Comments on: Orbitz Price Assurance Scam…, Buyers Beware !

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:27:00 +0000

While Orbitz is technically following its clearly stated rules, they deserve to be publicly shamed for having a “Price Assurance” policy that will almost never be invoked. It’s not “assurance” if the benefit relies on the extremely small chance that another customer will book the identical itinerary through Orbitz. Orbitz might be right legally (though I’d love to see a class-action suit for misleading use of the term “price assurance”), but they deserve to lose customers for such a cynical gimmick.

By: Raelee

Raelee — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 17:12:39 +0000

I am a travel agent and just to make this a little more clear for everyone. Tickets are non-refundable. The only way that Orbitz can actually give you a refund for the difference - assuming someone books the exact same flight on the exact same day (also in the exact same class of service - not something you can see online) is if they catch it within 24 hours. They can “void” your ticket and re-issue it at the lower price without penalty. In turn, if the airlines change the fare a week later, they can not re-issue your ticket without the change fees. It’s got some very small print in the terms of the price assurance. I suggest that you use a travel agent and they will give you the lowest fare. Use Orbitz or other online search engines to search for fares, but if you want to book, then book with the airlines directly. If you see that it is a Delta flight that you want to book, book it directly with them or whatever airline you are flying. You will get better customer service if you run into a schedule change or flight cancellation, or use a travel agent. A person with some knowledge. We do this all day every day professionally. We save you from tons of hassle and give you personalized service. Smart! Pay attention to the flights you are looking at too. As Dave Perkins had mentioned, it was the exact same flight, but it had one less stop and cost less money. Clearly it is not the exact same flight if it has one less stop. Things change within minutes and sometimes they stay the same for months. I don’t think that Orbitz accurately describes the policies when they are advertising them because they want to lure you in. Always read the fine print… and buy with a travel agent!

By: Sally

Sally — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:47:27 +0000

To the OP: Did your aunt purchase her tickets through Orbitz as well?

Like others are saying, apparently someone has to purchase the exact same round trip flight as you *through Orbitz* for the “price assurance” benefit to kick in. If your aunt purchased through Orbitz you’d think you should have qualified.. so I’m wondering if she didn’t.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:41:07 +0000

Isn’t it against some law for them to falsely advertise they way they are?
I’ve also been subject to the “Orbitz Price Assurance” and, after being shuffled around on their phone system from operator to operator, for over an hour and none of them knew anything about “Orbitz Price Assurance”.

Isn’t someone in our government supposed to prosecute companies that cheat like this?

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:01:29 +0000

Their call center is a bunch of 25 cent an hour, taco bending jerks from Mexico City. Orbitz doesn’t care about anything but making money, and their promises mean absolutely dick.

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:14:10 +0000

After arguing with a customer agent for half an hour I am no closer to getting a refund or price match. Their Price Assurance policy does not make any sense, especially when it comes to round trip tickets. When I purchased my tickets I did so specifically because I had assumed that Orbitz would cover the price difference should the fare drop. Unfortunately I didn’t spend the time reading the fine print until later on when I discovered that my flight price had dropped considerably over a 30 day period. When I contacted them they gave me the scripted answer that someone has to purchase an identical ROUND TRIP ticket. What are the chances of someone buying the same exact ticket as me for a round trip flight? The odds are pretty astronomical when you consider the number of travel agency websites that are booking flights and the number of alternate flights that people could book. I expect it to be impossible for there ever to be a qualified matching flight resulting in a price match. After reading this article I guess it doesn’t matter if someone does buy that one in a million flight because they don’t seem to even qualify legitimate price assurance requests. After this experience I am going to go out of my way to tell others not to use Orbitz.

By: Sterling Pepper

Sterling Pepper — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:42:13 +0000

I too have experience “The Orbitz Price Assurance Scam”. I purchased a ticket on 12/2 and found (through their website) a lower price ($66.00) on 12/5. When I contact their customer service, they spoke the “scripted answer” that if someone else buys the same flight, then I’ll get a refund. That’s not price assurance. Three days and the price drops. Refund the difference. That’s price assurance. Customer Service told me there nothing they can do but I can do something. Never use Orbitz again. Buyer Beware!!!!!

By: Dennis

Dennis — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:23:38 +0000

Here’s another example of Orbitz scamming. Found a flight from our home town to Arizona for $194 + 46 tax.. Tried to book and it came back that we had timed out, researched and selected flights went through all the info and it reported bank refused charge (B.S.!!) tried 3 times. Redid search and flights show up the same price until you get to the final page where you pay, now it’s gone up to $909!! That’s why we don’t use Orbitz.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:04:59 +0000

I puirchased a couple of tickets through Orebitz for roughly $932. A couple of day’s later I get an e-mail stating that someone else had booked the same flight and i’d be getting a rebate of roughly $400 (a little more then that). Unfortunatley we missed the oputbound leg of the trip and the airline messeed around with the tickets, so it showed as cancelled. I called Orbitz today 6 July 09. And was told that I am out of luck on the rebate. Since the travel was not completed I am not eligible. They certainly billed my CC pretty quick though. At this point, I am going totell every single person and every single business traveller I know to avoid orbitz. Congratulations on screwing someone out of $432 Orbitz, lets see how much that costs you.

By: Dave Perkins

Dave Perkins — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:30:33 +0000

Different person but essentially the same story. There “price assurance” is a God damned lie.

Booked for two Des Moines to Seattle months ago for a trip comming up in a couple weeks. Repeately was shown “you currently have the lowest price” on the web site. Just curious I checked for tickets while not logged in to their site and found a much, much better offer (less than half the price and one less stop) leaving the same day, same carrier and flight.

I called Orbitz (alleged) customer service and was told that to claim a refund ANOTHER ORBITZ CUSTOMER WOULD HAVE TO BOOK THE EXACT SAME FLIGHT FOR A LOWER PRICE. So it’s not just that there exists a lower cost option, someone has to book EXACTLY the same flight with Oritz. What bullshit. I hope to get the gate agent to re-route us to the alternate connection in Denver, but I’m completely at their mercy.

Orbitz as a customer agent is a bare faced lie; these bastards charged my VISA debit card about 5 nanoseconds after I booked the flight; they’ve had six monnths use of my money, for free and I didn’t even get a sincere sounding apology let alone any offer to at least TRY to help.

I don’t forget and I’m VERY vocal - it’ll cost ‘em in the long run, no matter how long it takes me. Bet on it.