experience of Expedia, Travelocity, etc veterans with airline problems?

[cephalopod2]

Hi all,
None of my friends have significant experience booking multi-stop international flights via Expedia, Travelocity, etc, so I am hoping to get advice from more experienced folks here.

My entire life I have avoided booking multi-stop international flights through sites such as Expedia, Travelocity, etc (I am in Canada so don't use Orbitz) despite the total cost being lower, because I have been worried about their ability to solve missed flight and luggage problems. I have always booked directly with airlines, or if my local travel agent could get a better price or routing than I could, through him.

Here are my top 2 concerns:
1. Some Expedia etc. tickets connect tickets from 2 airlines not from the same alliance. If flight 1 is delayed due to weather, causing me to miss flight 2, does Expedia take responsibility for rebooking my missed flight, or the delaying airline, or am I just screwed? When I book everything through one airline site, the airline is responsible for rebooking, and all connecting flights are on partner airlines. The more I have travelled the more I have seen flight delays causing significant problems or strandings mid route.

2. If 2 or more connecting tickets not from same airline alliance are booked by Expedia, and the connection is outside my home country (as it will always be), will I need to wait in line again and check in at the departures desk of the second airline at my connecting airport? Will I need to retrieve my luggage and drag it back to the departures level in order to check in for my second (or third) flight? Again,when I book through 1 airline site usually my bags are ticketed all the way through to my final destination.

I experienced the extra check in requirement once in LAX for tickets to Fiji I had booked on a single airline's site (the first flight was codeshare). It was a hassle to exit the transit area, wait in line again, etc.

Also if I bought an Expedia ticket with 2 connecting flights on the same airline or alliance, would the first airline handle the rebooking if a delay on the first flight caused me to miss the second flight or would I have to get Expedia to do it?

If anyone has first hand experience of any of these situations with any bundled ticket resellers, I would be very thankful to hear about them. I'm not sure if any of the flight resellers have better customer service than the others.

While I have searched online, all that came up were conflicting answers.

Many thanks.

 

[Wingy]

Take out trip insurance when you book or else they may dispute. Codeshares are generally not a problem, the airLine for the next leg generally takes responsibility for finding you another flight if your first leg is delayed. The exception are point to point carriers - your low cost airlines. Your option then would be attempting a trip delay claim on trip cancellation/disruption grounds.

I fly a lot of single leg flights.with different airlines, so far touch wood no problems...just leave room for connections and accept sometimes things go pear shaped.

I look for flights on sky scanner and kayak (clear your cookies and don't set flight cost alerts after each site visit) then book direct with the airline.

The extra check in thing - just have to deal with it unfortunately. If you can on codeshare (I recently did with air Berlin and Etihad and checked bags all the way through from Berlin to Australia) check with the airlines it's great when available.