long time airline employee

Online Travel Trouble: American To Ditch Kayak; Is Orbitz Next?

Website sales is one thing, the liability and responsibility for the booking made by their agents is another. I get calls from passengers and website sales reps requesting waivers and favors for things THEY have done themselves all the time, the facts are quite simple and clear in those cases. The booking agency (Orbitz, Travelocity, Site59, Hotwire etc.) are responsible for their mistakes, referring them back to the airline is a disservice to the customer in that I cannot grant their requests. What will inevitably follow will be a conference call with a representative from the website AND the passenger requesting what has already been denied.
With that being said, there IS a path for requesting exceptions/ corrections within the airline that the website rep. can reach, they choose not to because their mistakes are tracked and they are held accountable for educating their employees to prevent further incidents that should never have happened in the first place.