Capital One review: Capital One Travel is a scam – avoid at all costs ( 3 comments)

I had this happen to me as well. I booked flights from BNA to SYD with a three-hour layover at LAX on both the outbound and return flights. I saw that my return flight was changed, and now I have a 15-hour layover at LAX. The options offered were 1) Cancel the Flight and rebook (losing the sales price) or 2) Accept the flight change. If I did not respond within 24 hours, the change would automatically be made permanent. This change was entirely unacceptable to me. I contacted Capital One Travel, and the agent was 100% unhelpful. She said that the airlines made the change and that there was nothing they could do except cancel the reservation and return my points. I explained that I got the seats while they were on sale ($3300 R/T for Premium Economy), and now the fare is over $5000 R/T. I garnered little sympathy from the agent. I called American Airlines and spoke to someone there who first said that since the ticket was booked via a third-party agency, I had to deal with them. Exasperated, I explained that Capital One said they couldn't offer me anything because the change came from AA. The AA customer agent placed me on a brief hold, and when she returned, she said that since AA made the schedule change, she would modify my reservation, and I could pick any return flight leaving that day with no additional charges. I ended up with a MUCH better return flight, with better departure/arrival times and much shorter total travel time. That's how customer service is supposed to work. When I called Capital One Travel to tell them that AA fixed my flight and to cancel the 24-hour threat to my reservation, the agent said she couldn't change anything. So, I was still at risk of the system making a change to my reservation that I neither authorized nor wanted. Remember, the only two options offered by Capital One Travel were to accept the proposed change or to cancel the reservation entirely. When I checked back with Capital One Travel the next day, nothing had changed, and the "you must accept...etc" message was still there, as it is today, several weeks later. I am now managing my reservation on the AA site and avoiding Capital One Travel. I will transfer my points to partners and book directly through them from now on to avoid the incompetence of the third-party travel agency.