, if it is a single ticket issued by US, since it is their schedule change, they might be able to help. If it is separate tickets, then they probably wouldn't.

My understanding is that MCTs are set by the airlines, not the airports. Though I'm not really sure how that works between different airlines.

Did Orbitz ticket this as a single ticket, or two separate tickets? If it is a single ticket, then the MCT of the ticketing airline might apply. If so, get that info and have your client try Orbitz again.

Also, if it is a single ticket issued by US, since it is their schedule change, they might be able to help. If it is separate tickets, then they probably wouldn't.

Yes, it is one ticket. I'm on hold with Expedia, going on 28 minutes now.

Which flavour of Expedia did you book with? I had a hold time of over 3-4 hours a few times last year with the Canadian vwrsion. Will never deal with them again.

56 minutes on hold.

Expedia and USAir say the only option is to cancel the ticket and give back a full refund.

Oh well. Guess that is better than a $150 charge! Would it still be worth it to contact Mr. Elliot?

Something just does not seem right... I do not see how they can say it is a legal connection. Sounds like they just do not want to deal with the issue.

Something just does not seem right... I do not see how they can say it is a legal connection. Sounds like they just do not want to deal with the issue.

Doesn't sound like expedias fault -- it's the same flight to PHL on US -- US just changed the time. That said, Expedia should get you on an earlier originating flight. Since US changed the time, you could call them -- but the solution I see is the ealier Spanair flight. Do you/she have status?

56 minutes on hold.

Expedia and USAir say the only option is to cancel the ticket and give back a full refund.

Oh well. Guess that is better than a $150 charge! Would it still be worth it to contact Mr. Elliot?

The problem is that there is no earlier cnx SVQ-BCN and no later non stop BCN-PHL. So without rerouting you onto a different airline or refunding your money there is not much they can do. I doubt they will reroute you onto a different airline. And Mr. Elliott can't pull a new flight out of thin air, so I doubt it would help in this case to contact him.

Since the flight is months away, I would take the full refund and start over.

56 minutes on hold.

Expedia and USAir say the only option is to cancel the ticket and give back a full refund.

Oh well. Guess that is better than a $150 charge! Would it still be worth it to contact Mr. Elliot?
The flight is not until next May so things could change anyway. If they say its legal then there is something that is not making sense. A simple solution is just to do the trip. If they fail to make the connection, they have to accommodate you on the next available flight. Check the schedule to see what is offered. In any case, I'd wait. My guess is that they are expecting another schedule change.

The problem is that there is no earlier cnx SVQ-BCN and no later non stop BCN-PHL. So without rerouting you onto a different airline or refunding your money there is not much they can do. I doubt they will reroute you onto a different airline. And Mr. Elliott can't pull a new flight out of thin air, so I doubt it would help in this case to contact him.

Since the flight is months away, I would take the full refund and start over.

My bad, the earlier flight connection is SVQ to MAD, not BCN. Interestingly, ITAs website still lists the US flight as noon from BCN. That said, I'd push for the connection in MAD instead, if it's gone up enough in price to make it onerous to get the refund and rebook...

The flight is not until next May so things could change anyway. If they say its legal then there is something that is not making sense. A simple solution is just to do the trip. If they fail to make the connection, they have to accommodate you on the next available flight. Check the schedule to see what is offered. In any case, I'd wait. My guess is that they are expecting another schedule change.

This is the method I'd use, unless I absolutely had to be somewhere the next day.

Keep on the lookout for a better fare, and if you find something, put it on hold and then go cancel the Expedia itinerary.

Keep trying with supervisors and Chris Elliott in the meantime, but unless you have an inflexible schedule on the return, I'd take my chances just waiting, misconnecting, and letting them take care of me. Heck, you could probably get a few extra compensation miles for your dissatisfaction of the way they handled this after the fact.