Reservation was made through airline reservations. Charge went through my bank account. The reservation co. sent me an email with a confirmation no., which Delta says is incorrect. Contact air reservations, cant get any info. from them. They said they dont have that info, just check with delta reservations, I did, they said the confirmation no. airline reservations sent to me was incorrect. They cant find this paid for flight, for June 18-30th, unless they can give me an e ticket no. or reservation no. or certificate no. Delta cant find this flight, which is already paid for. How do I find this flight?
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1Seems like you made the reservation through a 3d party, not through Delta. @Hilmar has the correct answer below.– DavidRecallsMonicaCommented Jun 4, 2020 at 19:39
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1Sometimes reservation agents have a block of seats they fully manage but don't allocate until later on nearer the flight - the airlines sell these at a lower rate to the reservation agents because its guaranteed income, and the airlines then get what they can for them. Its often why you can get an absolute steal on last minute deals. So in this case, the airline probably doesnt know anything about you as an individual, because you are still an internal customer to the reservation agent.– user29788Commented Jun 5, 2020 at 2:55
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1@Moo All true, provided the 3d party agent is aboveboard. The OP didn't identify the agent, so we're in the dark on that issue.– DavidRecallsMonicaCommented Jun 5, 2020 at 3:15
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@DavidSupportsMonica yup, just giving a bit of hope to the OP that their money hasn't just vanished :)– user29788Commented Jun 5, 2020 at 3:17
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2@Moo I have booked with plenty of budget OTA and never saw anything like a "delayed" booking. Once it's booked & confirmed, it always showed on the airline's website. Max delay was maybe 24 hours, but typically it's an hour or less.– HilmarCommented Jun 5, 2020 at 11:24
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2 Answers
Delta should be able to find your flight using your name and the flight numbers and date. If they don't, than chances are you don't have an actual reservation. You need to contact the company that took your money.
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2If you don't get satisfaction from the travel agent (or whatever they call themselves), then the next step is to contact your bank and report that you didn't receive the service you paid for. The bank will most likely issue a chargeback against the merchant.– KevinCommented Jun 5, 2020 at 21:17
There are two parts to an airline reservation: a ticket and the reservation itself. The ticket is a (now electronic, formerly paper) document that tells the airline you paid a specific fare to fly a specific route, and is represented by a 13-digit e-ticket number, beginning with the carrier's 3-digit ticket stock code (in Delta's case, 006).
The reservation is what holds space on a specific flight for you, and is how the airline knows John Doe would like to fly from JFK to LAX on December 1. This is represented by a six character code known as your Passenger Name Record, or PNR, sometimes also called your confirmation number, confirmation code or record locator.
Usually, when booking a flight, reservation and ticketing happen at the same time, but sometimes a reservation can be created but not ticketed; this is what sounds like happened in this case. Basically, your travel agent collected payment, created a reservation (and thus was able to give you a PNR) but for some reason, did not ticket the reservation. Oftentimes, carriers have rules about how long space can be held without ticketing; likely, Delta automatically cancelled the reservation when they saw you didn't have a ticket.
Your best bet right now would be to get in touch with the travel agent who originally booked the flight and have them do it over again. Know, however, that since some time has passed, your original flight may not be available at the original fare you paid. Since this is their error, I would demand that they cover any fare difference. If they refuse, demand a refund, or initiate a charge back with your credit card company.
If they are able to get you rebooked, get both the 6-character PNR and your 13-digit e-ticket numbers. And I would recommend only booking directly with airlines whenever possible; if, for some reason, it's not possible, make sure the travel agency you're using is a reputable one.
