QUESTION
Can I file a lawsuit for services not rendered against Cheaptickets.com if I was not allowed to check in to the flight due to a name discrepancy?
Asked on May 10th, 2013 on Consumer Law - Florida
More details to this question:
I purchased airfare through Cheaptickets.com in January. When I arrived to check in for the flight on May 8, I was told that I could not due so because the boarding pass listed my last name as my middle name and my country of citizenship as my last name. I did not notice this mistake until the moment of check in for my flight. I have been in contact with customer relations, executives at CheapTickets parent company Orbitz and I am continuously being told that the issue is my fault, that they are not responsible because I did not contact them about the the problem until five months after purchasing the ticket, and that there are no refunds. This ticket was over $1,000. Am I able to file a suit for services not rendered? The money was debited from my bank account in January and I am without a resolution and without a flight.
1 ANSWER
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One can file a lawsuit for anything as a general rule. The better question is how viable is your case. I would suggest it is borderline in this regard. It starts with who made the mistake. Typically, there are numerous confirmations that one goes through on a typical website to make sure the information is accurate. If you approved bad information, case is terrible for you. If you provided correct information and THEY confused them (rare but possible due to how computers work) a significant amout of fault does exist on your part if you had the tickets for 5 months and never looked to make sure they were correct, while some fault is thiers for messing them up. The remedies will typically be spelled out in the terms of service you agreed to using the website, etc. You should look specifically to see if there is some provision about time of notices, or limitations in remedies like, credit for another ticket minus fees, etc.
As to filing suit itself, it will likely cost you as much or more to litigate even a small claims case with them, so it may not be cost efficient to fight over this issue.
Answered on May 13th, 2013 at 4:07 PM
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