My airline ticket disappeared. Why did I have to pay $8,206 to get home?

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Q: I recently booked a roundtrip flight from Minneapolis to Dublin for my wife and myself through Orbitz. I paid $1,626 for the trip on American Airlines and Aer Lingus.

Months before the flight, I received an email from Orbitz that Aer Lingus had canceled the Philadelphia-Dublin segment of the flight. I contacted Orbitz and a representative told me I could take a flight from Minneapolis to Dublin via London on British Airways and then return on a direct flight from Dublin to Minneapolis on Aer Lingus. I agreed.

The change was confirmed on the My Trips section on Orbitz. I downloaded the Aer Lingus app for my phone, which showed me booked on the new flights. I assumed all was fine.

It wasn’t. During our stopover in London, British Airways had some initial trouble checking me in for the next leg of the flight but put me on the plane to Dublin. An agent told me to check in with Aer Lingus when I reached Dublin.

But on my return flight, Aer Lingus refused to let me board the plane. A representative claimed that Orbitz had failed to confirm the itinerary change properly.

It was essential that my wife and I get back to Minneapolis that day. An airline agent told me no economy seats were available. The only seats available were in business class. The cost was approximately $8,000 for two tickets. Combined with the original payment for tickets which were not honored, the cost to us was close to $10,000.

Out of necessity, I agreed and we got to Minneapolis that day.

I emailed Orbitz and received no response. Aer Lingus opened a case file but responded that it would not refund my money because it does not process refunds for transactions made through third parties.

I would like a refund of the $8,000 that I paid Aer Lingus for business class tickets. This is a significant cost to me after I received assurances from Orbitz that my flight back home was confirmed. Can you help?

— Steve Miller, Shoreview, Minn.

A: You should have had a valid ticket to fly from Dublin to Minneapolis. Orbitz confirmed your new itinerary, and the airline’s app showed you were booked. You had every reason to believe you were good to go.

So what happened?

It appears you fell into a black hole between your online travel agency and the airlines operating your flights. When Orbitz rebooked you, it seems they created a reservation code—also known as a Passenger Name Record (PNR)—but the ticket was never actually issued.

This is a critical distinction that trips up many travelers. A reservation confirms that a seat is held for you. A ticket is the payment for that seat. You can have a reservation code without having a ticket number. In the airline’s computer, you existed as a passenger, but you hadn’t technically paid for the flight in their system.

When you checked in at Heathrow, the British Airways agent likely saw the reservation but couldn’t generate a boarding pass for the second leg because the ticket number was missing or invalid. They sent you to Dublin hoping Aer Lingus could sort it out.

They couldn’t—or wouldn’t.

You did the right thing by trying to resolve this on the spot. But when you’re stranded in a foreign airport with no other way home, you sometimes have to pay the ransom. In this case, that was the price of two business class tickets.

Orbitz should have fixed this immediately. You emailed your online travel agency, but it didn’t respond. Aer Lingus also washed its hands of the problem, telling you that because the booking originated with a third party, it couldn’t issue a refund.

This is why I always advise travelers to check for a ticket number, not just a confirmation code. That number usually starts with a three-digit code representing the airline (053 for Aer Lingus) followed by 10 digits. If you don’t see that number, you don’t have a ticket.

I think a brief, polite email to one of the executives at Orbitz (Expedia) might have helped. I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of Expedia’s customer service managers on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.

I contacted Expedia, which owns Orbitz, on your behalf. A representative reviewed your case and admitted the mistake.

“After reviewing the situation, it appears the tickets were not issued correctly, which resulted in the airline not having his reservation,” the representative told me.

Expedia refunded you $8,206, covering the cost of the emergency business class tickets.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him on his site.