What Did You Book?

(1) Airline Reservation - Coach/Economy - Read this whole page of instructions.
(2) Airline Reservation - Business/First - Same as above, but first read this.
(3) Hotel Reservation - Visit our Hotel Support Information page.
(4) Air & Hotel Package (or more) - If you booked multiple products together
        as one package, then visit our Packages Support Information page.
(5) Car Rental - Visit our Rental Car Support Information page.

Airfare Confirmation:

This Page - When you click our Purchase button to reserve your flights, a "Thank You" screen appears and directs you to this important page. You will depend on this page exclusively to check on confirmation of the flights, watch tickets being issued, seating, airline schedule changes, etc. As noted in the Terms previously, fares are not guaranteed until correctly ticketed (a rule for all travel web sites). Most ticketing is under three hours; "bargain fares" take up to 72 hours.

First Email - We automatically email you a copy of your reservation within 30 minutes of your making a reservation. The email is a test to see if you can receive emails from us. It also can be used as a receipt later. If you do not receive the email quickly, then automatically one of the following is true: (1) email was blocked on your end (AOL & Earthlink are the worst), (2) you misspelled your email address, or (3) your mailbox is too full. If you are not receiving our emails, please check if your mailbox is too full and please email us, since email is how we notify you that your tickets are issued, or that there is an issue (such as credit card failure), or that a flight schedule change has been done by the airline.

Shipping of Tickets - For rare instances a paper ticket may be required for your trip, such as when (1) there is an itinerary involving mixtures of small international airlines, or (2) there is an infant under age 24 months on an international flight. We only ship to U.S./Canada addresses (and no PO Boxes or APO). So, if this may create a shipping issue or you need to change your shipping address, please email us immediately. For more shipping questions, click here.

Charges - For many fares, your total price may be split into two or more charges. Sometimes there is a separate charge by an airline for each passenger. You may also see charges split into a part called "airfare balance," "service fee," "agent fee," or similar. You should recall that service fees were included the very first time we showed you a fare. Assuming you do not have a shipping charge (see above), your total charges always will be what you saw clearly on your checkout page. If somehow you see incorrect or double charges, please email us. Usually a double-charge means is your bank gave us two approvals for the same ticket and you will see one disappear in a few days (your bank decides when).

Checkmytrip.Com: Amadeus bookings, log-in at top-right of their page
Virtuallythere.Com: Use this site for Sabre reference codes, use password "gorilla"

4: Make Sure Flights Confirmed Well - Checkmytrip.com (or virtuallythere.com) will show you each flight. Make sure each flight says "confirmed." If a segment says "waitlist" or "unable to confirm," we will always try to contact you. However, please contact us immediately regardless. Sometimes we can confirm your seats manually. Otherwise, we will ask which of the following you prefer: (1) Wait for the waitlist to "clear" over a few days, (2) Alter the flights, (3) Cancel free of charge. When an airline waitlists or fails to confirm, it is not something we or any other web site could have prevented. Such failures are a behavior by the airlines that was once considered "acceptable" in the days before the Internet. If you see this, please contact us immediately.

5: Check Extra Information

Minors Alone: Before booking airfare, hopefully you checked any airlines involved regarding their rules for minors traveling alone. Each airline sets its own rules. If you have booked in error, please contact us immediately. For airline web sites, click here.

Special Meals: Always reconfirm these with the airline a minimum of 48 hours prior to departure. We input your preferences, but many flights have no meals, so please contact the airline.

Special Needs/Disabilities: Arrangements for wheelchairs, special escorting, and other health matters can only be handled by contacting the airline.

Pets: Arrangements for pets can only be handled by contacting the airline. Be advised some airlines have rules regarding the size of pet that can be brought as a carry-on and weather restrictions for pets in cargo.

Frequent Flyer Credits: Not all flights you book may qualify for the plan you have. Code-sharing, wholesale rate conditions, and other restrictions may apply. We do not know the rules of your plan, but we do enter any information you provided. A few airlines may have trouble acknowledging this information, so please reconfirm your frequent flyer status during check-in at the airport and save your ticket information as proof that you deserve credit.

Seat Assignments: Seating will show in your reservation only if the tickets have been issued. Otherwise seat assignments will be blank or say "check-in required." For Amadeus reservations (at checkmytrip.com) in particular, you will have to click a link below the list of flights and above "Miscellaneous" that says "view details click to see additional information..."

We always attempt to assign seats according to the preferences you gave when purchasing the tickets and always attempt to seat all passengers in the same row or as close together as possible. If you do not like your seating, you may first try contacting the airline directly using our Airline Contact page. NOTE: The airlines use a different reference code than we do in most cases, so have them look you up by your name. The airline's "own" code usually appears within your checkmytrip details (however, some airlines prefer our code).

Bulk-head / exit-row seating: Airlines only assign this seating during check-in. Request it at that time. Some charge extra for this amenity

6. International Travel & Foreign Entry - Passports are required for nearly all international travel. An airline also may not allow you to board a plane if you require a travel visa or other foreign entry requirements satisfied for that country. A "transit visa" may be required if you are landing and taking off again in a country, even though you are not leaving the airport. Please visit our international travellers page for more information. If you have an issue, notify us immediately since airlines gives us very little time to cancel a ticket once it's been issued.

7. Flight Changes - As the airlines make flight schedule changes at their discretion, and some changes are last minute, it is strongly advised that you contact the airlines 24 hours prior to departure to re-confirm your flights. For a list of airline phone numbers, please use our Airline Contact Page. Note: The airlines use a different reference code than we do in most cases, so have them look you up by your name. If the airline has made an inconvenient change, you may call them to ask if they might further alter your itinerary in a more convenient way.

If the airline messages us about a change, we will make an attempt to forward a new copy of your itinerary. If you do not receive it, it means either the airline did not notify us (even though they may disagree), or the airline tried to notify us but the system connecting to us was offline, or your email server did not accept our email (or you typed your email address incorrectly at one time). In any case, this means it is your responsibility to reconfirm your flights with the airline prior to each departure.