Is Expedia Down? Outages and What to Do

When a booking site goes down, the anxiety is rarely about the outage itself — it is about whether the booking you just made is safe, and what happens if you were mid-transaction. The good news is that an outage almost never affects a confirmed reservation.

The short answer

A confirmed booking is not affected by the site going down. Your reservation lives with the airline, hotel or supplier, not on the booking website's front end. If the site is unavailable, check your email for the confirmation, and if a flight is imminent, deal with the airline directly. Do not rebook the same trip — that is how people end up paying twice.

What an outage does and does not affect

First: confirm whether it is actually down

Before assuming an outage, rule out the local causes — they account for most instances:

1. Your connection. Try another site. If nothing loads, it is not the booking site.
2. Your browser. Try a private window or a different browser. A stale cookie or an extension can break a single site while everything else works.
3. An ad blocker or privacy extension. These frequently break booking flows specifically, because those flows depend on scripts the blocker treats as trackers.
4. The app versus the website. If the app works and the site does not, it is usually a deployment issue on one surface rather than a company-wide outage.
5. Status reports from other users. Outage-reporting sites and the company's own social accounts show whether others are affected at the same time.

If you were mid-booking when it went down

This is the situation that actually matters, and the order of operations is important:

1. Do not immediately try again. If the payment step went through before the failure, retrying can produce two bookings for the same trip.
2. Check your email — including spam — for a confirmation. That is the authoritative answer on whether the booking exists.
3. Check your card. A pending or posted authorisation tells you whether payment was taken. A pending authorisation that later disappears means the booking did not complete.
4. Wait before rebooking. Pending authorisations from a failed attempt normally release on their own within a few days. Rebooking immediately risks paying twice while the first charge is still pending.
5. If the trip is imminent, book elsewhere and deal with the duplicate later. A missed flight costs more than the hassle of a refund — but keep every reference number.

If you have a flight today

An outage on a booking site has no effect on your flight. The airline holds the ticket, and the airline's own app, website and airport desks all work independently.

Check in through the airline directly rather than the booking site. You do not need the booking platform to fly — you need the airline's record locator, which is in your confirmation email. See how to check in for a flight.

If something has genuinely gone wrong with the flight itself — a cancellation or a significant delay — the remedy comes from the airline, not the booking site. See your rights when a flight is cancelled.

Why booking sites go down

• Traffic spikes. Promotional events and holiday booking windows can exceed capacity. These are usually brief and affect search more than booking.
• Payment provider problems. The booking site can be fully operational while its payment processor is not, which presents as bookings failing at the last step.
• Supplier API failures. Booking sites query airline and hotel systems live. If a supplier's system is slow, the site can appear broken.
• Deployments and maintenance. Usually short, and often announced.

The pattern to note: most "outages" affect the ability to search and book, not the integrity of what you have already booked. That distinction is what should determine how much you worry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Expedia down right now?

Check your own connection and browser first, then try the app if the website fails — they are separate systems and often one works while the other does not. Outage-reporting sites and the company's social accounts will show whether others are affected at the same time.

Is my booking safe if the site goes down?

Yes. A confirmed reservation is held by the airline, hotel or supplier, not on the booking site's front end. Check your confirmation email, and deal with the supplier directly if your travel is imminent.

My payment went through but I got no confirmation — what now?

Check your email including spam, then check your card for a pending authorisation. A pending charge that later disappears usually means the booking did not complete, and those authorisations normally release on their own within a few days. Do not rebook the same trip until you have checked both.

Should I book again if the site is down?

Only if your travel is imminent enough that missing it costs more than a duplicate charge. Otherwise wait — rebooking during a failed transaction is how people end up paying twice for the same trip.

Can I still fly if the booking site is down?

Yes. The airline holds your ticket and its own app, website and airport desks operate independently. Use the airline's record locator from your confirmation email to check in directly.

Does an outage affect my refund?

No. Refunds are processed against the booking record and the supplier's systems, not the public website. An outage may delay your ability to request one, but it does not affect an approved refund in progress.

If an outage has left you unsure whether a booking exists or a charge is genuine, that is worth resolving quickly rather than waiting on hold — our agents can help you work out where the reservation actually sits and what to do next.