Why would anyone use cheaptickets.com?!

A few months ago, I asked the same question of hotwire.com. This time around, it's cheaptickets.com that has earned my scorn.

Molly and I have been watching the travel sites waiting for the right time to buy tickets home for the holidays. Early Saturday morning, we found that right time and purchased two tickets through cheaptickets. (via kayak) At 11:37am, I received an email from cheaptickets that said:

This reservation request has been sent to the airline(s). Final purchase is pending until we receive confirmation from the airline(s). Once that confirmation is received, usually within 24 hours, we will update your travel document.

Ok, I thought, no big deal. I bought my tickets through cheaptickets, so now they have to turn around and buy the tickets from the airline. No problem, right? I mean, how long could it possibly take to electronically purchase some tickets?

At 10:02pm, nearly 12 hours later, I received this email:

Dear Valued Cheaptickets Customer,

We regret to inform you that, due to limited availability, the airline was not able to confirm the flights you requested. Therefore, no tickets have been issued for this trip and your credit card has not been charged.

Situations like this are rare; however, when they do occur we attempt to contact our customers immediately as to avoid missing out on advance purchase opportunities.

To help you understand how this situation could occur:
Cheaptickets is a full service travel agency. Our advanced search engine searches two billion fares within seconds from over 450 airlines. Our secure on-line booking system accesses fares and availability from the same central reservation systems that other travel agents and airline reservation agents are booking from worldwide. As you can imagine, with the extensive volume of agents booking flights at any given time, availability for a particular flight can be gone in an instant. Therefore, when your ticketing request reached the airline, availability for the flight(s) you selected was no longer available.

The confirmation e-mail that you may have received is only an acknowledgement that the flights you selected for purchase have been sent to the airline for approval prior to ticketing and does not guarantee ticket issuance.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for your understanding. We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you in the near future.

Please click on the following link to make your new reservation http://www.cheaptickets.com

Sincerely,

Cheaptickets Ticket Advisory Department

Seriously? Well, maybe the flight wouldn't have sold out if it didn't take cheaptickets 12 hours to book the flight. Maybe next time I will use those "other travel agents and airline reservation agents" because they seem better able to do their job. They have got to be kidding with that link at the bottom of their email. I'm against hotwire.com because I think the idea behind their booking system is just stupid. I'm against cheaptickets.com now just based on principle.