Hotwire Issued A Friend The Wrong Dates On Airline/Hotel/Car Tickets. Is She Just Out Of Luck???

Question

A friend of mine booked a Disney vacation through Hotwire. She says the travel dates were correct when she submitted the vacation. However, when Hotwire issued her the credentials, the Disney tickets were the correct date, but the hotel/airfare/rental car tickets were all the wrong date. Unfortunately, the dates on the tickets were 5 weeks before the trip, and she did not catch this error till after the incorrect travel dates had passed. Her actual dates of travel are not until the first week of June. Hotwire agents have said, basically, that it is her fault for not catching their error, and that there is nothing they can do about it. Does anyone have any suggestions for this? Is there anything that can be attempted or done, or is she just out of the $1300.00??? Any responses or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Well, it does sound like your friend is out of luck. Here is what I found on the Hotwire site.
Q: What if my plans change and I don't use the reservation?

A: Once you click the "Book Trip" button and complete your transaction, the airline ticket, hotel reservation or car rental reservation is yours to keep. Your credit card will be charged for the total amount shown, regardless of whether or not you use the ticket or reservation. All bookings made through Hotwire are final and cannot be cancelled, refunded, changed, exchanged or transferred.

Since it is right there, they probably can't help. Now, if she still has her airline tickets, she can call the airline direct, give them the confirmation and see if she can do an exchange. There will be a 6 character confirmation on the reservation somewhere - if not, you should be able to call the airline direct, give them the original travel date and traveler's name.
If you want, you can send me the itinerary at srbrown at carlsonwagonlit dot com and I will look at it and should be able to tell you a little more.

Answer 2

Sorry she is out of luck. The airline has her as a "no show" and she is out that money. There is no way to get it back from them.

Hotwire is right in calming she should have caught the mistake (says so right on the website and tickets), however they do have appeal processes that she should go through. She might be able to get some of it back, but I doubt Hotwire will give much as it will be coming out of them.

Answer 3

I would take it up with Hotwire. Did she keep the original paper work to prove this? Ask to speak to a supervisor and keep on nthem. Yes, she found the mistake maybe not in time but she was not planning on traveling that early either. Good Luck

Answer 4

if they're at fault then it is definately their fault even if the travel dates passed. just ask to speak to the supervisor. Explain that she never noticed the error but it is still their responsibility to fix it.

Of course realize it is an uphill battle to fight as she did wait 5 weeks to mention something AND it's damn hard to prove that it is the company's/computer's fault.