Family in $20,000 dispute with travel site over non-existent flight bookings

A Hawke’s Bay family about to board an international flight to start a four-week holiday was told the tickets they’d paid for didn’t exist.

Now the family is in a battle with travel website Expedia over costs of $20,000.

Claudia and Paul Heaps and sons Alfie, 15, Tom, 13, and Benji, 7, flew from Napier to Auckland on July 5 to board a flight to London, via San Francisco, to visit relatives they hadn’t seen for four years.

Upon checking in they were told their booking “had not been processed properly” and although they were listed as being on the flight they had no ticket numbers assigned or allocated. They were told it was a “ticketing agent failure”.

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The flights had been booked through Expedia in early November last year.

Initially they were booked to fly via Hong Kong, but this was later changed to a route through San Francisco.

Expedia sent emails confirming the flights on April 12 and April 20.

Apart from a few other minor time scheduling changes they were advised of, the Heaps’ were under the impression their holiday was going ahead as planned.

Until it all came to a crashing, devastating halt at check-in that July afternoon in Auckland.

“We frantically called every number we could find for Expedia but got stuck in a phone loop which ultimately ended in us getting cut off or stuck on hold. By the time we managed to speak to an agent check-in had closed and we were bumped off the flight,” Claudia Heaps said.

“Eventually I got through to an Expedia agent. With little explanation or apology they told me I’d get a refund but could offer me no alternative flights. They effectively left us stranded.”

The next day she contacted a travel agent and booked flights for five days later at a cost of $16,489.

Heaps contacted their insurance company, but was told “ticketing agent failure” was among the exclusions.

Expedia refunded the fares of $9231, but it cost the family just over $20,000 for new tickets, insurance, accommodation and other expenses.

Claudia Heaps later received an email from the “traveler service resolution team”, saying the company had emailed her on April 13, April 15, April 20 and April 22 requesting further information in order to confirm the booking.

“We tried to collect this information from you, but you did not respond to our multiple emails. As a result, we were not able to resolve this matter for you in a timely manner at which point the airline denied boarding,” the email said.

Heaps went back through her emails and was able to find one sent on April 12. It said: “Unfortunately, when [Expedia NZ] went to book your flight … something went wrong due to an error, and the booking wasn’t confirmed.”