It’s hard to know for sure when you’ll get the best deal on a plane ticket, even with sites like FareCompare and Farecast, which help out by showing you flight price histories.
But Price Assurance from Orbitz, announced last week, makes booking with confidence much easier. After you book your flight, Price Assurance guarantees that if someone else books the same flight (same date, same time) through Orbitz at a better rate than yours, Orbitz will send you a check for the difference (between $5 and $250 per person).
If you are familiar with Yapta, this is similar however you don’t have to request the savings, Orbitz automatically gives it to you.
This makes a pretty convincing case for booking with Orbitz, even with the nominal fee they tack onto the ticket price.
Here’s the fine print:
Once you book a flight on Orbitz, we start tracking to see if another customer books the same itinerary at a lower price.
If that happens, we’ll issue a refund for the difference, between $5 and $250 per traveler. We’ll continue tracking until the day you fly. So each time the price drops and another customer books, your refund amount will increase.
Expect to receive your refund check approximately 30 days after your trip is complete. We’ll mail it to the billing address for the credit card used to make the booking. You’ll have 90 days from the date the check is issued to cash it.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
wow! thats not bad at all…
but what are the chances that passengers will actually book through orbitz, the same itinerary!, and the flight and cabin class?! Expedia estimates it to be a paltry 6%.
I booked a flight with orbitz for the holidays. I hope that I’ll get a refund because prices have plummeted in the past month with oil prices going down.
OK guys this is my story on Orbitz Price Assurance……so I bought 2 r/t fares through Orbitz for 708 from SFO to Geneva on Apr/30 and two weeks later the same fare, same departure, same arrival, same everything is now 677…..i emailed Orbitz requesting the credit for the difference (for 2 tickets is about $60) and their response was
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Dear Orbitz Customer,
Thank you for contacting Orbitz.
I understand you would like to claim price guarantee for you flight reservation.
Airfares change throughout the day, based on demand for the flight and the airlines’ right to change them at any time.
We monitor these changes closely and make every effort to keep our fare displays as current as possible. At the time of your fare search and when you bought your ticket, our display showed the lowest fare available for purchase for the time and dates you requested.
If you should find a lower fare after purchasing a non-refundable ticket, we will not be able to issue a credit for the difference in price. If you wish to take advantage of a lower price you see on the website, you may cancel the ticket and re-book. You will be subject to the refundability policy associated with your current ticket and may be charged any fees listed in that policy.
Sincerely,
Peter Emanuel
OrbitzTLC Team
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So basically, they lie, mislead and do not stand behind their promise just so they can make a sale. BEWARE!!!!!!
Thanks for your article! I will check back for more interesting articles
WELL WELL WELL…. what do you think about that??? a company that LIES for business… what will they think of next? THANK YOU ZIKO!!!
It is too bad you dont have a Bigger venue to reveal your experience with those scam artists, isnt it? If you could find a way to let more unaware consumers of how they lie that would be so eye opening to so many, and may make them stop, fess up and maybe even change their minds over the reply they sent you. Thank you again, and I am sorry it happened to you Ziko.
They didn’t actually lie. It says if someone BOOKS that same flight for a lower price, not if the price drops. A simple price drop alone is not enough to trigger the refund. If someone else buys that ticket at the lower price, you’d get your refund. It’s a small but important distinction
This is great=)
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