Orbitz
Reviews and Complaints

Wow, there is obviously a trend here. I've been an Orbitz customer since October 28, 2001...over 10 years (I have my original registration email). In August of last year, I purchased 4 round trip nonstop tickets. The return carrier decided to change our original nonstop flight to one with a layover. Since I was traveling with two small children, I called Orbitz to cancel the flights as this was not what I purchased. I was assured by an Orbitz representative on 9/28/2011, after they spoke with the carriers, that I would be receiving a credit for these flights. I PROMPTLY REBOOKED ACCEPTABLE FLIGHTS THAT SAME DAY. Two weeks later I received an email stating that my credit request was denied. Again, I called Orbitz on 10/11/2011 and again, after their representative spoke with the carriers, I am told that I should be receiving a credit for the original tickets. Just yesterday (2/21/2012), after recognizing that I never received a credit or even another email denying the request, I called Orbitz. Again, the representative said that I should have received a credit, told me that his system notes indicate I was told I would receive a credit, and called the carriers who said they issued a credit but it was denied for some reason. He then told me the previous Orbitz representative "should not have told you that (I would receive a credit)" and would be passing me to his supervisor who kept repeating the phrase "I'm not able to do anything for you". Bottom line, I spent lots of money rebooking flights consistent with my original purchase based on the information Orbitz conveyed only to find out later that that the Orbitz representative "should not have told you that". I run a business with 30 people that I am ultimately responsible for. If one of my staff makes a representation to a customer, I follow through on it even if it doesn't immediately benefit my organization. I will be taking my travel business as well as those who work for me elsewhere.

Made travel plans with Orbitz, thier site steered me to the travel insurance company "Access America".
my mother died unexpectedly. Canx the trip, submitted claim. Access America ran me through the ringer- they first would not accept the death certificate, then demanded I get a doctors evaluation. Getting a doctors write-up proving that this was not an underlying condition (which it said so on the doctors report) still was not enough, and they denied the claim. Ban Orbitz and this company, this is a scam and they need to be shut down. Oh, and this hellish process took over three months! SAVE your money folks, AVOID ORBITZ and ACCESS AMERICA.

I was trying to book a vacation for 6 people for about $6500.00. First when I called they said the flight that was listed on-line that we were interested in was no longer available (of course) so we could choose an alternate one (all of which were more expensive) and that we would have to book two separate trips because they can only reserve 2 rooms at a time.

So after booking 4 of us and two rooms we tried to book the other 2 with one room but the transaction would not go through. I said I would call my bank to check on it. When I did I discovered two additional charges (besides the $4400 for the first 4 I had just paid) for $1189 each. I contacted Orbitz about this and they said they were 'soft charges' that occurred when they tried to book the flights that were not available. They said they would contact my bank. After getting disconnected a couple times and trying to get back to the same person I was talking to (impossible I was told), I finally talked to a supervisor. Basically I was told by my bank that they could do nothing and that the charges would have to 'roll off after a few days' and told by Orbitz that was the only thing they could do. One agent told me after all of this that 'that's why you shouldn't use a debit card'. They should have told me that before they accepted my card- like the car rental companies do. So I had to cancel my other reservations because I could not guarantee that we could book the rest of our party. They told me that it would take up to 5 days to get my money refunded. So here I am after spending a day arguing with Orbitz and trying to book a fair size trip with them and having them charge my bank account $6778, with no reservations and no way to book somewhere else because it will take 3-5 days for me to get access to that money again.I don't know about most people but I do not have a spare $7000 to work with. This is one of the most frustrating unpleasant experiences I have had - with anyone! I just hope I can get flights when I finally get my money...

I checked Orbitz for a flight to UK ended up using another company. I now get 3-4 emails every week from them despite going to their website and unsubscribing. They just won't stop.

This seems to be a common thing with Orbitz, promising refunds and consistently failing to deliver on that promise. My experience is with Orbitz's Hotel Club site, and I can say that their customer service is rude and incompetent on a good day.

When I discovered that I would not be able to go to San Francisco as originally planned, I called Hotel Club/Orbitz to cancel. On the other end I was promised a full refund in 10 working days. Ten working days have long since passed and I have not gotten the refund.

Every time I have called their Third World call center, I have been connected to someone who can barely speak English and who promises the refund "soon." No one is able to give me a date on the refund, so that tells me they have no intention of issuing the refund.

Orbitz and their affiliated companies are to be avoided at all costs. Never have I dealt with such awful customer service. I mean these people suck to high heaven.

