[globespinner]

I am not saying not to use these companies but please be aware of what can go wrong if the timing of your trip is critical:

Using Orbitz I purchased a RT Tijuana to Quito on LAN Chile. Two days before the April 28, 2012 departure I received a routine e-mail reminder from Orbitz. I noticed the middle of the three return segments was commencing prior to the first. Obviously an impossible schedule.

I immediately called Orbitz and after a while was told to call back in the morning. I did and they finally told me they had "fixed" the problem by moving the other two segments back one day. I did not want to loose a day of my already short trip but it was too late at that point I was told.

I arrived at the Tijuana airport 2.5 hours early and was told that I had to pay a change fee by Aero Mexico - the operator of the LAN flight. I politely protested but agreed to pay it. I got shuffled around to two different windows but neither could process the fee due to LAN being closed on a Saturday. The Aero Mex staff worked very hard to get me on that flight but the clocked ticked down and ultimately they could not let me board.

I returned home to San Diego and called Orbitz. They also could not do anything due to the weekend and told me to call back later. I asked if they could work on rescheduling and they took down some possible dates from me and said they would look into it. I have been calling them over the past several days, each time having to explain myself and finally getting transferred to the international staff. There is no direct line to international.

So far all I have been told is that LAN is denying a refund except for unused taxes. After four days Orbitz has pledged to refund my fare minus any taxes that LAN refunds. Orbitz has also offered me a $100 travel voucher. That is a good start but not quite enough in my opinion to compensate for all the inconvenience.

I blame LAN for making the idiotic schedule change but fault Orbitz for not having their computers programmed to catch the error. I blame both for not being available at the critical time when, despite my outbound flight being error free, I was not allowed to board. Everyone lost. MY trip was ruined and three segments that day had an empty seat. It is also very unsettling that neither company was willing to put a person on this fiasco right away and see it through. I am on my own. Luckily I am fighting this from the comfort of my home and not from some airport hotel in a strange city. This situation could have been a lot worse is what I keep telling myself.

Mark Dodge
19markwdodge56@gmail.com

[jimworcs]

This is outrageous and Orbitz, who I would focus my ire on, have liability. They sold you the ticket. A $100 voucher in no compensates for the inconvenience. I suggest that you tell them that unless they substantially improve their offer and include cash not a voucher you will be taking them to small claims court. There is no way they can win this case. LAN are out of it... your contract was with Orbitz and they are in breach of it. It is a straightforward breach of contract case.

[globespinner]

Thank you Jim for the encouragement. I have considered small claims but am hoping Orbitz or LAN will up it a bit without having to do that. I think re booking my trip for free plus the refund would be fair. I know it is technically not the same thing but when you get bumped due to overbooking they usually offer a voucher for a free ticket and put you on the next available flight.

Orbitz has always worked well for me in the past. I really want to give them a chance to make this good. I just wish they were showing more interest in correcting their system so this does not happen to anyone again. They do not seem to have that desire.

[globespinner]

I was just contacted by Orbitz. They were told by LAN that I could not board due to "visa issues" and they (Orbitz) have rescinded their offer for a full refund. They upped their voucher offer to $200 and said that LAN would be refunding $99.86 in taxes.

Ecuador does not require a pre issued visa for US citizens and my passport is up to date. Not sure why LAN would make that up but I am very disappointed in Orbitz for just accepting it. From the time this happened I have been treated like I had done something wrong and now it is implied that I am a liar.

[jimworcs]

Salt in the wound. Print off a screen shot of the visa entry requirements for Ecuador and a copy of your passport. It must have at least six months validity at the time of travel. Then tell Orbitz you will be taking them to court if this is not resolved in 7 days to your satisfaction. It is outrageous.

LAN are clearly liars.

[globespinner]

Earlier today I was contacted by phone by Orbitz. Yesterday I had filed a complaint with the U.S. Better Business Bureau and Orbitz was contacted by them immediately. I am impressed with how easy it was to file online and how fast it worked. When Orbitz called me (the first time they actually contacted me other than by e-mail) they had seen the complaint and drafted a response. I will get a full ticket refund plus $250. At my request they will credit my card rather than give me that in a travel voucher with them. Not all I wanted but fighting for more will not be worth the headache. I am sick of this. They probably know that. Time to move forward and reschedule/re-book my trip.

Thank you all for the responses. Of course I will be back posting here if none of this materializes.

[e-regular]

I have been trying to contact LAN Chile's customer service for the past 4 months with limited or no responses.

This was the last email I sent them in hope someone would call me once and for all to resolve this issue.

-->

Ms Pamela Veloz y Nancy Sarabia,

I have just tried to call your customer service number 12 times and I can not get through. When I press 2 for English, I get disconnected.

I think your company customer service is appalling and I would be ashamed to label myself a great company that aspires to provide great customer service with the horrible, non-existent service you have provided.

I wish for your team-leader/supervisor or manager to contact me immediately so I can get a refund of the AU$111.35 or a full refund of my ticket.

Dealing with your company has been one, if not the worst experience of my life. It is almost as though I have suffered a frontal lobotomy and I can not complete actions coherently, then I wake up and realise that it is you who has the problem in contacting customers and responding. You should be ashamed of yourselves and your customer service. Bow your heads in shame “Servicio Al Cliente” Lan Chile.

