Originally Posted by
SpaethCo
I think it depends on the airline?
I just witnessed someone encounter this problem on Tuesday. We were on an AA flight from CLT to MSP which ended up being diverted to ORD due to weather, with the flight rescheduled for ORD to MSP the following day at 9am. While I was sorting out a hotel reservation in the waiting area, I was overhearing a very frustrated pax loudly pleading with the poor gate agents they sent down to help with logistics that they needed to be in MSP to catch a connection at 6am also on American, but the gate agent couldn't do anything about re-arranging that flight or help with re-booking to the final destination straight from ORD because the next-day connection ticket was on a different PNR and still locked by Expedia and they would have to make changes by calling them.
The other risk you take with portal bookings is that you are introducing another billing system in the middle between you and the airline, and it's possible for that to get badly out of sync.
Just a few examples from Reddit:
A flight cancellation on the airline end resulted in the rescheduled flight going unpaid by Chase travel, leaving the traveler with a useless reservation and a check-in agent powerless to help:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards...but_didnt_pay/
or Chase not actually booking a change, resulting in a last minute scramble:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards...vel_is_insane/
Or even with Amex, trying to use credit from cancelled flights leads to hours of frustration:
https://www.reddit.com/r/amex/commen..._on_the_phone/
The examples can also happen when booking directly with an airline.
First off travel agencies do not issue their own airline tickets. They issue tickets on behalf of an airline that has granted them authority to do so. It’s called plating authority because in the paper ticket days, the same ticketing coupons are used across airlines, what makes a ticket AA vs UA is the metal plate provided by the airline on which the ticketing coupon is impressed/plated against.
Taking a simple round trip on one airline as an example, Expedia issued ticket would be the same as a ticket issued directly by that airline especially when it comes to IRROP situation. For schedule changes the travel agent is responsible for addressing those changes; that is why they are paid a commission for to do.
In regards to ORD situation, the fact that it is a separate reservation is the cause for ORD agent not touching it not because it was booked by Expedia. Expedia is not an airline, they do not control the ticket; the plating airline does. Do we know which airline plated that other reservation? That other flight from MSP could have been a trip that starts with AA but it could involve an overwater flight on JL as an example. In this scenario the ticket sold by Expedia would have been plated JL despite AA flight from MSP. The ORD agent is not going to touch it because it is a separate reservation involving a ticket issued not issued by AA. Same exact thing would have happened if MSP flight was purchased directly from JL instead of Expedia. Even if the MSP flight was against a ticket issued on AA, it being sold thru Expedia is not the reason ORD AAgent is not acting upon it because there is no mechanism for Expedia to lock/release a ticket for use. Typical ticket status are OPEN from the day it was issued or USED, EXCHANGED, or REFUNDED. AAgent was using Expedia as a scapegoat instead of having to explain airline and interline ticketing framework
.
In regards to billing system, again that is not how it works. For published fares, Expedia is merely passing your credit card details to the plating airline for ticketing. Expedia does not have your funds. When you submit a refund request to Expedia, they are simply passing that refund request to plating airline for refund processing.
The Reddit example provided is redeeming Chase points which is completely different than booking published fares via chase portal/Expedia etc because passenger is not paying directly using their credit card, they are having chase pay for the flight in exchange for debiting UR miles.
The last two examples can also happen when booking directly with airline in that changes are made but tickets not reissued. Several data points on AA thread when redeeming AA miles and ticketing didn’t happen because of some process breakdown. One recent thread involved AA booking to Madrid connecting to Iberia flight within Spain. IB scheduled change. AA dropped the ball and didn’t reissue ticket to reflect the change. OP arrived in Madrid but able to get on connecting flight until ticketing was sorted out.
The point is that for IRROPs an agency sold ticket is no different than an airline sold one because all agency tickets are technically issued by an airline. Agency job is to handle sales/marketing/pre flight customer relations. On day of departure, the airline takes over.