Orbitz and the old Bait and Switch

I think that this is an inevitable issue that most online consolidator
services face, especially this time of year, when most are making
thier holiday travel plans...The thing w/ orbitz is that I've found
that this happens a lot less frequently than other services. Just
from talking to co-workers (we're required to book business travel on
our own and we are reimbursed quarterly for it...don't ask), expedia
has the same problems VERY frequently.

I wouldn't lose hope in Orbitz, I think they generally provide a
better service than the majority of their competition - their deals
are better, their travel specials tend to be better and I've recently
started using their deal detector, which i like as well.

Maybe it's jsut me...

(Nathaniel Riesenberg) wrote in message om...
I have had the same experience as Jaybee. The one plus of using
Orbitz, is that their "flexible" flight searching system is MUCH
better than Travelocities, in terms of choices of
flexibility--weekends, 4 day periods etc.--no international though.
On Travelcity, their display of "available" dates generally turns out
to be "unavailable". They(and Orbitz too) continue to list offers
which have expired days or even weeks earlier--forcing the searcher to
go on a wild goose chase.
I just finished doing a search on Orbitz for RT, LGA to LAS--US Air
came up as cheapest; I got to the point where I could confirm but
decided to see what US Air has on their site--the flights Orbtiz is
allowing me to book are "sold out".
I would guess that Orbtiz may get "blocks" of tickets from the various
carriers for exclusive sale. Could anyone confirm this?
(Jaybee727) wrote in message ...
I've been playing around on Orbitz for days trying to come up with the lowest
airfare using NW, CO, or DL from LAS to TPA Dec 13 to 26. Seems everytime I
find a decent fare and try to book it I get a popup telling me the flights are
no longer available and to choose another flight (at a higher fare). Sometimes
I get all the way through the booking process including giving my meal/seat
preference AND providing my credit card number only to be told the flights are
no longer available, choose another flight (at a higher fare).

I called Orbitz and had a conversation with one of their supervisors
questioning why this was happening only to have her hang up on me when I
started asking questions she couldn't or wouldn't answer.

When I use a web site like Orbitz I assume I am being shown the lowest
AVAILABLE fare and not what it might have been if I had logged on a week, an
hour or even a minute earlier.

In my opinion Orbitz is pulling the old bait and switch by offering fares that
they know (or should know) are not really available then offering something
higher priced. If a car dealership pulled somethling like that, they would be
on the sorry end of a lawsuit yet Orbitz does it everyday with apparant
impunity.

Jerry in LAS