Missed connection runs up phone bill

I've been haggling with Travelocity for almost three months about a flight, and I need your help. I recently booked flights from Newark, N.J., to Madrid, Spain, via Continental Airlines and on to my final destination of Barcelona, Spain, via Iberia.

The outbound trip was completed without issue. Unfortunately, the return trip through Brussels was less successful. The itinerary left me just one hour to make my connecting flight in Brussels to the U.S., but I had to claim a bag, go through customs, and then back to get my boarding pass.

When I arrived at the empty Continental ticket counter approximately 35 minutes before my flight, a Continental customer service agent refused to check me in because it was too late. She also told me the next flight was the following morning.

When I tried to dial the Travelocity number for assistance outside the U.S., it wouldn't connect. I tried multiple phones in the airport. I collect called my fiancee in the U.S. and had her call the domestic Travelocity telephone number, and after more than 30 minutes of international telephone calls, I was booked on the flight for the following morning.

I incurred a telephone bill of $378 to correct this situation. Travelocity won't refund my phone bill. Any ideas?

— Jeffrey Grim, Boston

A: Travelocity shouldn't have allowed you to reserve the itinerary that you did.

If your flights were connected on the same itinerary (which they appear to be), then the system should stop you from reserving a flight that doesn't meet the minimum connect-time rules. Something appears to have gone wrong, because you obviously didn't have enough time to transfer to your overseas flight in Brussels.

Travelocity also should have provided you with a number that worked from Brussels. I think you did your best to contact the online travel agency through normal channels before resorting to an expensive collect call.

And yes, calling Travelocity was the best option, since this was an immediate concern. Had it been something less urgent, I would recommend sending an email.

But I think you could have prevented this from happening too. Did you take a moment to read your itinerary after you booked your tickets? If you had noticed the short connection times you could have asked Travelocity to fix it long before your trip.

You had a second chance to fix this when you experienced a tight connection on your inbound flight.

It's unusual for an online travel agency to refund a phone bill, but in this case, I think it should consider doing so, at a minimum. I contacted Travelocity on your behalf. It apologized and agreed to refund your phone bill.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and a co-founder of the Consumer Travel Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advocates for travelers. Read more tips on his blog, elliott.org, or e-mail him at chris@elliott.org.

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