Barragues A.

This company has very wrong practices I have never seen before with any other online company ( and I travel quite a lot).

I purchased a flight from New York to Montreal. After an initial search, I could not find a convenient schedule. So, I clicked the option "flexible dates" assuming that the programme would give me different schedule options to choose from, which I did.

Well, this is the trick. It turns out that the options you choose are not really final, even though you think they are and you are prompted to provide your credit card details to make your purchase. Once all the online operation is completed and you close your computer, then programme still looks for the cheapest option within a three-day margin to the dates you provide and picks the cheapest dates by default. An email is then sent to the account I provided (which of course went into my junk mail) with a request to confirm the proposed dates within 24 hours. Otherwise, if they do not hear from you the programme will buy the ticket according to these dates.

As you can imagine, the dates the programme bought for me do not work at all. When I found about this a few days later, I called the phone number provided in the webpage and was informed that this is the way the system works if you mark the "flexible dates" box. They also told me that this information was clearly stated somewhere (which is probably true but probably in such a small font that I do not remember having seen it at all).

In order to get a new ticket with dates that worked for me, I would have to pay a $200 penalty and the difference for changing the dates. After complaining about this, the operator discussed it with a supervisor and the penalty was lifted. However, the difference to be paid was still above 500 dollars, which would round up the purchase to a full amount of $1000 for a New York- Montreal trip!

I insisted that this practice of having a programme to buy a ticket for you based on travel dates chosen by default is something unheard of and simply not correct. Other companies offering the "flexible dates" option do provide a menu of schedule options to choose from. But the final decision always belongs to the customer, without taking my silence as acquiescence. Otherwise, what defence would I have if for some reason I cannot read the email they send so that I confirm within 24 hours. As I said, the email went to my junk and I only retrieved it after one week...

Even though the date to travel is July 4th, I have already decided to purchase a ticket with another company and forget about this one. Maybe I could get some money back if I cancel it, who knows. But the experience has been to frustrating to try again.

I hope any potential customers will find this information useful, as I would not like them to be misled and tricked the way I was.