tnnonline

My friend and I are looking at various packages to go to London this Fall. We are contemplating purchasing our hotel and airfare via Travelocity, but are concerned that we might not get our frequent flier miles posted should we not book directly with American Airlines. The difference in savings will be about $200.

Any thoughts about this? Will Travelocity credit me for miles flown?

AAFrequentFlyer

It's not Travelocity that will post miles. It's AA and they will if the fare code matches one of their miles earning fares. Before you click the "purchase" button read the fare rules.

Then go to aa.com and compare the fare code and see what if any miles the flight will earn.

I have not purchased any flights from Travelocity so I'm not sure if they do show you the fare rules but if they don't then just call them and ask before purchasing the package.

tnnonline

What is the fare code? Is this something different from the flight number?

When checking out with Travelocity, there is an option for imput with one's frequent flier number and airline.

Anyone else have any experience with this?

AAFrequentFlyer

Airlines give ff miles according to fare codes. Some are very generous as in AA, some are very stingy as in British Airways.

AA will pretty much give you full miles on any code except:

<i>Tickets between North America and Europe, India, Asia and Latin America booked in <b>O</b> and Transatlantic tickets booked in <b>Q</b> are not eligible for mileage credit.</i>

the above does NOT include any unpublished fares as in: Priceline, special groups, package fares, which in most cases do not earn miles.

The does not mean that Travelocity package falls into the no-miles fare. What that means is that you need to find out what fare code Travelocity is selling you.

Look here to find the acceptable codes that earn miles:

http://tinyurl.com/3dvy5d

hills27

I would book directly. If you have to change anything or anything goes wrong, you'll spend hours and hours on the phone with Travelocity. To me, $200 is not worth the headache. But that's me.

tnnonline

Would there be any advantages/disadvantages at booking the airfare direct from AA, but booking the hotel from Travelocity? Or should I book the airfare and hotel direct from AA?

When we buy our tour, we want to make sure that we're not just getting a good deal, we're also getting something reliable.

clevelandbrown

I don't mean to single out travelocity, but they are one of a number of companies that appear to cut corners in order to make money from travelers out to save a few dollars. I no longer deal with these companies, as I think the purported savings are less than the hassles often involved.

When I did deal with them, they offered little in the way of customer service, and if you did call with a question, you would often get an uninformed answer, if any. I have seen them sell very cheap tickets that do not earn miles, and you have to be very knowledgeable to find out whether the tickets do earn miles. One sold me a pair of tickets, one of which earned miles, and one of which didn't, and, while I'm no expert, I am certain there was no way to find this out before making the purchase. Also, if a problem with your transportation should develop, the airline wants you to take your question or complaint to the company that sold you the tickets, rather than to deal with the airline itself; needless to say, this can complicate things. Before I quit using this type of company, I had bought, well in advance, tickets that involved two airlines. In the five months between purchase and the date of the trip, I received at least eight notices that the second airline had either cancelled my ticket, or had no record of it. The airline wouldn't talk to me. To their credit, the company that sold the tickets did contact the airline, repeatedly, and resolved the situation, but there was a period of uncertainty because of this that almost made us cancel our trip.

I don't know about booking a hotel through one of these services, having never done it. My impression is that they deal with larger hotels, and our preference is for smaller places with some local ambiance, so we book directly with the hotel or apartment service. I suspect that for a last-minute trip, their service would be useful where direct booking would be difficult due to lack of availability.

tnnonline

Do you all think there might be a difference between booking with a service like Travelocity for domestic air/hotel versus international?

Since I am looking to travel international, I want to make sure that as part of the best &quot;value&quot; I book with a reputable, worthwhile service.

hills27

Whenever you book indirectly, you are at the mercy of the airline or hotel. If they overbook, you are the first one kicked off. If a flight gets cancelled or delayed, you are the last one to get a seat on another flight. As such, I prefer to book directly with the airline and hotel.

