Travelocity: Never Again!
Written: Oct 17 '01 (Updated May 26 '04)
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The Bottom Line
If I didn't check TWA's website on my own, I would've arrived at the airport to find out that TWA no longer flies out of JFK at all!
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Prior to September 11, 2001, I began making plans for my annual pilgrimage to Walt Disney World during the holiday season. It's a time when I meet quite a few friends down there as well as take int he great job Disney does with holiday decorations.
GOOD
In my quest for the lowest fares for air travel, I make it a point to check all of the travel sites: Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire, CheapestSeats, LowestFare.
By far, Travelocity beat them with a rate of $133 round trip per person on TWA out of Kennedy Airport.
The website is easy to use - the standard of most of the travel sites. The Travelocity home page has a simple search using the departure city, number of adults traveling, destination, departure date and return date.
For a more involved itinerary, the advance flight search options are available. Travelocity lets you choose the dates, destination, time preference, number of travelers, fare type (economy, business class, etc.), number of connections you will consider, and airline preference (if any). BOOM! Instant display of the best fares around.
Should you choose to create your own profile on Travelocity (this feature is automatically enacted once you have made a reservation through the site), there are many benefits including being able to link your Mastercard to the site to be eligible for the Mastercard Rewards program.
Also available is a quick list of any reservations in the system, as well as any reservations you put on hold. This feature is available to hold a fare should you want a bit of time to think about it - normally 24 hours.
In addition, you can have a list of Saved Itineraries for easy access to routes you frequently travel.
The best feature here, however, is the Fare Watcher. This enables you to monitor up to five different itineraries for the lowest fare. Travelocity will then alert you either by email or by posting it to the Fare Watcher Summary in your profile.
Information needed for each watch is simply the departure and destination information. Travelocity then gives you the option to choose to be alerted when the fare goes down by $25, the fare goes up or down by $25, or when the fare goes below (enter price). You are also given the option to have the information emailed to you or just posted in the fare watcher summary on your profile. I prefer having the information emailed directly to me.
BAD
Following the events of September 11, 2001, I didn't know if I would ever be able to get on a plane again, never mind this soon. I called Travelocity and spoke with someone about two weeks later about the refund policy and was told that TWA was making no provisions for people who simply did not care to fly at this time.
I figured if I lost my money, that was fine and I'd live with it unless the situation changed. It was less than a week later when I started watching TWA's own website that I noticed my flight numbers were no longer coming up.
I went to Travelocity and checked my Purchased Reservations. Everything still looked to be in order. I had not received any emails or any phone calls.
I continued checking TWA's website for the next week, until I finally grew concerned enough to call them directly. After sitting on hold for more than twenty minutes, I was told that as of October 6th, TWA was no longer maintaining a facility at JFK Airport. I was rebooked on American (identitcal flight times for both days), but the agent was very surprised that I had not been contacted by Travelocity.
Even now, more than ten days later, my Purchased Reservation on Travelocity still shows the TWA flights... Flights that no longer exist and that I am no longer booked on.
© 2001 Patti Aliventi
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And if you've gotten this far, check out the snippy comment by someone who is a Travelocity representative in my comments section. This will give you an idea of how they treat their customers.
Recommended:
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AliventiAsylum
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Member: Patti Aliventi
Location: Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire
Reviews written: 2066
Trusted by: 686 members
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Interstate National Dealer Services from AAA is Automotive Extended Warranty hell: http://www.epinions.com/content_5328707716
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