Reader Julie writes:
I’m looking to buy tickets from Newark to San Francisco for the holidays, and Expedia has the lowest price for tickets on United. (Even lower than united.com) Can I upgrade these tickets if I buy them from Expedia? Thanks!
You’re in luck! For travel within the United States, most every airline allows upgrades if the tickets were purchased from online agencies like Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, CheapTickets, etc. As long as the booking class is legally upgradable, it doesn’t matter where you buy it.
(The exception: If you bought “opaque” tickets from Hotwire or Priceline, i.e., you didn’t select the airline and/or flight times when you made your purchase, then you can’t upgrade.)
For international tickets, upgrades are generally a little more complicated. Not all booking classes are upgradable, either with miles or certificates. But again, as long as the ticket you buy conforms to the upgrade rules of the airline, then it shouldn’t matter where you buy the ticket. As long as you are buying a “published” fare, you should be fine. (And even then: I’ve upgraded a ticket purchased from a consolidator. But it’s up to each airline to set such rules.)
Buy the ticket from Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, or wherever it’s cheapest. And good luck getting the upgrade!
P.S. In theory, you could buy the ticket from United and invoke their low fare guarantee by pointing to the lower fare on Expedia to get $50 in credit, but it’s probably not worth the trouble…
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November 27th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
Be careful with EXPEDIA. THey cannot be trusted. Once they charge your credit card you are on your own. EXPEDIA ruined my trips and tried to keep (steal is the right word) the money for services that they failed to provide. Just search for “EXPEDIA complaints†in Google or Yahoo and you will read horrible stories (including mine, click on my name to read about my case) from people that used EXPEDIA.
Good luck
November 13th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Orbitz, foul, buyer bewares. They are con artist. Don’t buy flight tickets there.
Orbitz cancelled our trip without notifying us. They claimed Airlines change it. We called Airlines, and they said Orbitz cancelled it. They have cashed in and sold out seats to other buyers for better price.
We have reserved trip to Taiwan in March 08 for 4 people from Orbitz. We received Tickets. Nov 6 08, my husband check on Orbitz website found out our flight from LAX to Taipei, no longer there. We called, and they let us hold more than half hour. We requested reschedule and they told us no seats are available on the way back form Jan 1-10. If we want a refund, we have to mail back all the paper tickets. I asked to return ticket to their Chicago Location. They said they are in Minnesota. (Later I found out their HQ is in Chicago).
We call the Airlines; they told us seats are still open for our desired date. We will take legal action against Orbitz. We called many times and spoke many supervisors at Orbtiz. They kept saying Airlines cancelled the trip. They either did not call back or let us wait, and say the same thing. How could they deceive consumers like this? I have scheduled this vacation since Feb 08, and this is my only week off for whole year, and it’s the first time my kids will visit my hometown. How could they do this? I was so heartbroken and depressed. Buyers beware!!!!