Call Kurtis: They Won't Fix My Plane Ticket Typo
After years restoring the classic car, Warren Schroeder said his wife asked if he'd paint his 1969 Dodge Charger like the one from The Dukes of Hazzard.
"She wanted it orange, I told her no," he said, smiling, and tapping the steering wheel horn. The famous horn from the TV series blasts from beneath the hood.
"I gave her the horn," he said.
Schroeder had spent years restoring the car, rebuilding from the ground up.
Getting it right can take some time, he said.
But he never thought a typo on an airplane ticket would be so tough to buff out, he said.
Schroeder booked a $471 ticket on for a relative on Expedia, but realized a few days later he'd accidentally entered his last name instead of hers.
"Well that was a dumb mistake," he said. "But I'll just call them and have it fixed."
Expedia said United Airlines had to fix it, but he said United sent him back to Expedia.
"They're going to give a ticket to the person who doesn't exist," he said.
"In the old days you could just use the ticket," said Al Anolik, a travel attorney who represents some travel websites. "Now, because of security precautions, you can't just change a last name."
So how do you get a ticket typo fixed?
Only the airline has the ability to change a name on a customer's ticket, but nothing requires them to fix a customer's mistake, Anolik said.
"They have the ability to change it, but they don't," he said.
As of January of this year, however, customers have a new protection: 24 hours to cancel a flight reservation.
That means, if a customer finds a mistake within a day, he or she can get it fixed by canceling and rebooking.
Schroeder ended up buying a second ticket for his relative with the correct name.
United wouldn't comment on its ticket mistake policy, but told CBS13, "We will process his refund" for his first ticket.
And much like restoring a classic automobile, Schroeder said he now knows the importance of getting it right the first time.
"It shouldn't be that hard to get a changed name, when it's obviously the same person."
