Travelocity reservation question
Jun 27, 2002, 6:23 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: FAI
Programs: Alaska MVP
Posts: 267
Travelocity reservation question
Could someone explain to me how bookings on Travelocity work. I made a reservation last Sat. through Travelocity. (I usually book directly with NWA but found the exact itinerary I wanted on Travelocity). I printed my reservation and actually went to the NWA.com site and the reservation was already out there under my reservations. A few hours later Travelocity called and said they couldn't book the ticket the way I wanted and offered me an alternative. As I was just getting out of the shower when the phone rang I agreed to the change. The more I thought about it, I didn't like it. So I called Travelocity and a very, very helpful agent tried her best to see what she could do, but couldn't change it. This was the problem with the reservation: my connection time in ATL was 45 mins. and NW said that a connection in ATL requires 55 mins. Now we all know NW has about 4 gates in ATL and it sure isn't going to be hard to get to the next gate. And if my flight is late getting into ATL from MEM I'm not on the last flight of the day (this is for a July 4th mileage run).
I've since talked to both NW and Travelocity and I can't get it changed back to the way it was orignally reserved without the fee.
Actually this whole thing isn't a big deal to me(other than giving up 300 miles connecting through DTW and not MSP) but, what I am wondering is when you book with Travelocity, Expedia, etc. is there a period where they need to get approval from the airline to issue the ticket? Obviously there is. There sites shouldn't show invalid routings.
I've since talked to both NW and Travelocity and I can't get it changed back to the way it was orignally reserved without the fee.
Actually this whole thing isn't a big deal to me(other than giving up 300 miles connecting through DTW and not MSP) but, what I am wondering is when you book with Travelocity, Expedia, etc. is there a period where they need to get approval from the airline to issue the ticket? Obviously there is. There sites shouldn't show invalid routings.
Jun 27, 2002, 8:22 pm
#2
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: new york, ny, usa
Posts: 13,536
i thought when i bought tickets from travelocity (years ago) there was a warning that although i bought the ticket it wasn't a done deal. if travelocity couldn't confirm the itinerary with the airline, they had the rigth to put the kibosh on the whole deal. interestingly, if we change our minds, travelocity doesn't let us out of the deal.
Jun 28, 2002, 6:15 am
#3
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Las Vegas, NV USA
Posts: 748
Travelocity should be able to void the entire ticket if you advise them within 24 hours (in your case it seems it was much earlier than that).
Travel agencies work in what is called an "ARC week". All tickets issued in a week (Sun-Sat) are reported weekly to the Airline Reporting Corportation (you will see the term ARC on the upper portion of most airline tickets). They actually have until the end of their ARC period to void anything issued in that week. If it falls after their cutoff for closing their ARC report, it is a reported sale and cannot be voided without the agency basically eating the cost of the ticket. Given that they have given you and unacceptable schedule change, I don't think you are out of line to request a refund. Northwest will refer you to the agency, especially if this just occurred in the last few days, as they will be the one that reports the sale to ARC. Northwest cannot void the ticket but can refund it but usually tries to avoid doing so if it was issued by an agency to avoid possible conflicts with the agency.
Probably more info than you wanted...but hope it helps! Good luck.
Travel agencies work in what is called an "ARC week". All tickets issued in a week (Sun-Sat) are reported weekly to the Airline Reporting Corportation (you will see the term ARC on the upper portion of most airline tickets). They actually have until the end of their ARC period to void anything issued in that week. If it falls after their cutoff for closing their ARC report, it is a reported sale and cannot be voided without the agency basically eating the cost of the ticket. Given that they have given you and unacceptable schedule change, I don't think you are out of line to request a refund. Northwest will refer you to the agency, especially if this just occurred in the last few days, as they will be the one that reports the sale to ARC. Northwest cannot void the ticket but can refund it but usually tries to avoid doing so if it was issued by an agency to avoid possible conflicts with the agency.
Probably more info than you wanted...but hope it helps! Good luck.
Jun 28, 2002, 7:45 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: FAI
Programs: Alaska MVP
Posts: 267
Thanks for the info. Vegas Agent. Travelocity did offer to cancel and refund. And the change isn't really unacceptable as I'll actually be getting home an hour earlier conecting thru DTW. I just miss out on a few miles.