Aren’t there enough reasons to be afraid to fly?

FLO MARTIN

Do I ever have a horror story to tell.

Online shopping is so much fun, right? So easy, right? Shopping

online is the only way to fly, right? Well, guess again.

This week, I attended a meeting with several colleagues. One of

them looked tired and stressed, which is definitely not her style.

This gal is usually the epitome of looking good. Well, after my

queries about what was happening, Anita -- let’s just call her Anita,

because that’s her name -- blurted out a nightmare of a story.

Turns out she went shopping online on May 1 with plans to do just

that -- fly. Anita went straight to a popular website she had used

before. This particular dot-com offers airline trips, vacation

packages, hotel stays, rental cars, even home mortgages. All the

customer needs to do is choose the service -- in Anita’s case,

airline flights.

Anita typed in her code and was on her way. Or so she thought. She

typed in June 30 for departure and July 30 for the return. Once the

dates are in, the website states that they’re searching millions of

flights and fares. Impressive.

Up popped a variety of airlines, a variety of flights (from

nonstop to three stops), and a variety of prices ($1,355 to $2,002).

Anita knew that she had the option to name her own price. That’s the

button Anita clicked on next. She next filled out the option of

airports, Los Angeles (LAX) and Madrid-Barajas (MAD), the price she

was willing to pay and her name as the passenger.

Then, a click to the next page and a review of her request. She

read that the airline would choose her flight time starting at any

time from midnight to midnight on her requested date of departure.

OK, she could live with that. Sounds reasonable. And now starts the

weird part.

These tickets were to be nonrefundable, nontransferable,

nonchangeable. She needed to fly on the flights assigned to her.

Upgrades and standbys were not available and if any part of the

ticket went unused it had no value after ticketed departure time. If

an airline accepted her price, the online company would immediately

lock in her price and purchase her tickets. She also saw that the

dot.com needed her initials to indicate she agreed to its terms and

conditions.

Anita was willing to go on. She clicked “next.” She typed in all

her credit card information and read at the bottom that:

If the dot.com found an airline that accepted her price, they

would immediately purchase a ticket on the credit card provided. The

flight times and airline name would be shown once the price was

accepted. Once again, the warning appeared: the ticket could not be

canceled, transferred, or changed, and refunds would not be allowed.

Anita clicked “accept” and her request was denied. Oh well, try again

later, right?

She did just that May 6, only this time she increased the amount

of money she was willing to pay. Again, request denied. On May 7, she

upped the ante even higher and her request went through. She was on

her way to Madrid.

Guess again.

Her online confirmation stated that her departure date was May

8th, the very next day, leaving at 6:20 in the evening, with the

return date of Sunday, May 9th, 3:30 in the afternoon. Impossible!

You try flying round trip from Los Angeles-Madrid in just under two

days. That’s 12,432 miles in 21 hours and only 17 hours spent at your

destination. Those were not the dates she had typed.

This time Anita hit the panic button. She immediately contacted

the company’s telephone customer service and received a “friendly”

offer: pay a $200 exchange fee, a $30 service fee as well as $1,630

for a new ticket.

No way. She then asked to speak to management and was summarily

informed that she was already speaking to the highest ranking

representative and would need to contact their online executive

offices to pursue the matter further.

Anita did exactly that and explained their error and received a

perfunctory reply thanking her for the feedback, that her comments

were important, and that they would do their best to contact her

within one business day. This meant they would contact her after the

incorrect ticket had expired.

Several hours later, Anita received several other e-mails from

customer service. Each time, customer service only copied the part of

Anita’s e-mail that served their purposes and reminded her that she

was not “choosing to accept their offer.” (Anita had filed her letter

on their website rather than through her Outlook Express, so doesn’t

have a copy of the original.)

The story gets worse. The representative of Anita’s credit card

company told her that they couldn’t do anything until the charges

appeared on her account -- again way past the time of the incorrect

flight to Madrid. The representative also said that this type of

airline scam happens often. She suggested calling the airline

directly. Well, the airline agent also was unable to access the terms

of the ticket issued to Anita and actually seemed surprised. His

parting comment sounded way too glib, way too convenient: “ ... chalk

it up to experience.”

Since that eventful May 7, Anita has spoken with several more

credit card representatives, hoping to spearhead an investigation of

fraud. They confirmed that this type of orchestrated exploitation is

quite common. They advised Anita to never order tickets from Internet

sites again. Strong words.

Anita is on the warpath. She plans to file a legal complaint. She

has downloaded copies of her first two online confirmations. The one

made on May 7 with the company’s version of the dates is in their

hands. Anita’s version is not available. That one has mysteriously

disappeared somewhere out in deep cyberspace.

She has filed a dispute with her credit card company and will seek

legal recourse. She will file a complaint with the Better Business

Bureau as well as any other regulatory agencies she can find.

Finally, she plans to investigate the offending dot-com to find out

how many other customers have lost money in the same way.

Do you have a similar story? If yes, I’d love to hear. Just e-mail

[email protected].

* FLO MARTIN is a Costa Mesa resident and retired high school

teacher who lectures part-time at Cal State Fullerton in the Foreign

Language Education program and supervises student teachers in their

classrooms.