rdu9

Hi there. First time posting so I apologize if this should be in another forum topic. I'm currently having an issue with an upcoming flight that I booked through Orbitz in January and I'm looking for some advice on how to handle it.

Original itinerary was outgoing RDU-MIA-BOG and BOG-MIA-RDU return, with the flights in and out of RDU on AA and the flights in and out of BOG on LAN. At some point in the past month, LAN cancelled our original return flight BOG-MIA, which got us into MIA by noon, and bumped us to a flight that doesn't get into MIA until 7:30 PM. Problem is, they didn't change the connecting flight, so we currently have a misconnection, because MIA-RDU leaves at 4:30 PM. I found this out by accident yesterday when I was checking seat assignments; we never got a notification from Orbitz that there had been a change. Trip starts on Friday.

I called Orbitz and was on hold with them for a total of over three hours yesterday while they were on hold with LAN. LAN eventually just ended up disconnecting them. When I called LAN directly, they said that only Orbitz can change the itinerary, they can't work directly with me. Same story again today, two hours on hold with Orbitz while they tried to get through to LAN, which again disconnected them. Called LAN again, was told the same thing and was actually hung up on by the person I was talking to.

At this point, I don't know what to do. Orbitz is going to try again to get through to LAN in the morning, hoping that there will be lower call volume, but we're pretty up a creek here and we leave in three days. Does anyone have any suggestions/workarounds for this situation? Any similar problems dealing with LAN? I'm reluctant to even get on the flight on Friday without having the return issue fixed. I don't even care what flights they put us on at this point, I just want a confirmed ticket.

6rugrats

Welcome to FT rdu9!

Now you have unfortunately learned about one of the pitfalls of booking through a third party site.

So, your main problem is you now arrive at MIA at 7:30 p.m., and your MIA-RDU flight leaves at 4:30 p.m. It's not clear from your post if you were just placed on another LAN flight, or if your original flight was cancelled. I don't know your exact travel dates, so I couldn't look at LAN's webpage to see if an earlier flight was available.

There is a nonstop AA flight MIA-RDU at 8:55 p.m. It would be tight, as you'd have to clear immigration, customs, recheck your bag and get to your next flight, and MIA can be a zoo.

Is this booked on one ticket? Is it an AA ticket? If so, why is anyone talking to LAN? Have you asked Orbitz to rebook you on this AA flight, or even the first AA flight the next morning?

rdu9

Thanks for the reply 6rugrats. Yes, I'm never thrilled about booking through third-party sites but unfortunately we tried to go cheap for this trip and are now paying the price. I've booked with Orbitz before and have always been notified in the past when there has been a schedule change, so I'm not sure why we didn't get notified this time. Ah well, too late for that now.

To reply to your questions, yes, this is all booked as one ticket on LAN, and Orbitz says they can't make any changes without going through LAN since they own the ticket. I've asked about the 8:55 PM flight but Orbitz says that the layover time is a hair under regulation for MIA so they can't do it. They said LAN might be able to, but even if they can I am slightly worried about getting through customs in time since, as you say, MIA can be a zoo.

Right now we're looking at just flying BOG-MIA on the 28th, staying overnight in MIA and taking the scheduled flight to RDU on the 29th. The problem is just that apparently only LAN can make any necessary changes to make this (or anything) happen, and no one can get through to LAN. The LAN agent I talked to today tried to tell me that the LAN travel agent desk was open 9-5 and taking calls, and there should be no reason why Orbitz couldn't get through to them. Five hours on hold seems to say otherwise.

cbn42

One option is to ask Orbitz to authorize you to deal directly with LAN. They can put a note on your booking saying that they give permission, and when the LAN representative sees it, he/she can then work directly with you.

However, I don't think this will do you much good. If they hung up on Orbitz, which is a major travel agency that gives them lots of business, then they aren't likely to have much time to deal with individual passengers.

Unfortunately when airlines cancel flights this type of thing happens. I'm not sure whose fault it is.

If you can't get anything resolved, then just go to check in for your flight a bit early and see if the agent at the counter can sort it out. Sometimes they are more helpful than the call center.

holtju2

I think that OP should find out whether AA or LAN is the ticketing carrier. OP can do this by looking at the eticket number. AA's start with 001. If it is AA, OP could try contacting AA.

The other option is to make the change once the trip has started. The ticketing carrier is responsible getting the OP to his/her destination even if not on AA.

jabez

Welcome to FT!
I agree with holtju2. Try the carrier, if that fails do it when traveling.

6rugrats

OP says LAN is the ticketing carrier.

I understand not wanting to leave without this situation being resolved. Please come back and post how this what happened. Good luck!

holtju2

You are absolutely right. Didn't read the OP's response carefully enough.

Once the trip has started the control of the ticket is with the ticketing carrier. LAN is responsible to get the OP to the ticketed destination. I know that it might feel uncomfortable to leave before an issue like this is resolved, but it might be the only option unless OP is willing to spend more time with Orbitz/LAN.

Unfortunately LAN is not known for their customer service.