adriancheok

I have had one of the most terrible and worst service experiences ever.

I called about my itinerary to make a simple date change to my tickets Tokyo to London with Aeroflot from 25 July to 24 July. They are fully changeable (Date change with no fee D/Z) business class fares.

I called at about 1AM Tokyo time on July 14th. When I first called I was on hold for more than 30 minutes. Then an agent answered me and took about 20 minutes and then said I will be connected to a supervisor. The supervisor said they must contact the airline. Then my call was dropped (I did not hang up).

I called back and was put onto another operator. This operator was on the phone with me for 60 minutes and still could not change my tickets. The operator said to wait until the service desk calls me. After another wait, the service desk called me and said the flight does not have seats any more at my fare to change. However there definitely were seats earlier when I called. I also checked while I was on the call on-line using ExpertFlyer to confirm there were enough Z fares during the long call. Basically because all the Expedia agents took so incredibly long and keep passing me from one agent to another the seats were not available by the end of the three hour call.

When I said I have waited three hours. Because the expedia operators took so long then the seat was not available in the end. He did not even apologize, and simply said the standard line about airline policies.

After three hours on the phone from 1am to 4am in the morning in Tokyo I was so upset and frustrated and worse, that the operator did not try to apologize properly.

I am very upset and disappointed. I bought full fare business class tickets and have spent many thousands of dollars over the years on Expedia.

This morning I called to Expedia and asked to speak to a manager. I voiced my complaint and was simply told to wait to speak to a manager again. I was told to speak to a manager called Barbera. But after again a 30 minute wait the call was dropped instead of transferred! It was incredibly frustrating.

This is one of the worst customer service I ever had. I have also spent more than $100 USD on international calls today for this matter to call from Japan, and no result.

I want proper and formal compensation and apology from Expedia.

dogcanyon

Sad to say that none of this will come as any surprise to anybody who has had dealings with Expedia and their Customer Service.

wharvey

Can I ask what made you book this ticket with Expedia? Were there substantial savings? I have learned to avoid Expedia for airline tickets; what you described is the exact reason why.

Often1

The only conceiveable reason to purchase a ticket through an opaque third-party website is that there are enormous savings which make the risks worth it. In any other situation, either book through the carrier online or a trusted TA who comes with recommendations from friends and colleagues.

Opaque sites are just fine when everything goes right. But, when there are problems, including changes, they are almost universally problematic.

I have no idea what happened here, but would strongly suggest that you call the carrier directly, determine whether it is possible to have the carrier "take over" the reservation and then determine whether the change can be made. There is generally a fee to "take over" a reservation, but it is a small price to pay in order to accomplish your goal.

Alternatively, if this is a full fare ticket and can thus be cancelled for a full refund, consider the cost of purchasing a new ticket and simply cancelling the existing one.

If indeed OP is on a full Business Class fare, the only way it would not be available is if all seats have been sold in that cabin.

tcook052

Agree completely.

Good luck in your quest but would think the chances of either happening would be low.

danielonn

When I had to change an international ticket due to a death in the family booked on Expedia I called up Lufthansa and explained my case and luckily I only had to pay the $250 change fee and no upfare. I had a sympathetic agent who worked with me.

Your case is quite simple and since your ticket allows for date changes without a penalty try calling Aeroflot directly or get back on the phone with Expedia and have them do a three way to Aeroflot.

Z428

This is why I would never purchase a ticket on expedia. The thousands in revenue went to the airline anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if expedia nets $10 on each ticket booked. It is not worth it for them to compensate. This servicing after the sale issue is exactly why I never purchased a ticket from them before and never would.

Aliquot

Expedia is not an opaque site. Specific flights are presented and all details are reveled (although it can be difficult to determine booking class).

M60_to_LGA

Honestly, why didn't you contact the airline directly at the beginning? Expedia in these cases is nothing more than a middleman and an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy between you and the airline.

Also, I'm quite confused about the phone bill. Expedia's Japan affiliate has a local, toll-free Japanese number. Did you book through a different country's Expedia site? Or did you call up Expedia in the US? Also, Aeroflot has a local Japanese number as well. It would seem to me that you didn't need to call overseas to resolve your problem - and after Expedia told you to contact the airline directly, why did you not do that?

I agree that the Expedia agents, who at least for US customers are based in India, often have very poor training. Sometimes when I've had to call the site I find that the reps don't understand that NYC has multiple airports - or in some cases, seem to have very poor English-language comprehension. In those cases, I've hung up and called back and usually been able to find someone better.

However, I almost always choose to book with Expedia for the following reason: I find that Expedia often has very good prices. In the past I've found rates from UA with Expedia that were better than I could find for the same flights on UA's website directly (!) I've also found excellent flight/hotel package deals through them, particularly for MEX, and have gotten good special hotel rates from Expedia in the US.

DeirdreTours

Really? I have never has a single search experience where expedia's fare was lower than the airline's. I have seen savings, sometimes, on packages combining hotel/air, but never a lower air fare by itself.

M60_to_LGA

Yes - I admit it surprised me a great deal, too, but last year I was able to buy a round-trip EWR-BFS (Belfast) flight for substantially less (I want to say somewhere around $50, but can't remember) than the exact same flights cost on UA's website. I attribute that to the fact that UA is run by a team of cracked-out gerbils. But still....

hobo13

Is there really any difference in customer service between Orbitz / XP / TL / PL?

I've had various 'deals' booked through each of them, and have had horrible experiences with schedule changes every time. It was worth it for the savings, but agreed, if there are no savings involved, just stay away.

cbn42

Once the supervisor said you need to contact the airline, why didn't you do so? It sounds like you called Expedia back, not once but twice. Not to be rude, but if you can't follow simple instructions then don't expect any sympathy from anyone.

People like to hate the online travel agencies and their horrible customer service. Their service isn't the greatest, but it's not like Aeroflot won any awards for their customer service skills either.

Normally, when you buy fully changeable tickets through an agent, the airline can change them without going through the agent once they are purchased. Sometimes they want the agent to "release" the booking to them, but that is usually not necessary. The supervisor may have put a note on your PNR allowing the airline to make changes, or he may not have. But given that you did not attempt to contact Aeroflot one single time even after Expedia told you to do so seems to indicate fault on your part more than theirs.

trajanc

It does not look like the op said Expedia told him to contact the airline. Rather the op said "The supervisor said they must contact the airline." Meaning the supervisor said Expedia must contact the airline. So you can't criticize the op for not following instructions.

However, the op still should have contacted the airline just on personal initiative and yeah, the bit about the phone bill makes no sense given that Expedia has local numbers in Japan.

Good reminder tho for everybody.

Wayfahrer

Any other recommendation - for ANY of these reasons?