Imagine being on airplanes for five days, in police custody in Israel, and making two rounds across the Atlantic Ocean. This is what happened to Dorcas Muwandi, a woman from metro Atlanta who bought her tickets from Priceline to visit her daughter for Christmas in Dubai. Unfortunately, Priceline allegedly doesn’t want to own up to its mistakes.
Initially, her itinerary should’ve gone from ATL to JFK and then to Tel Aviv on Delta Air Lines before heading to Dubai on FlyDubai Airlines for the final leg of the trip. Muwandi, never made it to Dubai.
“I was treated like a terrorist,” stated Muwandi.
When Muwandi arrived in Tel Aviv, her passport was confiscated as she walked off the plane and into the airport gates in Tel Aviv.
Armed guards took her into custody for a full day, and Muwandi was told her flight to Dubai never existed.
“I stayed there 24 hours before they told me I have no flight. There is no flight to Dubai from Tel Aviv. There is no flight for you,” Muwandi told to Channel 2 News.
Muwandi was sent back to the United States, and then she booked another flight to head back to Dubai. Her travels back and forth over the Atlantic took five whole days.
“I was so exhausted, mentally exhausted. Emotionally exhausted,” stated Muwandi.
Many customers use third party apps, like Priceline, to book budget friendly flights but Clark Howard of Channel 2 News stated that flights with multiple stops could lead to mishaps such as Muwandi’s.
“Whenever you see a deal on a third-party site, and it involves more than one airline, your risk of a problem goes way, way, way up,” stated Howard.
Muwandi reached out to Priceline for months, until she decided to contact Howard’s Consumer Action Center.
For four days now, she has been in communication with Priceline. At first, they claim it was Muwandi’s fault for not providing the proper paper work. Then claimed she should take up the issue with Delta and not Priceline. In one instance, a Priceline employee claimed they could not find the telephone number for FlyDubai Airlines, which is the airline Muwandi booked through Priceline.
Eventually they did send a statement stating that, “if Priceline is found responsible for what happened, we will take responsibility.”
When Muwandi was flying out of JFK to Tel Aviv, her tickets were stamped ‘Doc OK’ when she was checked in by Delta in New York.
As she was in en route to Dubai, no one ever brought to her attention that her paperwork could be a problem or that her flight to Dubai did not exist, as she found out when she got to Tel Aviv.
“Priceline is responsible. They should be held accountable, you can’t sell a ticket of a flight that doesn’t exist, and you put me in danger,” stated Muwandi.
Priceline has still refused to offer Muwandi a refund.