Blondie21

Are seasoned travelers still in agreement that when given the choice one should book directly with the airline? even if an online site like Orbitz or Priceline knocks the price down
$200? How can they do that? I'm looking at a multi flight departing from NY to Turin and returning Milan to NY. AirFrance has it for $860 per person and on Kayak and Skyscanner I found the Orbitz and Priceline price of $533. Really??? Could it be?

Gardyloo

It can be, but the devil is in the details. Sometimes the cheap tickets carry some punitive features that you only learn about when trouble comes along, e.g. super high change fees, or reduced frequent flyer mileage earning. It has to do with the specific fare class and rules. And if you get stuck the airline might say, "Phone Orbitz" and you're in some tiny airport with no internet connectivity, or it's 3 in the morning at Orbitz. Oy. Most of the time it's okay, but now and then all hell will break loose. Do you feel lucky?

emalloy

What Gardyloo said, and I always look at the sites for Orbitz, Travelocity, Kayak, etc. to see the range of prices and then go to the airline directly. So far the airline has been the same cost or lower than the travel sites.

J62

ditto.

I use a search engine to find options, but always book directly with the airline, and so far the airline has had the same or lower cost.

doug_stallings

You do have another option. You could call up a real travel agent and let them do the booking for you and explain any restrictions. They have direct access to the systems and will usually book tickets for a modest price. On occasion, agents have found deals I couldn't get myself.

But I'll give you a more concrete example. I found a sub-$800 round-trip fare from NYC to Tokyo and Manila. I couldn't book it on the JAL web site (I found it on Google Flights). So I asked my travel agent to do it and got the air booking for free because I also booked my hotels through the agent and got a decent discount on that and my rail pass. Some travel agents really do know what they are doing and can be extremely helpful.

jacketwatch

Using an agent can help but not always. When we booked airfare three years ago for business class seats from Chicago to Tokyo my travel agent got a much better deal and even adding in insurance for the cruise we were going to take was cheaper than anything else I found. However for our upcoming trip in December to Sydney Australia she could not be anything that I found myself.

NewbE

I would not hesitate to use Orbitz or Kayak or any other reputable online agent. I have done so many, many times in the past and never suffered the theoretical horrors described here. These are not fly-by-night operators. And $200 is a big difference.

Their prices are often lower because they can combine different airlines on one itinerary--Delta going out and American coming back, for example.

But if you are nervous, by all means, use a travel agent. They can help you save real money.

No one method always yields the lowest price, and no precaution can prevent all travel inconveniences from occurring.

doug_stallings

The reason why I hesitate to recommend Orbitz is that this is a multi-airline flight. I'm not so keen on multi-airline, single-ticket flights in any case unless the airlines are partners. I wouldn't hesitate to book Delta/Air France or United/Lufthansa, but I would hesitate to book a multi-leg trip using non-partner airlines.

I'm not sure I'd do that even with a travel agent, even to safe $100.

NewbE

Why, doug_stallings?

doug_stallings

It's simple really. So many things can go wrong when you are moving between different airlines, and there's always confusion over who is responsible for fixing any problem that might occur. Is it the airline? Is it the OTA?

What if the flight from NY to Europe is late and the connection to Turin is missed? If you're on AA to London and then Alitalia from Heathrow to Turin, you could have issues. Even though you have more rights in Europe, there's still the confusion of moving from one airline to another. You might not be able to check in for all legs in NYC, and then you need extra time in London or wherever the connection happens.

If the flights are all AA/BA from NYC to Turin, I'm less concerned.

Similarly, I have little to no concern if the OP is flying Alitalia all the way from NYC to Turin and BA all the way from Milan back to NYC.

NewbE

I agree, if one airline or partner airlines are all the way to the final destination, there is no reason to worry.

The other scenarios you lay out are less clear cut to me. If all legs are ticketed on the same itinerary, sure, problems can arise because they can always arise, but they shouldn't. I recently flew on a couple of airlines from Tampa to Cuiaba, Brazil, and was able to check in at the start all the way through, including luggage and receiving all boarding passes, even though all airlines on the itinerary were not partner airlines. I think modern computer systems can speak across airlines.

