Expedia.com Review

The site allows you to see nearby airports and compare flights from them, but a lot of sites do that. I like this feature though.

Domestically, you'll find this site to be a quick and easy place to buy a ticket and find flights on multiple airlines. You might save a bit by buying from the airline's own site though. Check here first to find a flight (among other sites) but book elsewhere.

Expedia charges you $5 to book a flight. No big deal. That simple transaction, however, means you're in the hands of Expedia as your travel agent and puts them as the middle man between you and the airline you're flying. That's not so nice.

If you have some issue while traveling, Expedia will try to help you and they are pretty good at answering the phone but not much else. Faster and easier to call the airline you're flying but, darn, the airline tells you to contact your travel agent, i.e. Expedia.

Very bad. Thus you call Expedia (or email them - not very practical when you need immediate assistance while on the road) and they check with the airline, give you clearance to talk to the airline (whom you are standing in front of) and the whole scene plays out like some kind of legal comedy.

You pay Expedia $5 for their services and that may be worth it although I have generally found them to be about as useful as me booking the airline direct. Still, they often have connections and inter-airline flights that you can't find on individual airline sites.

I generally check Expedia and then buy the ticket on the site of the airline that they show. It's not the $5... it's the ease of transaction. If you book Expedia and you have some travel issue, as much as Expedia may try to help it's so much easier to contact the airline than Expedia as Expedia is often in the dark about what's going on, relying on second hand info from the airline you're flying. And then internationally...

Internationally, the site gives good flights and it's easy to book but when you need something they are absolutely helpless when you're overseas. They have no overseas numbers and their online help is email only. Even though they answer email fast enough they are unable to assist when overseas, giving you US tollfree numbers unreachable from overseas and 10 (exaggerating) emails later telling you that you have to call the airline... thus not much sense booking with Expedia as they're no help.

Expedia is so bad internationally that they can't even give you the number to call or even an email address for the airline they booked you on and they have no idea of what it's even like to be overseas. They seem to think that you can just change your flight easily without their help.

Recently in China I had to change a flight booked with Expedia. They told me to call the airline (thus no sense giving Expedia your $5 to act as your travel agent) but the airline had reps only in Beijing and Shanghai with no toll-free numbers. Expedia told me to call them in Atlanta to get local numbers...

I asked repeatedly for Expedia to help me change flights but they said that once underway, they were unable to assist. Huh. I thought (wrongly) that the reason to use a travel agent vs. an airline site was so that the agent could help change flights and otherwise help if needed.

That leads me to believe that Expedia is not a travel agency but a ticket vendor. Inasmuch as you can search Expedia for free, why would you ever buy a ticket from them? The extra step of going to the airline site may cause you a couple of clicks so maybe that's a reason. As much as those extra clicks may be inconvenient, it is a whole lot easier than putting Expedia between you and the airline you're flying. When that rare problem arises, you'll be a lot less unhappy if you can deal with the airline vs. Expedia as Expedia is little more than a middle man.

In sum, search Expedia for a fare and then book that fare at the airline site. The customer service is probably just as bad as with Expedia but at least you won't have a middleman.

And you'll save $5.

All in all, I'm not that impressed with Expedia. Domestically you essentially pay $5 extra for a ticket you can buy at an airline's website. Still, you can check Expedia, find the flights you and book at the airline's site. It's a heck of a lot easier than checking each airline individually. That being said, lots of sites like Kayak.com, itsa.com, mobilissimo.com, sidestep.com, travelocity.com etc., do the same thing.

Internationally, same story, exacerbated aggravation.

The only reason to buy here would be the customer service and that's been pretty spotty in my opinion. They can't do more than the airline you're flying. They don't re-book you on better flights when you're stuck because of your flight's delays unless you want to buy a new ticket. They don't or won't help you change flights when overseas. They don't understand anything international and will ask you to call them via numbers unreachable from overseas.

So why use this service? Other than to see a selection of flights, I don't know. I certainly would not use them as a travel agent as it's cheaper to get the same (non)service from the airline you're flying.

Might as well book elsewhere.