I work for the airlines and have so many instances wherein I've had to spend hours trying to fix the issues that expedia has caused for those using their "service". Dates of travel are wrong, names are mispelled (to the point wherein TSA will not allow the traveler through security, but the airline cannot fix the error because it is issued through expedia and expedia will take an hour to "investigate" before advising us that it will take 6 hours to update the system and reflect the change), or the reservation is simply canceled without reason or explanation. These are just a few examples of the problems we experience due to expedia.com and each situation is very frustrating, time consuming, and in some cases cannot be fixed (holiday season flights are full and if a reservation has been canceled there are no options for the passenger).
If you choose to utilize expedia.com please please please review your booking thoroughly --- ensure the dates, times, and spelling of your name is accurate ... and then CALL the AIRLINE to confirm your travel!! Another thing to note is that expedia and all the other booking sites will obtain the best price they can so often times they will book a ticket through one airline for you to travel on another airline ... so they book through American for travel on United -- therefore the flight information will show American information but in small print it will state "operated by United" and the United flight information will be DIFFERENT ... the times of your flight will be accurate but the flight numbers never are - so obtain the specific flight information for the airline that is operating your flight as this will make your trip much much smoother at check in. Be aware and informed and your trip will be much less stressful -- and if there is a problem you can fix it ahead of time.
For the most part I recommend that people book through the airline websites as the prices tend to be the same as those on expedia or orbitz ..... the web fares are comparable .... and the booking will be much more secure (and if it is not then the issue will be the fault of the airline! ... if the fault is expedia you are on your own as the airline takes no responsibility). But if you choose to utilize these cheap sites (and once in a while the fare makes it tough to pass up) then just be sure to check and double check your itinerary.