<What if the flight from NY to Europe is late and the connection to Turin is missed? If you're on AA to London and then Alitalia from Heathrow to Turin, you could have issues. >
Such as? I mean, it seems clear to me that Alitalia has to rebook you if you're on the same itinerary, and in fact, that has happened to me without particular hassle apart from the delay.

Has anyone actually experienced these theoretical issues? Because, and truly without disrespect or meaning to be argumentative, these read to me like ghost stories that travelers tell, perhaps without foundation in fact.

Geordie

I agree with Newbe, I use online or bricks & mortar travel agents and the savings are enormous compared to the airline websites especially for international flights.

I've travelled on hundreds, even thousands of flights and there have been cancellations, lost luggage, missed connections but I have never had a problem as a result of going through a 3rd party. If these so called issues with using 3rd party sites were really such a significant problem how are companies such as priceline, expedia, webjet able to grow their business and their share price so significantly over the last few years, they must be doing something right

Yesterday I booked 3 x flights on Malaysian via a 3rd party, (flight centre) which were almost $700 per ticket less than Malaysian were offering on their website. Of course there may be different fare classes and restrictions but I know I will be travelling on those dates and if anything happens e.g. medical issue, I have my own private insurance to cover it

Gardyloo

Regarding travel agents, it's important to note that travel agents in the US don't receive commissions from airlines, and haven't for many years. This is not the case in other countries such as Australia or most of Europe, but in the US it's resulted in most TAs being worse than clueless when it comes to air travel. They don't know how to use the GDSs, and really don't know much beyond booking cruises or hotels using chains that offer meager commissions. (I write this as a former TA by the way.)

There are some who will brand themselves travel <i>consultants</i> who know how to put air tickets together, but they really can't compete with the big OTAs or the airlines themselves.

Using Expedia (which owns both Orbitz and Travelocity, by the way) or Priceline, you're dealing with outfits that book millions of tickets, many involving interline (or inter-alliance) itineraries, and the error rate, or instances of people being completely messed up, is incredibly low. You really don't have to worry about this unless you're using some really minor Grace L. Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Company type carrier.

NewbE

<So far the airline has been the same cost or lower than the travel sites.>
I want to add that I find this incredible! I find travels sites to be significantly cheaper about half the time, especially on international itineraries.

jacketwatch

We booked UAL RT ORD-LAX per the UAL website. The price was the same as on Expedia.

mlgb

I've used Expedia when the price was several $100 lower and no I couldn't get the same price on the airline website. But as said it's all in the details. My flights were all on one airline, which I trust. Although I didn't earn miles, I did get the same luggage allowance, meals, good service and was able to select my seats online. I even earned the $20 Changi airport voucher.


I have heard of people having problems with cancelling hotels on Expedia but that is a different story.

NewbE

I wasn't saying that the cost is always lower on Expedia; I was responding to the statement <So far the airline has been the same cost or lower than the travel sites.>

Put it this way: no single method is ALWAYS cheaper or more expensive.

mlgb

Regardless of how you buy your ticket, you always risk some unreasonble desk agent deciding to give you a hard time about through ticketing.
Several years ago, my Brother spent a night in either Paris or London thanks to an obstinate Air France agent in Toulouse. They even had United on the phone to try to talk some sense into Air France (they are both Star Alliance) but the French guy refused of course.

annw

I booked a PE ticket RT SFO-LHR through Orbitz -- leaving Thursday.

Booked "Delta" which ends up on Virgin Atlantic metal.

Got messages from Orbitz and Delta that I had an upgrade/change in class, but both of them and Virgin had different stories about what that meant. (Delta computer issue thrown in too, apparently).

So at 24 hours ahead Virgin gets control of the seats, and I will have a clear answer where I will be seated.

So, price was decent, Orbitz seems OK, I get Delta miles, all should be well, but it was confusing and I wish I had worked the problem and just booked directly.