Expedia – Hidden Costs Revealed | part 1

This post relates to my experience whilst booking a flight with Expedia.co.uk and so is not any direct reflection on Expedia.com. With the possible exception that both websites are owned by the same company and ultimately it is that company that must bear the responsibility for such practices. Also I make no assumptions as to other areas on these two aforementioned sites like, hotels, car rentals etc., which I assume, are beyond reproach.

The first bone of contention is that when, arriving at the page showing all relevant flights for the dates and destinations you have previously filled in. At the top of the page is the declaration by Expedia.co.uk “Note: The prices shown below include all flight taxes and fees.”. I believe that the word “all” clearly indicates both all flight taxes as well as all fees. The phrase “all flight taxes and fees” is configured to open a separate window where a brief description does include the line “Additional administration fees are incurred by Expedia in administering your transaction.”  However no amount is shown at this point.

In stark contrast to Expedia.com where a similar window details exactly what $ value of any charge will be. Currently there is no charge for “administration fees” on Expedia.com here is an example taken from their description in a similar window which shows the true cost-

Expedia Booking Fee – up to $0 per ticket (this fee is nonrefundable and may appear as a separate charge on your credit card statement). Apologies for the spelling of non-refundable which is theirs not mine :-)

So it seems that whilst Expedia.com is totally upfront with their additional charges Expedia.co.uk are not able to do so. It was therefore quite a shock when on a following page I saw a £9 ($15) administration fee added to my flight costs.

Ok at this point I could still have gone directly to the website of the chosen airline and booked the same ticket, thus avoiding the administration fee. However I proceeded to book this flight and was duly sent the confirmation email.

The second area of concern is far more interesting however and quite easy to miss. To better explain it I have included below a couple of screen grabs. The first shows the flight I chose to book as well as the price. The second shows part of the confirmation email sent by Expedia.co.uk (includes £9 fee).

First (Expedia Advertised flight cost)

Expedia Advertised flight cost

email-details of final charges

Second – Email confirming final costs

Ok so did you catch the change? For some unknown reason the price of this flight changed or it was incorrectly advertised in the first place. After all £485.90(advertised cost) + £9 (admin fee) does not equal £499. Where did this extra £4.10 come from?

I know that there is a disclaimer by Expedia (see example screen grab below) that prices do change however in such cases a warning that the price has changed is usually posted before a customer purchases the flight. No such warning was displayed at any stage when I purchased my ticket.

Example of New-Price-alert

Upon realizing what had just happened to me I admit I felt a bit like having taken part in a shell game (aka three card Monty). Considering the small amount involved (£ 4.10 = $6.00) I was tempted to just ignore this. However I did contact the customer service team at Expedia.co.uk and ask for an explanation. That was 10 days ago and as yet I have not had any explanation. Maybe they would like to leave a comment at the end of this post.

This raises a number of questions.

  1. Did the flight price change and no warning was given in error?
  2. Was the flight priced incorrectly advertised?
  3. How often are errors like this made?
  4. How long might be considered reasonable for the customer support team to reply to a customer?
  5. Does the administration fee not cover customer support?

Although the phrase Caveat emptor or “Let the buyer beware” is usually applied to property sales, it might well serve as a warning for anyone considering using Expedia.co.uk also. As a resident of USA I will admit that I did not actively look for any pricing anomalies and also did not expect to be charged any administration fees based solely on my experience with Expedia.com. My assumptions were wrong and so my warning goes out to all other US citizens when traveling abroad should they be tempted to use Expedia.co.uk – Check everything yourself before making any purchase and remember that alternatives for purchasing flight tickets do exist. As far as I know none of the major airlines will charge an administration fee when taking a flight booking.

Please check back to see part 2 where I will outline my customer support ticket/request relating to this incident and any replies. In the meantime help others by tweeting this post. To all safe travels.

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