Hotwire nabbed my $237, and I got nothing
Written: Aug 12 '01
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The Bottom Line
The discount isn't worth the flight cancellation. Choose Southwest or Vanguard or Jetblue if you want discounts, not this shiller for the big boys.
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I got a pretty good price on an SF-NY roundtrip fare which I booked 2 months in advance. Usually, it's ~$280, and this was $35 cheaper. Great. Read the other reviews to see what's so much fun about a cheap fare.
But then I had a work emergency that took me out of San Francisco on the night of my SF outbound flight. Since I was practically in NY by then anyway, I just bought a one-way hop to NY, expecting that $237 wasn't so bad for a one-way New York to San Francisco for the return a few days later.
I've never done the 'hidden leg' thing with airlines before, where you only use one part of the booked ticket. Since Hotwire told me my ticket was not changeable or refundable, I figured it would be a waste of my time to call them and actually cancel the SF-NY part of my ticket.
Until I got to the airport. American Airlines informed me that they had cancelled my entire ticket after I missed the first leg of the flight. I had paid for the returning seat, but since I didn't use the outbound seat I had lost it.
Wow! So Hotwire didn't tell me this when I bought my ticket. And I never got a paper ticket in the mail or anything else. All they told me was that I couldn't change my ticket plans. Fine. But neither did they tell me that they'd cancel the entire ticket!
I called their customer service and they said "they felt bad for me". But it was *my* responsibility to inquire into the policies of the airline.
So nobody tells me anything and I lose my entire ticket. Meanwhile, American Airlines resells both my seats for $800 to some standby passenger.
Forget Hotline. They have zero respect for you as their customer. One bad experience like this will more than sink the $20-$50 per ticket you might save on all your yearly travels.
The level of information provided about the tickets sold on Hotwire is unacceptable. Worse still, their customer service is all too happy to accept your $$ and give you nothing in return.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
amol
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Member: Amol Sarva
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
I haven't used epinions in...8 years!
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