Common knowledge

You don't buy bus tickets out of France because of the length of the journey and the permittance of smoking on board.
You don't buy train tickets out of France because of the French tendancy to go on strike.
You don't buy plane tickets out of France because of icelandic volcanic eruptions.
Duh.

Le monde est né de l'amour, il est soutenu par l'amour, il va vers l'amour et il entre dans l'amour.

- Saint François de Sales

Of course of anyone to have something go wrong it would be Amie

As you can tell by the simple fact that I'm writing this, I am currently not in Rome nor will be at any point during Easter weekend. Way excited with the idea of spending Easter weekend in Rome, I "booked" my tickets through edreams 2 months ago only to just realize the unprofessionalism (though unfortunately still legitimacy) of the company. I received 1 email entitled "Booking Confirmation" that gave me a reference number and what appeared to be a boarding pass. What I failed to note, however, was the fine print that read,

The ticket for this reservation shall be issued in electronic format (e-ticket). The e-ticket confirmation shall be sent in a second email to the address indicated below [apendlet@middlebury.edu]. You will not receive any paper ticket.

A second email? The day before I was scheduled to fly off, I was trying to print my boarding pass and reread the whole thing and realized that I hadn't received a second email. I tried to make some phone calls but the only one that went through was in Spanish, ruh roh. I decided to print what I had (the reservation confirmation attached below) and hope for the best. I got turned down at the airport, Alitalia claiming that my seat/flight/reservation (don't really know what) had been cancelled. I asked all the obvious questions ("WHY WASN"T I NOTIFIED?!!") ‘though, being the fault of edreams, the airport couldn’t do anything to help me. They could, however, sell me another ticket for 1000 euros, I laughed/cried and said "Merci bien, mais je suis une étudiante".

I said bye to my friends who went on and I headed back home (a total of 16 euros for the train ride to/from the airport). Upon my arrival back home I found the 2nd email they had in fact sent me in the deleted inbox. I must have moved it there a couple of months ago (2 days after I received the 1st email) as soon as I scanned over who it was from (unknown person, NOT edreams) and what is was regarding (a sketchy title).

After trying 2 more failed phone calls (always in Spanish) and 1 email (which got returned back to me with an "undeliverable" notification), I decided to do some research on the company. I found TONS as in HUNDREDS of complaints from past users of edreams getting ripped off, forgotten about, scammed, etc. I found several incidences of customers being asked to photocopy their credit card and passport and mail them to edreams as a way of verifying identity.

That night I found some cheap flights to Rome that departed early the next morning. But they were through edreams and we all know THAT's not happening. Besides, they were still twice the price, plus more for RER, etc. Il faut pas la peine, comme on dit en français.

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The first email I received from edreams that looked legit enough to print and bring to the airport:

RESERVATION CONFIRMATION YOUR RESERVATION NUMBER IS: ZARX4S

Your reservation

Flight details Outgoing Departure 20:10 Thu 1-Apr Paris - Charles De Gaulle (CDG) Terminal:2F Arrival 22:15 Thu, 1-Apr Rome - FCO (Fiumicino) Terminal:1 Alitalia 329 Class: Economy E-ticket Return Departure 19:55 Mon 5-Apr Rome - Fiumicino (FCO) Terminal:1 Arrival 22:05 Mon, 5-Apr Paris - CDG (Charles De Gaulle) Terminal:2F Alitalia 7306 Class: Economy E-ticket You can check the conditions of your flight fares by clicking here. _________________________________________________________________

The second email I received from Lorena Mazzochi, not edreams, with the subject line ZARX4S

Dear customer,

Regarding your reservation petition made through our website, we are sorry to indicate that due to reasons

that are not under our control, it has been impossible to confirm your booking.

Please be advised that your reservation has been cancelled at no charge.

…

Kind regards,

Lorena Mazzochi

Fligths Departament

lorena.mazzochi@edreams.com

__________________________________

Additional bummers: I bought all of my tickets for activities in Rome (Vatican museums, Basilica, etc.) and the hostel reservation is under my name and my credit card. I wrote a letter giving permission for the other members in my party to go ahead with the reservation, and I’m assuming this was approved since I haven’t heard from anyone.

Sunnyside: I’m still in Paris and it’s Easter, a beautiful beautiful holiday.