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

By: Kris P.

Kris P. — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:33:15 +0000

Interesting to read the thread of comments. I guess I will be a living witness of this so-called “Price Assurance Guarantee”. I booked a R/T flight to PI months back and paid $1,022. Out of the blue, I went ahead and checked today. Low & behold.. The price actually dropped to $905. I’m looking at over $100 refund if someone else books the same cheaper flight. Per my Orbitz account, I still have the lowest fare which is bull! (I won’t ever trust that tracking message). That said, I’m going to ask a rhetorical question: Q: How the hell should I know if someone booked the same cheaper flight? A: Absolutely no way to find out! Meaning, I would have to rely on Orbitzs’ honesty and integrity. Screw that! I won’t even expect a refund unless my situation is quite similar to the person who wrote the original comment. I read some comments about this being a marketing strategy to lure us in and they are absolutely right. The moral is that there is no reason to stress out over something not worth it (such as a crappy policy) especially when you are going away for vacation like myself. I personally feel that I did not overpay for the flight as this is not the first time I booked the same itinerary, but I’ll be more than happy to share with everyone my experience if and when I get a refund.

By: Jan

Jan — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:38:15 +0000

I think the crucial difference between what you think you read and what it actually says will solve 90% of the issues, not that I agree with the policy, but it states that is ANYONE books the same itinerary at a lower price you will be refunded the difference. It seems that many of you assume that if there EXISTS a lower price at any point between when you book and when you leave, you will be refunded the difference, but that is unfortunately not what it says. You can well imagine that a lower price will exists some time, say tuesday afternoon the week after you booked it (that is normally when the lower prices are available), but if no one actually books a ticket at that price, then you do NOT get the difference; the difference will ONLY be paid out to you IF someone actually books the ticket. It is a small, but subtle, difference between what you think it reads (and perhaps what they would like you to think that it reads) and what it actually reads. This is one of the reasons I always search for hours - buy the ticket and NEVER check I know I would get pissed off if I found a cheaper one, but until someone regulates these damn airlines and their crooked price policies, its better to not know when you have been taken for a ride. My philosophy is “If I were satisfied with the price I got when I booked it, there is no reason to keep searching” - I mean, at that point I know I have a seat for the days that I want to travel, and that is worth a little these days when the planes are so overcrowded, so relax (said the guy who argues with airlines till he is blue in the face)

By: Joe Totoraitis

Joe Totoraitis — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:11:17 +0000

As others have written, I, too, wish I had read this blog earlier. Same scenario happened.

The crafty TV ad hides the “exact same” qualifiers in the copy being read because of the distracting antics of the actors.

The CS is a South American call center. All they do is re-read the scripted answers.

What we have here is a “failure to communicate.”

I’ll never use Orbitz, again.

By: bobbyd

bobbyd — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:03:55 +0000

I have to add some info I uncovered. Orbitz, like all agents (Travelocity, Yapta etc…) buy tickets in bundles, so they are stuck with those tickets to sell. Orbitz will NOT tell you that, but instead say their pricing is controlled by the airlines. Bull. I bought my ticket for $471 and 2 weeks later it was selling (”hurry..1 ticket left”)for $451. I called Orbitz claiming I was due a $20 rebate. Of course they say wait till the flight concludes. After the concluded flight they tell me that my $471 was the cheapest and that they probably sold the ticket back. Unbelievable. Neither the Attorney General nor BBB can access their records to confirm the scam, but still please file a complaint to get it on record. Again, DON’T GIVE ORBITZ ANYMORE BUSINESS.

By: bobbyd

bobbyd — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:54:53 +0000

I am so relieved to know that I am not alone about the Orbitz Scam. I too was just scammed and have been trying to file a complaint with the Attorney General of Michigan who is aware of the issue but can only report it as a complaint. Its still IMPORTANT to file against them. did you also notice that the people you deal with at Orbitz are not even in the United States. The last so-called manager (Mark) gave me a hard time in disclosing his origin…finally got him to admit he is in the Phillipine Islands. Bottomline, file a complaint to get it on file and NEVER do business with these scammers!

By: Michael G,

Michael G, — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:04:21 +0000

“Me too.” Wife and I booked 2 r/t airline tickets through
Orbitz @ $310/ticket. My mother-in-law decided to join
us — got the aisle seat in the same row as us! Her price
is $285. No sign an “automatic” refund so I submitted a
support request through orbitz.com — no response so I
called and was told to give them 48 hours. After 3 days,
“My Price Assurance” says “You currently have the lowest
price”. Umm, no, my mother-in-law has a lower price…
So I called and someone in India says they’ve escalated
to “the back office.” As has been pointed out above,
I’m lucky in that I know the person who booked the same
itinerary and have her Orbitz record locator etc. so I’m
optimistic that by being persistent, I may be luck enough
to get the $50 back. I’d love to know if anyone without
specific knowledge of a like booking has ever gotten the
“automatic” refund…

Orbitz’ price assurance is a shady deal at best in my
humble opinion. I think the best we can all do is take
our business elsewhere and let our friends, relatives,
coworkers, employers, etc. know our experience so they
can save the aggravation and the feeling of being taken
in we’ve all experienced.

By: Matt M

Matt M — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:16:14 +0000

I found this thread because I was curious if anybody in the history of Orbitz had received a refund from their price assurance guarantee. Looks like a handful of people have. Interesting. Probably non-stop trips on huge airplanes between two cities whose fliers like to book Orbitz most of the time.

By: Scammed

Scammed — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:02:46 +0000

No doubt orbitz is a scam. I tried cancelling a one-way ticket well in advance. I had paid the extra 15 dollar insurance fee. Apparently my excuse wasn’t “good enough” to get ANY of my money back. It’d seem fair to get back my money minus the insurance charge. So I filed a BBB complaint. Apparently the category of my complaint on BBB.ORG was by far the largest…

By: Andy Mejia

Andy Mejia — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 23:17:26 +0000

I booked on 02/14/10, i was told i would get a Orbitz Price Assurance check ASAP. Its now 10/11/10 and still NO REFUND….WTF ORBITZ SUCKS!!!!

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 00:00:14 +0000

I was skeptical to use Orbitz under the Price Assurance Guarantee and by the posts on this website my thoughts where right. Thats 1 less customer for Orbitz and i book many business and personal flights.