Btw, with Starwood, if you see a non-package rate (can't even include any extras like breakfast, etc.) that's less that the rate available through Starwood, they will give you the new fare plus some bonus points.

rkkwan

What hills27 say is not true. You do not get kicked out first because you book via an agent.

The real problem is that any kind of rebooking or refunds have to go through that agent. And many people's experience is that the customer service of these online agents is poor.

hills27

I guess I should have caveated. To me, booking through a real travel agency is booking direct. To me, Travelocity is not a travel agency, it's a reseller.

Regardless, most of the airlines use complicated algorithms to rebook passengers. Travelocity passengers have to go through Travelocity to get rebooked, so yes, in essence you are the last one to get one a flight because it takes you at least 30 minutes, usually more, to get through to a customer service rep and get rebooked. Not to mention, they are generally twits and it takes them 10x longer to do something than an airline customer service rep. By then, the airline has rebooked most its frequent fliers, high rollers, and passengers that booked directly. You're screwed.

hills27

And for hotels, it is true. They definitely kick out the cheap reservations first. I know, I'm a real estate lender and have many hotels in my portfolio.

rkkwan

Airlines treat their customers based on fare class and elite status. Not how tickets are bought. And in case of a mechanical/weather issue that the airline needs to rebook everybody, you don't need to go through Travelocity or whatever agent.

Anyways, I don't work in the travel industry. My knowledge only comes as a traveler and I follow the aviation world as a hobby. So, what I say is not necessarily 100% correct.

hawaiichris

I am a travel agent and I would say also that is not true that if you book direct with the airlines you have a better chance of getting on another flight, etc. If something happens at the airport, flight delay, overbooked , things like that, you don't go back through travelocity, it's the airlines responsibility at that point to fix the problem. Once a flight has left the ground without you...you do have to work it out with the airline no matter if booked through travelocity or even a travel agent, most times a travel agent can't do much for you once you miss a flight or if it's overbooked. With American airlines I believe they dont give the miles for that fare because generally &quot;O&quot; class of service is a promotional sale fare and fares can be extremely cheap when those fares are available. I would say there is nothing wrong with booking with travelocity for that trip if it's saving you some money...just be careful and be sure you read everything thoroughly..know what you want and book it as so. If you are not familiar with the area or hotels etc, maybe trying to find a travel agent who specializes in that area could be a good way to go also...you know sometimes, well a lot of times to be truthful online booking agencies do have great prices, i will give them that, however when doing hotels, sometimes they make it look a lot nicer than it really is and give it a higher star rating than it deserves..but if you know what you want exactly and you are saving money as long as it's not a sale fare you should be getting your miles for that fare no matter if you book with travelocity or expedia or the airline direct. All my customers book through our wholesale fares and they all receive their miles..if you can't put it in on travelocity..once you get your record locator or reservation number (normally 6 numbers, or letters or combination of both) you can log into your reservation online with AA.com and input your mileage plus numbers and normally choose your seats also. Hope that helps..but if you can find a good travel agent, they may be able to better help you with your travel and could possibly get you an even better deal!

hills27

Well then, I guess my personal experiences of getting stuck at O'Hare after flights were cancelled and United wouldn't rebook me (forcing me to call Expedia) are figments of my imagination.

And I guess some travel agents are better than others because I've had them work wonders for me when a flight was cancelled.

Chris, I don't think you are 100% correct when it comes to FF miles for tickets bought on Expedia and Travelocity. There are fare classes that do not receive miles. See Travelocity's FAQ: http://preview.tinyurl.com/3ar8bf

Frequent flier miles for tickets purchased on Hotwire and Priceline are often not available. See Priceline's FAQ: http://preview.tinyurl.com/37grz3

hawaiichris

sometimes depends on the agent at the airport , will depend on what they will tell you. I have had many times when they say call your agent, they call me I call wholesaler, they say airline has to do it..back and forth back and forth....however when I get in the middle of it I will take my entire day calling til I get someone who knows what they are talking about. It should be go back to your booking agent before travel, but if the airline themselves cancel's a flight, overbooks or anything like that, they have to fix it and generally of any problems I have had the airline does..I think one time I had that problem where back and forth the airline said we had to fix it...in the end when I got a person at the airline who knew what they were doing, it was the airline that was reponsible for fixing anything.