I have worked in the customer service space in call centres as senior computer engineer for the past 8 years of my life, and never have I witnessed such a pathetic display of ignorance coming from an international organisation.

Next time, I will be flying with a different company.

You both lack the professional ethics, qualifications, respect and courtesy necessary to respond to someone emails. It’s as if LAN Chile customer service is run by a Circus master.

Sincerely,
Henry Gomez

<--

[globespinner]

LAN did end up refunding the $99 for unused taxes but that is the only positive thing I can say. They were the one who triggered the whole fiasco by rescheduling the middle leg of my return flight to the day before the first and final legs. To date no apology or explanation. When Obitz contacted them about this LAN stated that the reason I was not allowed to board the Aero Mexico flight was visa related. That was complete crap as Ecuador issues a visa upon arrival to US citizens and my passport was up to date with several years prior to expiration. LAN later retracted that and agreed to refund the taxes. A horrible horrible company. Unfortunately they are very price competitive on North to South America routes.

[e-regular]

I definitely agree - they are a horrible, horrible company with competitive prices from Australia to South America.

I will however, make sure I use a different company in the future. They have NO customer service whatsoever.

[info_guy]

Originally Posted by globespinner

I am not saying not to use these companies but please be aware of what can go wrong if the timing of your trip is critical:

Using Orbitz I purchased a RT Tijuana to Quito on LAN Chile. Two days before the April 28, 2012 departure I received a routine e-mail reminder from Orbitz. I noticed the middle of the three return segments was commencing prior to the first. Obviously an impossible schedule.

I immediately called Orbitz and after a while was told to call back in the morning. I did and they finally told me they had "fixed" the problem by moving the other two segments back one day. I did not want to loose a day of my already short trip but it was too late at that point I was told.

I arrived at the Tijuana airport 2.5 hours early and was told that I had to pay a change fee by Aero Mexico - the operator of the LAN flight. I politely protested but agreed to pay it. I got shuffled around to two different windows but neither could process the fee due to LAN being closed on a Saturday. The Aero Mex staff worked very hard to get me on that flight but the clocked ticked down and ultimately they could not let me board.

I returned home to San Diego and called Orbitz. They also could not do anything due to the weekend and told me to call back later. I asked if they could work on rescheduling and they took down some possible dates from me and said they would look into it. I have been calling them over the past several days, each time having to explain myself and finally getting transferred to the international staff. There is no direct line to international.

So far all I have been told is that LAN is denying a refund except for unused taxes. After four days Orbitz has pledged to refund my fare minus any taxes that LAN refunds. Orbitz has also offered me a $100 travel voucher. That is a good start but not quite enough in my opinion to compensate for all the inconvenience.

I blame LAN for making the idiotic schedule change but fault Orbitz for not having their computers programmed to catch the error. I blame both for not being available at the critical time when, despite my outbound flight being error free, I was not allowed to board. Everyone lost. MY trip was ruined and three segments that day had an empty seat. It is also very unsettling that neither company was willing to put a person on this fiasco right away and see it through. I am on my own. Luckily I am fighting this from the comfort of my home and not from some airport hotel in a strange city. This situation could have been a lot worse is what I keep telling myself.

Mark Dodge
19markwdodge56@gmail.com

Hi Mark, what a horrible experience. I know a lot from this topic so i can tell you my experiences.

When you book a tkt from a travel agency (TA), idk if you red the contract,all changes and modifications has to be done with the TA if the tkt has not been used or if you want to get the refund.
If there is a schedule change the companies only manages the TV contacts as they only put that info in the system ands sometimes ( for internal issues) they deny adding passengers info in the tkt.

When there is a problem like this the TA is informed on time and given the procedure( there is an internal department to solve it, not the customer phone) and most of times the TA dones not do the job properly and blame the company, but they cant do anything and have limited access to information because of that.

Regards

[info_guy]

Hi Mark, what a horrible experience. I know a lot from this topic so i can tell you my experiences.

When you book a tkt from a travel agency (TA), idk if you red the contract,all changes and modifications has to be done with the TA if the tkt has not been used or if you want to get the refund.

If there is a schedule change the companies only manages the TA contacts, as they only put that info in the system and sometimes ( for internal issues) they deny adding passengers info in the tkt.(Companies dont have numbers to call passengers)

When there is a problem like this, the TA is informed on time and given the procedure ( there is an internal department to solve it, not the customer phone) and most of times the TA does not do the job properly and blame the company, but companies cant do anything and have limited access to information because of that.

The refund process has to do directly with the TA and has to be done via them, the TA call the TA help desk and they finalize it, it has nothing to do with the passenger.

So in your case i see a procedure that was not correct from the TA.

This processes are a lot easier when you buy directly with the company, trust me.

Regards

[globespinner]

I agree that the TA (Orbitz) was responsible. It took a while to get them to help me but once they did LAN Chile resisted them. LAN told them I had a visa issue which was not true. LAN is the one that made the schedule change and the one that was not available on a Saturday when Aero Mexico was trying (they tried hard!!!) to resolve the issue. I think Orbitz just bumbled it but eventually made good. LAN was pure evil all the way.