A: Expedia should have canceled the right ticket. The one it changed was off by one number, which probably was an agent error. How do I know? All those emails from Expedia promising a refund. Companies usually don't do that unless they have to.

You did the right thing by verifying the names on the tickets when you received them. But if you'd taken a minute to check on the correction — instead of waiting until you got to the airport — all this drama might have been avoided. That's particularly important when you make a ticket change by phone. A lot can go wrong and often does — even when the agent reads everything back.

Expedia, like all other online agencies, was created so that you can handle most transactions online. I'm not sure if a complex maneuver like a cancellation and re-booking would have been possible through its website, but certainly the original booking could have been made and checked at Expedia.com. Under the Department of Transportation's 24-hour rule, you have a day to fix any errors.

Refunds can test your patience. Even though it takes an online agency only a fraction of a second to take the money from your credit card, it can take two to three billing cycles for your money to actually appear. That's more than two months.

Still, something clearly had fallen between the cracks. A review of your paper trail — the correspondence between you and Expedia — suggests that the company had no idea why your refund was being delayed.

You could have escalated this problem to someone higher up at Expedia. I list all the Expedia executive contacts on my consumer-advocacy site: www.elliott.org/company-contacts/expedia.

I contacted Expedia on your behalf, and it processed a refund.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the author of “How to Be the World's Smartest Traveler.” You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org, or email him at chris@elliott.org.