My Mom Was Scammed Booking a Trip, and Expedia and Flair Airlines Are Making It Worse

My mom was recently scammed while trying to book a trip to Cancun. She thought she was dealing with a legitimate travel agent or company, but it turned out to be a scam. The fraudster used her real name and credit card to book a hotel and flight package through Expedia, but used a fake email address that we don’t have access to.

We were able to track down the Expedia itinerary number, but Expedia keeps refusing to help because we can’t email them from the address associated with the booking. We’ve explained multiple times that this email was created by the scammer. Their replies completely ignore that and just keep repeating, "Please email us from the account associated with the booking." We can’t do that because we don’t have access to it.

Before turning to email, I tried getting help through Expedia’s Facebook support. I spoke with several agents. Eventually, one of them said that while the booking was non-refundable, they could submit a request to the hotel for an exemption. I was told someone would follow up. I never heard back. When I tried following up myself, no one responded. That’s when I sent the email, only to get the same unhelpful response again.

To make things worse, the credit card company won’t reverse the charge. Because the booking looks legitimate, they said we have to resolve it directly with Expedia. So we’re stuck in a loop.

Then there’s the airline part of this.

The flight was booked through Flair Airlines, and my mom still wants to go. We’re fine keeping the flight. The problem is that Flair’s system lets anyone look up or manage a booking if they know the last name and confirmation number. So the scammer, who booked everything, can still access and possibly change it.

We contacted Flair and explained the situation. We asked if there was any way to change the flight info or lock the scammer out. They wouldn’t help at all. The only option they gave us was to cancel the flight and rebook it ourselves, at full cost. We weren’t asking for a refund or compensation, just a way to protect the booking.

So here’s where we are:

Expedia refuses to help unless we email from the scammer’s fake email

Facebook support started helping, then stopped responding

The credit card company won’t help because it looks like a normal charge

Flair won’t let us secure the flight unless we pay to cancel and rebook

The scammer still has access to the flight info

We’ve done everything we can to fix this and be reasonable. We’re not asking for special treatment. We just want help protecting a victim of fraud, but so far, the systems in place are protecting the scammer more than the person who got scammed.

If anyone has advice or has been through something similar, I’d be grateful for any help.