AVOID!My dad booked a flight for my sister and I to fly from the US into Munich using the airline Icelandair. We had a connecting flight through Iceland. We had been looking forward to this trip for over a year.Fast forward the day before the flight, I was able to check in to our flight without problems. The only issue was a little exclamation mark symbol appeared next to my sister’s name, and we received 3/4 boarding passes. Her boarding pass for the first flight was not received and a message appeared saying “pick up boarding pass at airport counter”.The day of the flight we arrived 2 hours early, and we went to pick up the missing boarding pass. The representatives of Icelandair then said she was not allowed to fly due to EU laws, because her passport expires June 2026. I contacted Orbitz customer service to ask about transferring or refunding the flights. They said this is not an option for the tickets that were purchased, even when the situation was outside the traveler’s control. They apparently called Icelandair to see if they could provide a transfer or refund, and apparently the airline said no because “the EU law is written on the airline’s website and the airline’s rules state all travelers must have documents and passports in order by the day of their flight”. I pointed out that I was unaware of that since the tickets were booked through Orbitz, not the airline website, and that EU passport law is not explicitly stated on their website; therefore this was unavoidable. Their response was “we’re a travel agency, we don’t know every rule and restriction an airline has”. This lack of accountability and shift in blame onto the travelers is unacceptable. They basically scammed us of our money.Had this situation been handled differently, with more understanding of the situation and a willingness to help, I would have been happy to continue using Orbitz. However, I hope the $1,700 they kept in this situation is worth it, because they are losing out on customers that would have given them even more business. My family will no longer be using Orbitz and I will be spreading awareness to my friends to avoid using Orbitz. In the end, they will be losing more profit than they earned from our situation. As a travel agency, you absolutely should be aware of airline rules and restrictions if you’re going to punish your customers for situations outside of their control.
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