Beowulf wrote in message . ..
On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 17:10:30 +0000, Not the Karl Orff wrote:

In article ,
Beowulf wrote:

On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 16:08:21 +0000, Miss L. Toe wrote:
..
Book directly with the airline concerned, not through a travel agent.

Isn't Orbitz the same as Northwest Airline? But to be honest now I can not

No. Orbitz is owned by a consortium of U.S. airlines. Not sure which.


So if I get an eticket direct from the airline I would be traveling on am
I ok? I just feel from this recent trip that an eticket is not as good as
actual tickets in hand -- with the eticket it seemed like Orbitz.com felt
they could just change my flight schedule on a whim (they did so just
before I left for my trip, and also just before returning), change
carriers (they did this too) -- fricken bull****, made my air travel a
fricking nightmare.

I don't think that's due to an e-ticket. Airlines change flight
schedules all the time, and it doesn't matter *what* kind of ticket
you have, your flight can change. When you book directly with the
airline though, at least IME, they'll call or email you to notify you
of a change. The travel agents don't usually do that. One of the many
reasons I will aim to book directly with the airline unless the
savings is substantial otherwise. That said, I've had better luck with
expedia than travelocity such issues.


There I am, standing at the Alaska Air check-in
counter with my eticket (a fricken paper printer from my printer), and
being told I can not board because NWA has not paid Alaska Air!

Now this sounds strange, but I don't have experience with Alaska Air
to comment.

I think
having actual tickets in hand, and I mean REAL tickets, might be better
than etickets which do not seem to be worth much more than the paper they
are printed on, at least for permanency regarding flight times/carriers.

Nah, has little to do with your e-ticket. The e-ticket IS real,
represents all the paper ticket does. If their reason is as you
stated, wouldn't matter what kind of ticket you had.