Hotwire.com airline ticket misrepresentation - trouble using site

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on June 17, 2002:

From: Email User

RE: Hotwire.com airline ticket misrepresentation - trouble using site

Here is my story:

I was planning a trip to New York with my 83 year old mother. After hearing of Hotwire.com advertised on a local radio station as being the "only way to travel", I decided to try this and see. They made a big point of how the others weren't as good because you couldn't see what fare you had and "they" weren't like "that."

Well, I did go on line and put my requirements which were Orlando to LaGuardia and back and what dates I considered. They made sure that I put in my credit card information first, believe me! Then they posted the fare of $176. per person and the flight info read:

ORLANDO to NEW YORK LGA 06/29/02

NEW YORK to ORLANDO 07/09/02 I thought "wow, how could I go wrong with direct flights, even though it was a couple of days longer than I really wanted to stay." Well, here's where the sham comes in. You do not see the airline or the flights until after you accept twice. Once I did that, to my horror, my mother and I were booked on two connecting flights each way on Northwest through Detroit. The flight times and layover were more than 5 hours!!! My mother has arthritis, a heart condition, two knee replacements making walking difficult and a serious blood clot condition requiring her to take the drug, coumadin. Her doctor advises that she shouldn't fly more than 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I called right away to see if I could cancel or change to something else. What I got from their so called customer service was "You accepted twice so there is no cancellation." This is service??! I then asked to speak to a manager. I was told that I had to wait until a supervisor was available. When this so-called supervisor finally got on the line (and it was a wait, trust me!) she told me that I had no recourse, that was they way it was because of the terrific discount that I was getting. Since I am a Florida resident, I told her that the law in the state of Florida was a 24 hour cancellation on any contracted services and she nastily told me "This is the Internet, we are not regulated." Because there is no way that I can take these flights with my mother, I am out $352. I have booked, by the way, with Delta and not only got nonstop flights and the days and times that i wanted, but the fare is $168. per person, $336 for both of us - less than Hotwire.com I can only advise you not to use Hotwire.com for anything! On this website, Complaints.Com, I found many other complaints about Hotwire.Com. I read and print each one of them and their stories are all similar to mine. I will actively be campaigning for legislation to regulate these so called discount travel sites which are only in business to rip off the public and deliver substandard customer service. Believe me, I know about good service since I work for one of the finest companies in the business, when it comes to delivering guest service/ client satisfaction, Walt Disney World.