It takes twice as long to rebook as it did to book the first time. Why? Credits and vouchers. Some of the places I booked travel before gave me credit rather than refunding my payment. And rather a lot of them dropped the ball pretty completely on actually processing the vouchers. Which means lots of work.
First, combing through my old bank statements to make sure there wasn't a credit I missed. Nope. very few of them actually refunded anything.
Secondly, checking web sites and emails to make sure I understand where the voucher is supposed to be. Generally it's not there.
Third, email or phone contact to express that I actually want my credit, thank you very much.
Fourth, once I receive the voucher, working through the issue with how to use it.
Ouch. Lots of time. Some companies are better than others. Hostelworld was fast and efficient at responding, but I don't have the credit yet. Within 10 days they said. Green Olive Tours in the Holy Land, and Blue Star Ferries, ferrying me to and from Patmos, were great. Immediately responded and rebooked me.
Expedia was the worst. They are holding a credit of just under $100 on Aegean Airways. Aegean says they can't help me, Expedia has to. Expedia, when I call says there is a two hour wait, would I like a call back. Yes I surely would, but I've tried that route twice, and I have never gotten a call back. So the other day I waited. 2 hours. 2 1/2 hours. 3 hours. Finally the battery on my cordless phone went dead. So I'll try them again, maybe tomorrow! When I can wait a long time, and from my cellphone, which I can plug into a battery pack and keep going for the hours of wait time resulting. This is not fun.
British Airways and Alitalia both gave me refunds last spring, so I'm happy with them. Rebooked British Airways!
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