Did you say that backwards? Nonrefundable is MORE expensive than refundable? I would have thought it would be the opposite.

Yes, of course, I said it backwards. I am going batty trying to finalize this itinerary.

But I don't understand the two sentences from Expedia.
The non refundable route is a lot cheaper that refundable, which I'm accustomed to. But even so, 5 people, 6 first class flights each, it's still a lot to be potentially subject to "FULL forfeiture"!

I take those two statements as: If the airline is going to let you change it, that's OK by Expedia. But don't blame us if the airline says no because you should assume they will say no.

I could see that. But it's hard not to take the first sentence literally.

I guess my concern is that, before I book it, I need to know what the terms are. Typically you pay a change fee and essentially have a credit good on that airline for 1 year in your name. That I would be fine with.

But the first line seemed to me to say, things booked on Expedia are not refundable, period. In other words, these particular fares are in a particular fare class that does not have the "normal" refundability.

I guess I could call the airlines (of course there are 4 different ones) and ask if they have any fares with such conditions sold through any party.

See if this helps, it seems to say you can do pretty much what you are looking for as long as you buy a refundable fare:
http://support.expedia.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1484

I'm a corporate event planner and because of that I'm also a certified travel agent. I like to clarify that I'm not primarily a travel agent with expertise on rules and ticketing.

Expedia can be useful in searching routes and fares, but I recommend people not use it to book air. Once booked, you then need to contact Expedia to make changes, cancellations, etc. when it is far easier to make changes through an airline directly, especially when having to make changes en route due to weather or mechanical issues. Airlines have much greater flexibility to offer alternate flights and rebook on other carriers when they're working with passengers who've booked with them directly, moreso if the passengers have elite status.

Expedia is a travel agency. I recommend using it -- or better yet Kayak.com -- to search, and only book directly with the airline, using a credit card with built in travel insurance and cancellation benefits. Most cards offer these benefits.

I travel frequently and have never needed to book refundable fares because should I need to cancel, the airline simply allows me to use the unused fare toward another ticket minus a nominal change fee, usually $100-150 but sometimes free if I'm elite on that carrier. YMMV

Said another way: booking through Expedia necessarily causes passengers to endure two layers of grief vs one.

Totally agree with jujubean. I use Expedia, Travelocity, etc to search and then I book directly with the hotel and airline. If there is some type of issue, I want to deal directly with the provider. Anyone that I know that has used Expedia and had to cancel a reservation says it's a nightmare. Plus, I've never found Expedia to have better prices. When I've checked the same flight on the airlines site, it's always the same price.

I was going to say exactly what juju said, and I am happy to see that she is a professional in the field.

Years ago, when I had to book flights for college, I used Expedia. Well ,one time my daughter was able to come home early and it was so difficult getting a hold of someone to change her flight.

I use those sites only as research, then go directly to the specific airline.

That is so helpful, guys. I really appreciate it. Too bad I wasted all that time entering the whole family including passports and bdays etcetera!

Oh well.

It's only 5 weeks away so fairly certain of our plans , but having just negotiated resolution on a non refundable hotel fiasco I'm very wary!

I look at Expedia to find which airlines to look at that fits my schedule and then go straight to the airline sites and book. Actually I've found lower fares doing that a couple of times for the same flight as I got some booking special from the airline, plus I can then deal with the airline directly which turned out to be extremely important a year ago when we ended up going on a tour of Europes airports due to weather issues before reaching our final destination.

Another who agrees with Juju. For my work expense statements, Expedia and most other on-line airfare/hotel/etc. sites are a pain in the behind. I can almost guarantee a problem with the expense statement if one of those sites is used.

tina

What jujubean said. I only book thru airlines. Sometimes I call and get a live person on the phone when I'm booking for multiple family members and ask them for assistance in doing the booking while I'm on the computer. Just to make sure I'm doing it correctly to get it right. Just make sure they aren't going to charge you a fee for the phone service. I always ask because it can get tricky trying to book more than a couple of people online.

Great thread. Glad you posted this.

I got burned once on Expedia with a multiple flights ticket, I now book only through the airline websites.
I know I'm only repeating what was said above but it's so true.

Another one here who uses various travel search engines, and then book directly with the airline. I have been finding the lowest prices on Priceline lately -not the name your own section, but the part where you just look up prices.

I just use American Express. There is a small booking fee but they keep all of your records and if you run into a problem you don't want to look just across one airline.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sharing your insight. I'd never booked thru Expedia before, I too used it just to search. But it was easier to input all the TSA info for all five of us, plus passport numbers, contact info etc etc, in one place then go under each of four airlines and type it all over again. DH and I have FF accounts at most, but the kids don't (they make it very cumbersome for kids under 13 to get FF accounts)

Still, in the end, that's what I decided to do. I resent being made a data entry clerk for the day!

Kitchy, I use Amex booking for the amenities I get under Fine Hotels and Resorts, but I don't use them for flights unless I am in transit and need services. IIRC they charge per ticket. It's $35 which isn't crazy, unless you have 5 people taking six flights each, in which case it totals $1,050 in booking fees. Even if it was worth it to me, seems sinful.

This post was edited by mtnrdredux on Fri, Feb 7, 14 at 13:48

I used expedia every time I booked a flight only, but after the last time, won't use them again. I was given nothing more than a confirmation number, and the morning of my flight, still hadn't receive an official itinerary directly from them. When I called, the 'girl' on the other end asked if I booked thru the 'right site', which was the very first expedia listing on the page. After she sent me the itinerary, I still went to the airline website to double check and make sure the flight was correct. I've never had a problem with travelocity, and have booked several multi destination trips~if anything could get messed up, that could be the time.

I booked a hotel room once with expedia and would never,book anything again with them--- or travelocity. As someone mentioned above, they are giant online travel agencies, bad ones at that because you have no relationship with anyone there. I find fares through ITA, kayak or, occasionally, skyscanner, then book directly with the airlines and hotels. You can get a the same or better deal that way without the additional incompetent bureaucracy if a conflict arises. Those services can book a multi segment flight on the same airline in two different segments (if the cost is lower) which means the airline is not responsible for getting your luggage checked all the way, or for finding you the first available flight out should you miss a connecton or a flight is cancelled. The terms of carriage between the passenger and airline are complicated enough without inserting a faceless agency between me and whatever protections those terms provide.

ITA is the program travel agencies use that enable them to find routes and connections a mere human would never find, Ten years ago ITA software was only available to people with a travel agent's booking codes, which you could "rent" on the internet for a specific search. The current google traveler version is different (not as full featured as the agent version) but the price by calendar views and flight time by bar graphs are good visual decision matrices. But you would still actually book through the airlines.

Here is a link that might be useful: ITA software