As for the FF miles I guess I was not aware of the rules for expedia, travelocity...generally I may check their prices to compare ours, see what they are going for..I just assumed they would give FF miles for them because all of our wholesale fares will get our customers miles even though they are contracted lower fares..I guess that is one more draw back of booking with online agencies and I hear that many times...many people book online with expedia, travelocity etc..personally I don't, even when not booking my own through wholesale because we basically carry hawaii only I normally don't book through them, but there are some trips that run smooth....but if you are the one that has something bad happen don't expect much from them in helping you fix anything.

thanks for the info on the fare rules for online agencies...that could be a help in selling our fares versus their fares.

hawaiichris

On another note..if a flight is canceled then sure a travel agent can be of assistance fixing it for you instead of you , yourself having to iron it out, however the bottom line is, the airlines have the final say. I would say a travel agent in that situation would be more help than travelocity or expedia, but in the long run a travel agent will have to work with the airline direct for you and basically even with a travel agent you are still at the mercy of the airline..granted they are more willing to help if they cancel a flight, now if you miss your flight..then you are really at their mercy....in instances like that a travel agent can be helpful.

I'm glad you got a good travel agent to help you with that fight, but basically the travel agent is there to work the problem for you, still directly with the airline, instead of you having to do it yourself...which in the end would work better for you, with less headache and a travel agent should..that is our job to make sure your trip runs smooth.

as for the airlines again bumping cheaper fares first...I know with our bulk fares..the airline reservationist and ticketing agents can't even see how much our customers paid for their bulk tickets...so there at the airport the agents have no idea what your ticket had cost you...just because they are bulk doesn't always mean they are cheaper..some people I give a choice of bulk or published fares that are less..and they take the bulk because they are not non refundable and they dont have to be paid up front most times...thus our customer will pay more than someone who booked direct with the airline by choice.

Seamus

&quot;Bulk fares are not non refundable&quot; - was that a typo? Bulk fares are the class that airlines sell &quot;in bulk&quot; at a deep discount to consolidators or others who then re-sell them, sometimes packaged with accommodations. They usually come with restrictions even tighter than the airline's lowest fares, and many consolidator fares are totally nonrefundable. As to the paying up front - never heard of a bulk ticket being sold as buy now pay later - usually must buy and pay when booking or risk it not being available at a later date. And while the agent may not be able to tell the exact price you paid, they most certainly can tell you are flying on a bulk ticket.
Whatever the fare class, the airline contract of carriage still applies.
tnnonline - if you are really concerned about your FF miles, have a look at AA's vacation packages - even though they are not my carrier of choice I have to admit they generally run some good deals.

tnnonline

I appreciate everyone's candid thoughts on the subject.

I have seen some good deals with AAVacations, and that is what we might ultimately decide to use. But, has anyone had any experience with Continental Vacations? This is our second choice for our trip.

hawaiichris

Just to clarify...bulk fares are contracted fares with wholesaler and airline. You most certainly can book now pay later on most bulk fares...we work with many many wholesaler that do , do this and we do it every single day with thousands of bookings a year booked just that way. There are some published fares that you can book and usually when booking on their websites you can choose if you want a refundable ticket or maybe lowest priced non refundable ticket. However our bulk fares restrictions are not tighter than published fares. If insurance is purchased for a low fee they are fully refundable, if not they are refundable minus a penalty usually $150 per ticket. In fact it's opposite when we sell published fares they are fully non refundable through wholesalers and have to be paid in full at the time of booking. The agent at the airport cannot see the price of a bulk ticket and does not mean that the ticket is necessarily cheaper then the next person. In my years in the business and thousands of bookings I have never had anyone turned away from a hotel booked through wholesale and only 1 customer bumped on an overbooked flight during spring break which they got them on soon after and gave them vouchers so it's not true that booking wholesale means you will get bumped first.