Cheap Airfare Review: Discount Travel with Orbitz.com

I have had this dream of visiting Nepal and Egypt for a long time. My plan was to fly to Egypt first, then on to Nepal. I thought about taking a GAP Adventures tour in both countries, and teach English in a monastery in Kathmandu. Something I have never done before. However, I was fully aware that from Canada a trip to Egypt would be very expensive, so I thought I would combine the two trips. But, another problem stood in my way: which airlines fly to these locations?

After looking at various cheap airline ticket websites, I settled on Orbitz.com. I read their policy and checked out their prices. When I put in my desired flights and dates, it said I needed to phone them. This should have been a red flag to me right away.

After two hours on the phone, I was sent two e-tickets to my inbox. However, as I read the details of the tickets, I quickly discovered that my first name was misspelled and would most likely be worthless on my trip. Since my flights were complicated to begin with, I didn’t want another hiccup to foil my travel plans.

I had used the International Alphabet to prevent misunderstanding. For example, “A as in Alpha.” My name is rather common. And, if that wasn’t reason enough— surprisingly—my full name was spelled correctly under the credit card information I provided. Go figure!

I phoned Orbitz again, asking them to change the spelling of my name. After another two hours wasted on the phone, I was left listening to the common response from operators: “We are unable to change the name on a ticket.” I explained to them that it was their fault for misspelling the name, as they had my name spelled correctly under the payment information. Well, after speaking with various customer service reps and supervisors and their supervisors, I finally was able to cancel my ticket and get my money back—well, almost.

With the exchange rate that was obviously in their favor, I ended up losing $100 dollars. The last person I talked to said she would e-mail me a $100 travel voucher within three days. To this day, I still have not received it.

Use discount flight websites to find which airlines go to your destination. Then, go to the airline’s website. Often, these sites will have comparable deals at certain times of the year. In the future, I plan on doing all of my booking with the airlines directly.