Loki

So I go to travelocity to check airfares, find an itinerary with a declared price, click on "choose without hotel" or something like that, and the next screen says that the price has changed ("sorry")and is about double what the search feature said it was. I can understand that from the time I performed the search and the time I chose it, the flight price may have actually changed. But then I refresh the browser and do the same search all over again, and once again, it shows the low fare and when I try and purchase it, the fare goes up. Are they just trying to scam the people who use those travel searches that encompass multiple websites to steer traffic to travelocity and then pull the bait and switch? I've never had this problem with Orbitz, I've always gotten then price that comes up in the original search. Have other people found this with Travelocity?

travelinwifey

A lot of travel websites do this. Have you ever tried booking a cruise? It's even worse. I rarely use travelocity because I can usually beat the hotels on my own. They are often higher than the hotel's own website. The airfare may be good, but I always check the airline direct to see if I can get it for the same price first.

yale

I've found that the special airfares that travelocity posts are indeed legit, but they may not last long or are only valid on certain travel dates. I've gotten some great deals by subscribing to their Farewatcher (ex. Denver to Providence for $118 total RT - unheard of!). You just have to be quick to purchase when you see them posted. And when the fare changes, I think there is a slight lag in getting their site updated.

Loki

As for the lag, so far it's been 4 hours and it's the same thing, $303 until I try and purchase it and then $655. I know there are people out there who don't pay enough attention to things like this and end up with a shocker when they get their cc statement. Are there any websites that compare flights across search engines? I know Travelaxe does something like this but I'm looking for something web based rather than a standalone app. TIA

Brookside

Loki -- I feel your pain! But I second Yale's advice about acting fast. I recently booked 2 tickets to NYC for through Travelocity, saving about $250.00. I needed to book a seperate itinerary for my son, who's joining us later. I checked availablity on my lunch hour at work, planning to book it off the clock. When I went to purchase a mere 5 hours later, the fare was no longer available.

What makes me nervous about Travelocity are the intineraries themselves. Our connection times are extremely tight, and even if all goes well, with no delays, we'll have to race to make our connections. This seems to be the case with all of Travelocity's discounted fares -- ?

I'm not sure what happens if I arrive too late to make my connection. (The fine print doesn't address this issue specifically. But if it's *their* falut you miss the flight, I assume you fly standby on the next?)My experience with this airline in such situations has been good (ie -- if they know you're coming, they'll wait a few minutes), but you never know.

TxTravelPro

Loki... when you make that purchase it tells you a FEW times what you are paying before you ever complete the transaction.
I speculate that travelocity is displaying the fares by city pair without checking availability.
Once the person selects dates and such, tv prices the itinerary and the fare is not available for those flights. By the very next search it could open up... airlines are always jacking with their fares.
So caching the data is not a great idea either.

TxTravelPro

Brookeside... when booking a personal trip for myself on the AA website last week, AA gave me a 30 minute connection time at ORD! AA did that!
I know better than to risk a 30 minute connection, so I had to book it point to point to give myself a 75 minute connection!
Sometimes the websites are NOT creating those short connections!

GoTravel

ITASoftware.com will show you the lowest fares but you cannot book with them.

I only use Travelocity and Expedia to look at the hotels and can usually find the cheapest airfare on the above or the airline's website.

shaz60

Loki -

I'm sure that you've thought of this, but did you check to make sure that the price is not for two people. It occurred to me that the prices you listed are almost exactly double with an airport fee added on. Sometimes these sites default to two people travelling.
Sharon

TC

Loki - I agree with you completely. This happened every single time I tried to use Travelocity. I never check them anymore. I would get there farewatch email, get all excited, only to find that one could never actually purchase a ticket at the low, low price. I believe there search engine simply grabs all fares that an airline registers with the FAA. Airlines are not obligated to actually offer those fares to the public, the prices are just registered "in case" the airline wants to have a sale or the like. While this may not technically qualify as a "scam", it sure falls into the junk mail category with me.

gough

Not everything at Travelocity is as it may seem. My most recent (and it will be my last) experience using Travelocity was to purchase (I thought) a domestic air ticket. I submitted my credit card information; it was accepted, and I went to bed thinking I had got a reasonable deal for two tickets on United Airlines. The next day I received a telephone message from Travelocity telling me that the airline no longer had any tickets available at the price I agreed to pay (and Travelocity agreed to accept the previous day.) So, sorry, they said. However, by the time they notified me of this it was one day later and less than 21 days before my scheduled departure. By that time the price of my ticket with any airline or booking agent had gone up because of that factor. I tried to argue with Travelocity that when Travelocity accepted my credit card information and sold me a ticket for a specific flight that any subsequent price increase was Travelocity's problem. From your experience, Loki, it looks like Travelocity has a practice of posting fares that are no longer available.

Loki

I rechecked everything after what txtravelpro said, and it's not giving me a generic city to city, it has exact dates and times and it's only for one person. Can you guys see the link below? If so, note where it says $303.80 near the upper right...now click "Continue without hotel" a little lower. What price comes up? It changes to $654.80. That link may expire by the time you get the chance to check it.


http://travel.travelocity.com/trips/...ce=TRAVELOCITY

oilfiedltrash

"WARNING!" TRAVELOCITY.COM DOES NOT CONDUCT BUSINESS IN AN ETHICAL MANNER!" This site supports TERRORIST! Once they get your money they could care less about you. They dont even answer their own phones...they have sent all their jobs over to third world countries where the terrorist are hiding and they are supporting them by doing this!

You can get a lower fare by going to the airline usually. You are paying an extra fee to use their terrorist supporting website!

DO NOT USE TRAVELOCITY YOU WILL BE SORRY!