Beware of using Orbitz for trip

Bob Dyer, BJ columnist and my former Blue Room lunch partner, details the problems that I had when Orbitz, without my knowledge and consent, switched my planned flight from Akron to Fort Lauderdale to Akron to an open-jaw flight -- Pittsburgh to Fort Lauderdale, then back to Akron. It cost me $231.40 extra to cancel and get the Akron-Fort Lauderdale flight I put in for originally -- and a lot of time dealing with Orbitz, the Ohio Attorney General and online travel ombudsmen.

The flight was needed so that Paula and I could board the Grand Princess in Fort Lauderdale for a 15-day cruise.

-- John Olesky

Click on the headline to read Dyer's story, and let it be a lesson for you if you're thinking of using Orbitz to book a flight.


After a month of exchanging emails with Orbitz and finally threatening to withhold our business from Orbitz -- we have spent about $20,000 on flights, car rentals and lodging, all areas where Orbitz makes money -- Orbitz relented and sent me a travel voucher for $231.40, the extra cost to us when we "re-booked" the flight with only Akron and Fort Lauderdale as the airports. Since AirTran also waived the $150 "re-booking" fee, we got every penny of our potential $381.40 extra cost back.