In February I purchased 2 RT tickets from USAirays.com for US 74 SEA-PHX, for $640. No bargain but I guess spring break demand drove prices up. A few weeks later, my plans changed, so I changed this ticket to SEA-PHX, PHX-SJC. I was able to make this change online, and it informed me that while the new tickets were priced less, after the cancellation penalty I'd owe a bit more, so I provided a credit card again. The process appeared to go smoothly. At one point I saw an error message, but I resubmitted the page, then I was able to see that it processed the change, gave me a new confirmation number, and had the proper routing, so that I was able to choose seats online, print out confirmations, etc. I checked the status of this flight over the ensuing weeks and changed seat assignments a few times. I had every reason to expect everything was just fine.

On the day of the flight (yesterday) I went to check in online, and it said I should call the reservations department because my reservation was "out of sync". I did so, and after being on hold for some time, the agent explained to me that the change I had made over a month ago was not successful. It would need to be reprocessed at today's prices, which was $940 (the price at the time was $560 as I recall).

I was outraged at this, but it appeared there was little i could do, other than cancel my vacation plans. As it was Sunday, the refund office was closed. Today I pursued it, and it appears I'll have to submit my request in writing.

Since I've already travelled part of the segment, i feel that my chances for getting a refund are rather low. Do any of you seasoned travellers / industry insiders have tips for me? If I don't get a satisfactory outcome, who can I complain to? The FAA?

Thanks,
Rob