Originally Posted by
edgewood49
It's too bad but that what happens when things are out sourced. In the past I had to adjust a stay with no issues at all.
Chase has always been outsourced its travel redemption - initially to Connexions, then changed to Expedia last year. Since then everything went from average to downright poor.
The poster is thinking to adjust a FLIGHT.
For hotel stay it is a bit easier as it is much less complicated but it also depends on the property's attitude. I had a booking at an upscale B&B at South Africa that the owner refused to answer any email to verify the "confirmed" booking made thru UR portal - when the property showed sold out on other OTA sites. She also changed the cancellation policy several days after the booking made thru UR - from fully cancellable to 50% penalty!
At the time the UR portal was handled by Connexions I was able to talk to the actual reps at Connexions that handled travel bookings (not the front line phone reps) and they were able to verify with their supplier that the property was indeed sold out at the time it still showed as bookable on UR. Moreover they were able to press the property owner to refund the full amount she took... It took A Lot of Effort to get this resolved. My primary concern on using UR to book hotels is, you need to be able to verify your booking OUTSIDE UR channel, in order to make sure you do have a room when you arrive, especially it is at a foreign country with big time difference to US! These days I only use UR to book hotels that either they can be reached relatively easy by phone, or better yet, by email so I can verify the bookings - as the current Customer Service / Support of UR site is very dismal.
Oh, slightly off topic - cruise booking does NOT show up under My Trip despite what the UR reps told you it would. It does not. Though one can readily verify booking with cruise lines directly and once the booking is in place, you are dealing directly with the cruise lines unless you need to change or cancel - that is another story altogether ...
Cannot emphasize enough that UR booking is full of peril, very much buyer beware, and in almost all international bookings, the prices are inflated anywhere from 10 to 15%, whether they are flights or hotels. For flights, you need to be very aware on the fares to avoid being booked into the "basic economy" type and then pay much more extra to check bag versus you could have buy a slightly higher price fare that includes check bag. Those who fly a lot intra-Europe would understand what I mean.