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Hotwire Mistake-Family Emergency! Help


natdtat
By natdtat,
in

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My grandmother is deathly ill and needs to be at the Mayo Clinic this Monday, November 7th-November 12th. My mother asked me if I would help to purchase the flights because she couldn't find anything cheap that had few stops (the stops are very painful for my grandmother because of her health.)

I am distraught over my grandmother's health and this evening, I booked 2 flights with Hotwire from Houston, TX to Rochester, NY for $339 roundtrip each ($678 total). Immediately after I confirmed the reservation, I realized that I mistyped the destination. Mayo Clinic is in Rochester, MN not Rochester, NY!!! I called Hotwire within 5 minutes of the order and explained my situation to them. They were willing to apply the $678 towards flights to Rochester, MN. However, the total bill for 2 flights to Rochester, MN totals over $1600! Northwest Airlines offers the 2 flight for a little over $154.99 each ($309.98 total) roundtrip, with 2 stops off of their nwa.com website.

I explained to Hotwire that $800 each is too much for me to pay and if I would've entered the correct information, I would have realized that Northwest Airlines was significantly cheaper ($1300 cheaper) (even though it has 1 additional stop) and I would have gone with Northwest. Hotwire will NOT refund my money. The supervisor at Hotwire was unsympathetic and I have been crying all evening because I cannot afford a $700 mistake right now. :)

I also contacted America PRICELINE EXPRESS. I am not even the cardholder, but I put the charges on my grandmother's Amex card. They advised me to book the flights through Northwest (the cheaper flights) and dispute the charges when they hit the Amex bill. But, I have been reading online this evening about people who never won with Hotwire disputes.

I don't know what to do and I don't have the money to pay for this $700 mistake!!!! In addition, I still need to book flights from Houston or Dallas to Rochester, MN. I have tried to help my grandmother this evening and have ended up making a $700 mistake! :)

PLEASE HELP!!

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Sorry that you are in such a tough situation...

do you have any trips planned for the future ... could you apply the money to that future trip and book the cheaper NWA flights?

It was somewhat decent of them to offer the chance to rebook...

Have you checked flights into Minneapolis ... relatively close to Rochester, MN.

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Send an email explaining your situation to Christopher Elliot. He has a column on Tripso.com and it deals exclusively with helping people who have had various travel related problems - sounds like your situation would be right up his alley. Read some of his columns: http://www.tripso.com/elliott/index.html

Then send him an email - [email protected]

I'm so sorry about your situation and hope that Christopher might be able to help you - I wish the best for you and your grandmother. And I honestly can't believe that Hotwire won't be more accomodating. That's very bad customer service - not the sort of response that will help secure repeat customers.

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Thank you for your recommendations. I e-mailed Christopher and he was kind enough to e-mail me back almost immediately, "Hi Natalie, unfortunately Hotwire is right. In fact, they've already bent some of their rules for you by offering a credit. There is nothing I could do to make them budge. I'm sorry."

I found a Hotwire flight leaving Dallas to Rochester, MN for $537. So, I switched the flight over to this one. I'm just so thankful that I can fly out of Dallas since the Houston flight was $800 each.

Thanks for all your help. I have definitely learned a lesson on this one. Everyone, please be SOOOO careful when booking through Hotwire and never book when you're tired and distraught.

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