I bought some tickets to Europe via Orbitz, and for some reason, they had to be paper tickets. So, Orbitz sent them via UPS.
Unfortunately, Orbitz sent them via the service that does not require a signature by the recipient. If they don’t find you home, they just leave the package at the door.
UPS claims that they delivered the package (and the driver’s notes say something to the effect that he gave the tickets to some woman), but no one in our household has received it.
The tickets are issued by US Airways. To make a long story short, after being on the phone multiple times with UPS, Orbitz and US Airways, the latest is that US Airways says that I have to file a “Lost Ticket Application”, and then re-purchase the lost tickets, and then in several months, after their investigation, they should refund me the price of the re-purchase, minus a $150 fee.
Now, it seems to me that:
Orbitz is to blame for sending the ticket with a UPS service that does not require a signature by the recipient
UPS is to blame for losing the packet or giving it to a woman who may or may not happened to be close to my door at the time.
US Airways are somewhat assholes for demanding to hold a couple thousand of my dollars instead of just re-issuing the tickets for some nominal fee (what are they afraid of, that two people will show up with a passport with the same name? This is an international flight, so we need to show passports. If a second person shows up with a passport with the same name I’m sure they can ask that person what the hell is going on)
Anyway, my question is: Is there anything I can do, besides grin and bear it and go ahead and follow the procedure that US Airways demands?
Can I “threaten” any of the parties with some legalese, so that they will go ahead and fix this with minimal effort & cost on my part?
Did you pay by credit card? If so, contact the issuer. They’ll take care of it. Without a signature, Orbitz is almost assuredly going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Unfortunately, I need to take that specific itinerary, and I just checked and there are no more tickets for that route available. So, I don’t think challenging payment for the ticket will help in my case.
I would like to take that particular trip with a re-issued ticket. Can’t Orbitz just re-issue the ticket (same route, same name on the ticket)? If they are worried that I’m trying to defraud them, how on earth could someone use this scheme (with two identical tickets on the same name) to defraud them?
Your ultimate issue is with Obitz, I think. USAirways is not going to let you on the plane without a ticket. You lost a paper ticket, they are like cash at the airport. The airlines get ripped off every day by con men with tickets fast-talking some poor gate agent. That’s one reason why they prefer electronic tickets.
You’ll basically have to purchase a new ticket and and fight to get your money back. The $150 “lost ticket fee” is standard for all airlines.
Next time, electronic ticket and use a travel agent!
How is it possible for con men to rip of airlines in this type of scenario? If there are two tickets for John Doe to travel from Houston to London, no matter who shows up first to check in (the real John Doe, or the fake one), once the second person claiming to be John Doe and wanting to board the flight shows up, the gate agents will notice it and question both John Doe’s. How can the fake one possibly get away with it?
I always select electronic tickets as well, when possible. In this case they were not available.
To be honest, I don’t understand why there are “paper tickets” and “electronic tickets”. Since you can’t transfer airline tickets to another person, why does anyone ever need to carry any sort of ticket with them?
Even though I have a “paper ticket”, the system shows that I, Polerius, am scheduled to fly on a certain day at a certain time on a certain flight. They know that and I know that. All I should do is prove that I am Polerius. Why do I need the specific piece of paper that says that I can fly?
This would make sense in cases when the tickets don’t have a name on them (like to the Opera or something), and if someone finds them, they just show up at the venue and use the tickets. But airline tickets are non-transferable. Even if some guy finds my tickets they can’t use them, unless they use a fake passport, which, again, will backfire if I also show up for the same flight.
By the way, that’s the phrase the US Ariways guy used, but why is that the case?
The cash I have in my pocket is not “registered” on any computer system.
There is no central computer system that says that Polerius has $257 in his pocket.
But, for the paper ticket, there is a central computer system that says that Polerius has that paper ticket.
So, I would say that the paper ticket is more like a travellers’ check, because the bank knows you bought them under your name (and I think can replace them if you lose them, if you keep the receipt)
It’s not like someone else is trying to board your plane and sit in your seat, they’ll try and take that ticket and and and get cash or credit for it.
The system for electronic tickets atarted about in the 1990’s. It’s taken years for the airlines to get this far. That’s why there are still paper tickets. Remember what the internet was like in 1994? Some people still write checks for their bills and mail them too, and there are still a few rotary phones out there.
You’d have to ask USAirways that question. Perhaps your actual flight is on an airline that’s known as a “code share” a different airline other than USAirways but one that allows them to sell space to you. Does your itinerary have any fine print that says something like “OPERATED BY US AIRWAYS EXPRESS TRANSSTATES AIRLINES” ? In that case Orbitz hasn’t given USAirways their money yet, who hasn’t given it to the operating airline, so why wiould they let you on the plane? (These are general observations, I of course, do not know the route or fare basis of your ticket).
Blame Ted Kasinski. He is the reason most domestic carriers now require the name on your photo ID and the name on the ticket match.
TWA flight 800 went down in 1996, the same year the the Unabomber was arerested, I would not be surprised that both of those events were part of why the practice started being enforced. I was just going from memory. Up until then the airlines didn’t care. But then they felt they had to react, plus the fees were helpful. The fees went up, and nobody could stop them.
It ought to go one of two ways. Either the CC issuer will force Orbitz to issue you a new ticket, without any additional fees. Or the CC issuer will force Orbitz to refund the purchase, thereby canceling the ticket, which will then make it open for purchase again. It is in your best interest for the first scenario to occur, and in Orbitz’ best interest for the second.
Regardless, you’ve been charged for a service you’ve not received. Given the value of the ticket, the onus is upon Orbitz (via UPS) to prove you received the ticket, and without a signature they cannot do that.
Not if you’re talking to the monkeys they have manning their call centers. Those folks are not paid enough to realize that without a signature, Orbitz cannot prove your tickets were delivered.
You might also want to consider contacting any local media consumer advocates, or the Orbitz corporate media relations department.