Purchased a one way ticket on Mon, price changed on Tues by $60. cheaper, they will not do anything for you..their policy is to refund the difference ... IF...someone else purchases a ticket for the same day, same flight & also would have to be a oneway ticket... too many "IF's"
..Orbitz blames United, United blames Orbitz & stated Orbitz would have to make a refund, but it has to be within their "IF's" to qualify, what a rip off, customer is just out of luck.

Formal Complaint over Orbitz not honoring price Assurance Guarantee
Two r/t tickets PDX to NBO (6/12/10 – 6/1910) for $2, 274, 09 purchased 3/19/10– New search on your website on 3/29/10 showed r/t fare including the taxes to be $2, 123. For a total difference of $151.09 X 2 passengers = $302.18 = total difference.

To qualify for Price Assurance, customer’s flight including origin, destination, dates, airline, flight number, booking and other restrictions must match qualifying booking. Maximum refund is $250.

Orbitz places the burden of proof of these exact conditions on the Customer when we do not have access to your books to prove if any customer booked the exact booking or if Orbitz slightly changed the itinerary to avoid having to pay $151.08 per ticket, on our high-priced round-trip to Africia.

It is not just that we monitored and found that Orbitz was quoting a $302.18 lower fare on this exact itinerary but that it must be placed on the exact same date, flight, airline, etc. and that is what we consider “very deceptive and unfair advertising” on Orbitz part.

This is a 100% scam whose purpose is to get potential clients excited about the mere possibility of getting a partial refund at a later date. Then you make them wait for months to even get a refund.

[protected]

https://www.orbitz.com/Secure/SignIn

My wife and I bought tickets threw Orbitz.com from Poland to the States, having one connecting flight from Chicago to our destination. I have had terrible experiences with both CheapTickets.com and Expedia, so I thought I would try a new service. I read all the fine print before purchasing and they still managed to be screwed in the end.

Orbitz.com sold us tickets on two different airlines (Lot Polish Air and United) that DO NOT have a baggage agreement with only a 2 hour layover time between flights. This means that not only do we have to pay to check our luggage twice with two different airlines, that we will be forced to deal with customs, collect our baggage, change terminals with all our luggage in tow, check in for our domestic connecting flight, pass threw security and make our flight all in under 2 hours. Where as this may be possible if everything works perfectly and the ques are light, I wanted to make sure there wasn’t something I could do to get a little more time being that I am a realist and have traveled internationally quite often.

After spending 1.5 hours on the phone with their customer service, I was told by two different people (one a service rep, then one a supervisor) first that we WOULD NOT have to check our bags again only to have them contradict themselves 10 minutes later after they actually checked with the airlines we will be flying with.

In fact, I was put on hold for 8 minutes by the service rep who then ‘called the airline’ only to find out it was closed because ‘it was 3 am in Poland.’ I informed her that I was calling via Skype from Poland and that it was in fact 11:00 am. I asked if she had actually tried to call at all and if so, what was the number? She said that they cannot give out the numbers because they are specifically for services such as Orbitz.com or the like.

Completely confused as to what she was saying, I asked her about possibly moving the flight time of the connecting flight back to give us more time. She informed me that it would $200 per ticket to do this and add 4 hours to our layover time. I explained to her that I was on Orbitz.com and that the ticket price for the exact same flight we were now talking about was only $112 including all taxes and fees. I asked her why would I spend $400 to move tickets when I could just buy two more for $224? She told me that if I did it this way, I would not receive my money back for the original tickets I booked.

Obviously, I asked if I paid the $200 per flight ‘transferring fee’ would we then receive money for the original flights? She said no. I asked why would she even bring it up in the first place if it wasn’t an option at all to which she replied, and I quote, ‘These are the tickets you purchased and agreed to so there is nothing we can do about it.’
I then asked to speak to her manager. I was connected with a woman named Luna who I was forced to explain the entire situation to again. I asked how Orbitz.com could sell ticket combinations for international flights not taking into account all these issues? She told me repeatedly that ‘the computer says its enough time according to the airlines standards.’ When I asked her if this was a standard situation, she agreed that it was not and told me that these times are ‘based on domestic connections.’ I asked her if she knew what she was now saying and if she really thought it made sense and she launched into whatever the monitor she was sitting in front of told her to say, repeating it over and over.

We went around and around, me explaining the situation in as many different ways as I could and her speaking but not actually saying anything until she told me she would do ‘some research and put me on hold.’ After 11 minutes, she came back telling me that there WAS in fact a baggage agreement and that I wouldn’t have to worry about checking the luggage at all. I told her, again, that this contradicted what the previous woman had told me and asked her to make sure.

