Hotwire.com No mistakes allowed Internet

glad team rebutt is there to read over errors in the reports

First I am not defending Hotwire and am not going to defend them double charging you, if that happened that is wrong and you have every right to be upset, but has nothing to do with your other issues.

The flight arriving at 7PM isn't a factor where you can't make it, it is that you don't want to be there that late.  So there is actually nothing keeping you from taking this flight if you HAD to do it.  Again because of your mistake, this is a decision you are going to have to make to either just loose the entire trip or arrive a bit later.

Now, most major airlines will allow you to cancel/change a flight in the 1st 24 hours if you book through them directly.  But as you have mentioned, this would have cost you more to begin with.  So you took a gamble in looking at other sites for lower airfares.  Now, you got a flight that is totally valid under what you submitted.  But YOU made a mistake, and unfortunately one of the terms of this ticket is apparently no changes.  This is why when you act as your own travel agent you better be very sure you are 100% correct in what you are selecting.

In general the cheaper the same flight is the more restrictions you have.   Had you paid the slightly higher price through the airline you would have probably been able to change the flight for a fee.  Had you paid 2-3 times the fare you actually paid you would have been able to not only change the flight but cancel it all together with a full refund if you decided to.

As for your return leg being cancelled, as I said that is not a Hotwire policy.  There are regulations put in place for 911, but I think he was stretching it just a bit to say that this was the reason it would be cancelled in your case.  If you look at the "Contract of Carriage" for your airline(and any airline) you will see that this is one of the terms of the ticket you bought.

I will say that if you take anything from this is that you are now going to be double(and triple) check what you are submitting on any web site.  So in the end this one lesson may even save you money in the long run.

how great we would be

Well the flight arrives on Thanksgiving day at 7pm.  Pretty late to start Thanksgiving with your family.  I called the airlines and they told me to call hotwire.  The second time I called hotwire the gentleman said I couldn't skip the first flight because of 911 (I didn't make this up).  I couldn't even get mad at him because I wanted to laugh and I know it's not his fault.  Having worked customer service I know he's just the middle man.  Also for more fun times with hotwire.  I found out today (less than 24 hours) I've been charged twice (which means another phone call).  I would take the penalty but that is not an option.  I have no problem giving them the money for the first flight.   My only problem is I paid for the tickets isn't that second ticket mine.  If you went to a hotel and prepaid and said you couldn't make it the first night and the hotel said they would cancel your entire stay and keep your money would you be upset?  I'm not looking to get over because I messed up.  I just want what I paid for (well twice).  

However, thanks for your advice.  I appreciate you tried to help.  

I know I have to take some accountability for misreading the page.
- And that is exactly what is happening...you just don't like how you are being held accountable.  Unfortunately that is not a RipOff. 

They said no, if I don't show up for the first flight I loose my return flight.
- That is not a hotwire policy, that is an airline policy with every airline.   It doesn't matter how or where you bought your plane tickets from.  Once you are a no-show for any leg of your trip, all remaining legs are cancelled.

Therefore I'm out of the entire price of the ticket because I can't show up for the first flight.
You also never mentioned what flight time they gave you?  Are you leaving at 9:05AM or 8:55PM?  Because one odd thing is that if you wanted to fly out between 6 & 9 AM, why can't you make it between 6 & 9 PM?  The worst case is that you would get to the airport between 6AM&9AM and have to hang around several extra hours.

But that not withstanding, perhaps you should call the airline directly and see if they can change your flight.  If it can be done you will most likely have a change fee, and have to pay the difference in the airfare but that may still be cheaper than loosing the entire trip.