111op

Are there any?

This is the story. I found a fare on Expedia ($840) Friday night. Should have bought it then. Checked again yesterday. Gone.

But I could buy the same itinerary on Orbitz by paying $130 more.

However, the lower fare is "offered" -- just that when I click on it, I'm told it's no longer available.

I've had similar experiences in the past, and with patience the fare dropped to the initial fare. Are there tricks to get the stale fares though?

The stale fares have been showing up on Orbitz for a couple of hours, but I just can't capitalize on them.

Thanks.

PalQ

Contact the airline directly of the first now 'stale' vanished fare - this has happened to me before - disappeared online but contacting airline directly still was available.

111op

But how to do that? It has four segments split among Alitalia, Air France and KLM.

Thanks.

WillTravel

Try other Sabre-based agencies like CheapTickets.com and TravelCuts.com and Travelocity.com . You might just be out of luck, though.

111op

It's not on Travelocity. Or it wasn't.

Oh, WillTravel don't tell me that....

PalQ

I may be out of the loop but i've never paid $840 for trans-atlantic air fare even in summer - when are you leaving and where are you going?

111op

JFK to FCO
FCO to CDG
CDG to AMS
AMS to JFK

I think it's actually reasonable.

mid April departures.

111op

All flights direct, by the way.

tcreath

Orbitz does this to me almost every time I want to purchase a flight with them. They will give me a fare that looks great, but when I click on it I always get a message saying that the price went up. Aggravating! I hardly use orbitz any more for this reason.

Good luck!
Tracy

bradykp

i believe orbitz uses the same engine as itasoftware.com

at least, judging by the results, it appears that they do.

sprin2

I've always had the same experience as tcreath with Orbitz. I don't like to use them because of this.

hipvirgochick

111op. I know it's frustrating. Things can get tricky. I've always had good luck with Orbtiz, but for our trip coming up in May I actually found better price through AA directly. First time ever that's happened for me on overseas flight. I did find out that there are a number of seats that are assigned to a $ amount and once those sell you go up to the next tier, it's not just dependent on the time you purchase. So, if say someone just bought the last 2 seats at X amount of $, even within 10 minutes, that fare would disappear. Unfortunately, it takes longer than that to be reflected in search engines and airfare re-sellers like Orbitz. If you saved the flights you searched for it may be worth checking out directly with each airline to see if the cost is even comparable. Also, as Brady suggested use both itasofware as a search engine and then book on Orbitz. That's worked for me in the past. Good luck!

tcreath

hipvirgochick, I too have found better prices on the airline website directly on recent flights I've purchased. We are going to Italy next month and Croatia in November, and I purchased both on aa.com because their prices were better than other travel websites such as travelocity.com. I think its worth checking all sources before booking anything.

Tracy

111op

Thanks. Usually for a r/t I go to the airline directly, but for a complicated itinerary, it doesn't seem like the airlines will let me.

Orbitz charges a $10 fee, I think. Looks like Expedia airfares are $5 cheaper for the same itinerary. But the airline's website is usually the cheapest if you can find the same base fares.

I instinctively use Orbitz, as I've had good luck with them in the past. I was surprised to see the fare on Expedia on Friday though. Really should have gotten it.

I Googled to see if there were tricks and came across a USA Today article on online booking engines. The woman who wrote it said she also hates Orbitz for the same reasons -- that fares can be stale and unbookable.

In the past, the low airfares will turn up again after a week or two of waiting. One year I think that I bought my tickets less than two or three weeks before I was about to go. And another year, I had the interesting experience that I could book one ticket but not two on the lower price. So I booked one, thinking I could go back and book the other next. Bad mistake, as that wasn't possible. I called Orbitz and canceled the ticket (allowed because it was within 24 hours). Eventually the low fares showed up again.

I'm quite frustrated though.

esm

I don't know if this will work for you or not. I usually check AA.com as well as Orbitz/Expedia/travelocity(choosing all airlines option). AA.com sometimes provides better results than what I see on other search engines.

111op

What's the all airlines option on AA? Can you book a multicity trip?

In any case, this itinerary isn't on AA, but I do fly AA quite often so I'm interested in learning more.

Thanks.

Robespierre

Go to aa.com

In the "Make Reservation?" box, you can choose

o Round Trip
o One Way
o Multi-City

Tick the third and it will take you to a page with all kinds of blanks on it. Under 5. Choose a Carrier, tick All Carriers.

It gave me American, Aer Lingus, and British.

But I am no expert.

tcreath

Definitely click on "all carriers"....sometimes you can find much better rates by flying with one of AA's One World Alliance partners.

Tracy

111op

Thanks, R. I'll save that for future reference. I don't think that AA and partners have direct flights to FCO, so I don't feel like using them this time.

Well, I went to ITA software, and the same itinerary shows up, but obviously once can't book through ITA.

So I called my travel agent.

ITA says that I should use codes V, Q, H, H. My travel agent says that the FCO to CDG flight seems quite full and she can only use code Z.

But anyway, she said to give her a call tomorrow.

I'll keep looking in the meantime.

By the way, the fare on ITA is $834.90. Orbitz adds $10 and Expedia adds $5.

111op

Thanks again for the one-world tip, people.

I've tried pricing the itinerary on aa.com. AA does fly JFK -> FCO directly, but the flight is at 5 pm.

Since I'm trying to go to three different cities in three days, I think that I've to try to use direct flights.