After being on hold for another 10 minutes, she came back and said that she had spoke to Lot Airlines (who had previously been closed because it was 3 am in Poland according to the first woman) and that there WAS NOT a baggage agreement but that ‘they said it was probably enough time.’ I was so furious at this point that I asked her if she realized she just contradicted herself. She ignored the question completely and went back into her schpiel about how ‘the computer says its enough time.’

It took me asking 4 more times for her to admit that the was wrong about the baggage agreement and then put me on hold yet again only to return to say that she was just told that if we miss our connecting flight, that United would move our tickets to the next available flight free of charge because ‘their standard times were in fact not enough.’

I asked her if I could get something stating this emailed to me and she said they had no way of sending out emails from their computers. I asked her then what would Orbitz.com do for me if I get there and this isn’t actually correct and I am forced to pay for additional tickets as well as checked luggage? I told her that I had in fact been recording this entire conversation and that I just had her making a guarantee that I wouldn’t be charged if I miss the connecting flight. She asked if I could hold again, I said yes, and the call then dropped.
She hung up on me after an hour and a half of contradicting information and mistruths.
It is my plan to call every day, record the conversations and make their lives hell until I get satisfaction. Actually, what I should say is, until I get reasonable service for my nearly $2000 spent with this horrible company.

Please do not use this service at all unless you want to deal with the same sort of situations. I wish that I could possibly suggest a better service but I haven’t had much luck with any similar in the past. Granted, the situations have been different, but the complete lack of care for the customer has been exactly the same.

The hotel was difficult to locate due to the fact that it was still under construction. Half of the facility was incomplete.

The pool was kept locked, there were no lights in the parking area during the evening, and phone service was only local and only after calling the front desk.

The water was shut off intermittently for repairs and only one ice machine was available for an entire bank of occupied rooms.

I voiced my complaint to the manager who stated that, "Repairs were in progress; wait a while, and the ice will come down... and buy a phone card if you want to call out."

I planned my vacation to Ohio. It would've been my Mother and Father's 60th wedding anniversary;sadly my Father passed in November. Also my sister was there visiting from memphis who I never see.I had a 2 day migraine and had to xl my flight with orbitz yet had purchased travel insurance through Access America. The same PM of the day I was to leave originally, I started feeling better. It has been 4 days now and I have not heard a word from anybody to get my flight rebooked! NOT A WORD! I wanted to rebook it the very same day I canceled. Orbitz customer service didn't helpt at all if you can understand them;advised me to get in touch with Access America! I cannot! They will not respond! Now it is too late for my trip andI am reporting both companies to BBB..unless they agree to give me a refund. The agreement was I was able to rebook before May 2010..hellloooo? I spent $453+...they want something from a Dr according to the site... which I didn't need to go to;I've had migraines my whole life! This has been a disheartened time and I have spend everyday in bed crying. I will NEVER do business with ORBITZ or ACCESS AMERICA AGAIN! Here I come BBB!

Now my vacation is almost over and I do not get another until next year!

I demand a refund of all money exchanged with these companies! I demand a credit on my cc immediatley! Although nothing can replace that very special week.

In addition to my other comments:
...I FINALLY just received an email after days and days..2 actually, one was from a "sara" that used capital letters which we ALL know, lol..you do not ever use capital letters when emailing a customer! She was yelling at me.Then she tells me I have to have a Dr fill out a form for the reason I had to cancel my flight..then I'd have to wait 5-7 business days! Well, my vacation is over...I have explained to them 4 times I didn't have to go to the Dr., then she wanted all my receipts, proof, of payment, flight info..etc. Everything was in the email I have sent to them all these times. I'm taking this to the Attorney general's office Now!
I just received another email tday 6/10/11, they said I needed to read all terms! I DID! Otherwise I wouldn't have purchased it! I always get travel insurance, but have never used this insurance or Orbitz. They said if it would make me feel better, I could still file a claim!...I am looking for every complaint website or resource I can find!

I attempted to check into the Super 8 in Fort Smith ! The rooms were terrible, they were supposed to be non-smoking rooms but they stunk with cigarette smoke !1 My wife would have none of it & we had to find another Motel ! I want my money refunded !

