Anyone here sign up for the Airhitch service, then attempt to cancel with them because you found a ticket elsewhere or were just uneasy with the way they communicate? I'm being told I owe them a $29 "backout donation" fee. Advice? Did you pay the fee?

man, they creep-me-out. there is a related thread on here from recently maybe you can talk to that dude about airhitch.

Figured I should post my conversation with them so far in case any other budget travelers are considering using the service. My dealings are not over with yet... they want $29 and I'm sure there will be more verbal abuse and creepiness even if I do pay it... so advice is very welcomed. They do have my address, email, phone, credit card # (which I may just cancel), and passport info. You have to give them all of this upon signing up.

My understanding of a part of the process: You set up an Airport Support Person (ASP) who basically gets live flight info via AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) while you're at the airport and directs you to it. Supposed to be someone you rely on. I figured I have a cellphone that I can use AIM on, so I could be that person. Who better to rely on than me?

In an email to them, I wrote:

quote:

I will be my own ASP. I can send/receive AOL instant messages through my cell-phone, which I will have with me at the airport on my departure date.

Their email response:

quote:

Dear Kevin,
Sorry, but you can't be your own ASP.
----------------------
Airhitch® Online Staff

Vague at best. So I signed into their AIM chatroom, which has a strict "protocol" you need to follow, which makes sense... to an extent. They want the conversation to be direct and to not stray. But after lurking a while, they seem to be the worst offenders. They tend to ramble on in a very demeaning way with 90% of the people who are there just trying to get flight info.

Here's my experience in chat trying to find out why my cell phone wouldn't be sufficient (my last name removed, I did have a conforming screen name):

quote:

airhitch00: Kevin...you can't be your own ASP. It has2b someone else.
Kevin: airhitch00, responding through my own cell phone on AIM isn't suitable to be an ASP?
AirhitchCentral: n, Kevin
Kevin: would it be prying to ask why?
airhitch01: Not prying, just a waste of time.
Kevin: well, i don't want to waste anyone's time. i'll talk to a friend of mine. this ASP only comes in to play if i don't get the first flight, correct?
airhitch01: n, not correct
airhitch01: the ASP comes into play if you have to contact us from the airport FOR ANY REASON.
airhitch01: Read what the site says about the ASP. It's all there.
Kevin: ok, i will reread that section.
airhitch01: No need to guess, assume, extrapolate, etc.
airhitch01: No need to complicate the simple.
airhitch01: No need to conjecture, hypothesize, calculate, analyze, etc.
airhitch01: It's real, REAL simple.

(I lurked a while longer speechless, then left.)

This is quite mild compared to other proceedings I witnessed taking place. Baffled at the hostility, I reread their wordy website and came up with nothing explaining WHY I couldn't be my own ASP. Just doesn't seem logical. Why go through someone else if they can have direct contact with me? Still a mystery to me, I received no concrete answer, and didn't really feel like subjecting myself to more of their conversation. Anyways, after this I started looking elsewhere. I came up with a roundtrip flight from LAX-LON for $777 (!) leaving early August and returning late September. Using Airhitch, this would have cost me $660... and uncertainty, and unease with their business practices. So I decided to buy that reserved round trip ticket and cancel with Airhitch. A no-brainer.

Here's how that went (via email). Me:

quote:

Please cancel any arrangements I have with Airhitch.

My travel plans needed to be solidified due to a new job which required me to have exact dates and not rely on Standby.
I was able to find a round trip reserved seat from LAX-LON for $777 (taxes included) for my dates through the airline's website.

Thanks for all of your help.
Kevin

I may have stretched the truth a little with the job, because the employer is quite flexible, but regardless... here's their response:

quote:

Dear Kevin,

At 17:10 26/07/2006, you wrote:

>Please cancel any arrangements I have with Airhitch.

You have none, except a pledge of a $29-per-person-per-leg "backout donation"
should you back out of the process, which it
appears you are now doing. This pledge cannot be
cancelled, it can only be HONORED. (In your case,
since you signed up only for yourself and for one
leg of AHing, the backout donation expected would
be only $29, and this helps to insure we will be
around to help whenever you need us.)

>My travel plans needed to be solidified due to a
>new job which required me to have exact dates and not rely on Standby.

JSYK, no standby is involved w/ AHing unless you
want it to be; however, the reasons for you
backing out of the process are of no concern to us and totally "your business".

>I was able to find a round trip reserved seat
>from LAX-LON for $777 (taxes included) for my
>dates through the airline's website.

Which airline? Please give specific details of
the flight you found and how you found it, as
this can aid other budget unstructured
exploratory travelers who come to Airhitch® for
help in minimizing their costs and maximizing their freedom.

>Thanks for all of your help.

Verbal thanks are useless; however, you can thank
us concretely by (a) honoring your backout
pledge; and (b) providing a report on all the
specifics of the flight you found, which caused
you to back out, or at least was involved in the backout process.

----------------------
Airhitch® Online Staff

So that's where I stand now with them. Apparently I owe $29.


.

wow have never actually heard of them before now but definately wont be in the future what a bunch of ******, how rude are they

Can't actually help you with the problem but i would probably just pay it for arguments sake so they cant mess up anything - like the flight you booked and then just continue to bad mouth them to everyone you know

Michelle

To conclude...

I paid the $29. Partly out of fear (they have a lot of my information) and well... karma. I did know beforehand that there was a cancellation fee and was warned of their communication skills before signing up.

Upon cancelling, they pressured me to join as a trainee and be one of the chatting people. I declined respectfully. So, I don't know quite what it's like to go all the way through the Airhitch process, but I do know that I won't be trying it again anytime soon.