Car rental through Orbitz. Only company listed was Fox rental. Trusting Orbitz I paid a non refundable payment only to find they are promoting a 1.5 star company. One would expect more from a presumably reputable company such as Orbitz. Renters beware

Made a reservation through Orbitz at Hampton Inn Columbia , So. Carolina . Mar 21 -22 , 2023 The hotel was advertised as pet friendly ( there is usually a ($15-25) fee for pets . On reaching the hotel the pet fee was $75. The reservation was non refundable . this was an outrageous fee . For $75 you can have two dogs , I had 1, 11 lb dog .

I am sorry the person had that problem.However, I may be in the same boat if things don't change. I did change my departure dates and did also had to pay a steep price for doing so. Yet I have not received my confirmation by e-mail as of this day (I changed the day by phone at Orbitz customer service center) I don't have anything in writing to take to the airport to prove my right and my husband's right to board the plane. What is the problem? The service personnel assured me she
was e-mailing me my voucher. Not yet have I received it. They have charged my Visa card for the trip. I made this transaction on Monday, today is Friday.? What is the problem here?

My husband and I had the exact same experience happen to us on our recent honeymoon. We had booked tickets through Orbitz a year ago from DC to Barcelona. A few months before our departure, we got an email from Orbitz saying our itinerary had changed...not just a couple of hours, but two DAYS later. We called customer service and after half a dozen calls back and forth between Iberia and Orbitz, they booked us on an acceptable itinerary. On the day we were to leave on our honeymoon, we arrived at the airport only to be told by the American Eagles Airlines (code share) ticket counter representative that "we had a reservation but not tickets" for our flight. She said to call Orbitz because they had made a mistake.

I was on the phone with Orbitz for 2 hours during which time we missed our flight and my cell phone battery died. I spoke to 4 people including one supervisor, and one of the representatives even did a 3 way call with an Iberia representative. They were never able to resolve the issue and book our tickets. They were totally unapologetic, even suggesting numerous times that they had done nothing wrong despite the fact that we are literally standing in the airport having missed our flight because we couldn't get our tickets. After we had missed the flight, we had to buy new tickets on a different airline at 3 times the price we had paid for the Orbitz tickets. What a way to start our honeymoon!

Now that we are home after the honeymoon, we filed a dispute with our bank to fight the Orbitz charges. While we are waiting for the bank to file the dispute, I will also send some letters to Orbitz requesting a refund. What a nightmare...

On December 23, 2006, my husband and I were at the Philadelphia Airport to board our flight from Philadelphia to San Juan for our honeymoon. From San Juan, we were supposed to pick up a connecting flight to Tortola. Then from Tortola we were supposed to pick up our last connecting flight to our final destination, Antigua. When we arrived at the U.S. Airways ticket counter we were told that our seats were not confirmed for the connecting flights therefore they could not let us board our flight to San Juan. I showed them my itinerary from Orbitz which showed that our flights were confirmed and explained that I even spoke to a customer service representative from Orbitz who told me that the seats were confirmed. The U.S. Airways ticket agent said that Orbtiz never confirmed our seats on the connecting flights which meant that the seats were no longer available. When I asked what to do the ticket agent told me to call Orbitz. We stepped out of line and I immediately called the Orbitz customer service number. The representative could not help me and kept telling me that his computer showed that the flights were confirmed. I responded that the U.S. Airways ticket agent printed us a flight sheet that showed that we were not on the connecting flights. The Orbtiz customer service representative then asked to speak to a ticket agent from U.S. Airways. I walked back to the ticket counter and explained our situation to another agent. She said that they are not allowed to use customer’s cell phones and she said that Orbitz would not be able to help her anyway. I then disconnected my phone call from the Orbitz customer service representative. The U.S. Airways ticket agent was able to arrange for us to fly out the next day, December 24, 2006. She put us on a flight from Philadelphia to San Juan with a connecting flight from San Juan to Antigua. We then checked into the Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport since we live over an hour away from the airport and our ride had already left.

Once I returned from our honeymoon, I tried to contact Orbitz on several occasions. I was put on hold for 30 minutes even up to an hour each time I called. On January 15, 2007, I called the Orbitz customer service line and explained the situation to a customer service representative. He told me to call the airlines. I called Liat and Caribbean Sun and representatives from both airlines stated that Orbitz would be responsible for compensation since it was their error.

Due to careless errors made by Orbitz, we lost one night from our honeymoon – a night that we can never make up and our travel experience was ruined. We also lost money from our accommodations in Antigua since we did not arrive on Saturday as expected. Orbitz has not responded to any communication made to them.

Having flown to china a number of times I agree that this poster really should have had more help from Orbitz but I know that Orbitz stinks and is the worst travel service.

The poster was lucky that China Southern offered to help.