MsAudie

I have been having a difficult time finding a reasonable air fare to Germany for April. I prefer NWA but their price is $1,000. Don't laugh but do tickets bought through Orbitz or Travelocity, etc. cause any problems? A NWA ticket agent once told me if you buy a ticket through some of those discounters and for some reason your flight is cancelled they do not have to put you on the next available flight. Is this a scare tactic or does it only apply to some sites?

Flyboy

You won't have a problem with Orbitz because Northwest is a partner. Travelocity won't present a problem either, but I often check that site and I've yet to see them offer a Northwest ticket for less than I can get it on NWA.com (I'm not saying it doesn't happen; just that it's never happened any time that I've looked.) There is currently fare sale going on and some zone fare coupons have also been surfacing, so you should be able to do a lot better than $1,000. If you can't, then e-mail me: [email protected] -- and I'll take a look, too.

Seamus

Ms Audie - my travel agents have always told me that it doesn't matter where you buy the ticket (from the airline, a website or a travel agent), as long as it lists a NWA flight number they are bound by their contract of carriage in all respects, including accomodating you if the flight is cancelled.

It is possible that you could be on a NWA plane but using a ticket that carries a flight number of another airline (this is called a code share) and in that case the "other" airline could be responsible to accommodate you in the event of service disruption. Usually if there is a code share arrangement, the airlines involved have worked out agreements on how to handle such things.
So, buy your ticket from the cheapest source you can find!

AAFrequentFlyer

Also remember that whoever issues the ticket is the only one that could change it, re-issue it, etc...etc... if for some reason it needs to be done.

The above advice is correct. The airline is bound by regulations to treat you the same as if they issued the ticket and they will honor it, but the airline will not touch the ticket to ammend it if necessary.

So make sure that whomever you buy the ticket from has good customer service dept.

Patty

Just purchase from nwa.com. You'll earn some bonus miles and save the $5 or so booking fee that these other sites charge. Like Flyboy mentioned, I've also never found a lower fare on Orbitz or Travelocity that wasn't available on Northwest's own site.

clevelandbrown

I have seen lower prices on the discounters sometimes, but those are often flights that don't qualify for miles, if you are interested in that. I think the biggest risk with the discounters is that they sometimes route you on airline A with a connecting leg on airline B and insufficient time to make the connection, unless you are very lucky. In such a case, airline B doesn't seem to feel much of an obligation to get you to your destination, since they view you as having missed your flight; by contrast, if the routing was done by an airline, even if they use partner airlines for leg B, they seem to be willing to get you to your destination. Our first overseas flight in years was from Expedia, with connections in Paris to Venice, and London to Newark to Cleveland, and we worried the whole time about delays in flights and customs, etc., so now we window shop on the discount sites, but purchase through an airline site.

hlphillips2

I've always received frequent flier miles for my flights purchased via discounter websites. Is this for a specific site only?

AAFrequentFlyer

I agree. It doesn't matter who you buy the ticket from. What's important is what fare class the ticket is in.

In most cases consolidator, tour, package tickets are in a fare buckets that don't qualify for mileage accural. Other than that you could buy from JoeBlowDiscount.com and you will get miles.

pat

I`ve always gotten ff miles going through orbitz, travelocity or expedia. I had a very short connection in Dallas, and, before I booked, I called American and they said it`s a legal connection and not a problem. Orbitz even emailed me to let me know one of my flights was changed by 13 minutes. The only problem I see is that those sites charge you a $100 penalty for any changes. I also asked if I missed a flight, would they put you on the next plane, and they said yes, as long as it wasn`t your fault that you missed it.

clevelandbrown

The flight that worried me was from Cleveland to Newark (Continental) to Paris (Continental) to Venice (Italia) and coming back from Venice to London (Air France) to Newark (Continental) to Cleveland (Continental). The planned ground time in Paris was about 40 minutes, and in London about an hour; other times were adequate (or at least not a problem as they were between flights on the same airline.

Expedia said the connection times were OK. About four weeks before departure, I started getting email from Expedia that one of my flights had changed. This went on and on and on until just prior to departure. The problem was apparently that Continental and Italia were not talking to each other, and Italia kept cancelling me, and Expedia kept restoring me.

Bear in mind that the stop in Paris, short as it was, entailed going through immigration and customs. Fortunately, our flight arrived a little early in Paris, and we had no problems with immigration or customs, so we did make the connecting flight, but well after it had begun loading. On the way back, we again just made the connection in London, as we had the temerity to stop in a restroom. I thought, as the price had been very low, that all was well that ended well, but I didn't want to play that game again.

When we got home, my wife's miles were posted to her frequent flier account, but mine were not. I waited a couple of weeks and when they didn't show up, I put in an inquiry, and their response was that these tickets did not quality for miles, that Expedia should have told me that, and that it was a mistake posting my wife's miles. Since I am pretty thorough, I am certain that Expedia had not said that the miles were non-qualifying. I spent a couple of weeks in shameless whining to Continental and finally they had mercy on me and credited me with the miles. Our subsequent trips, booked through the airline, have been problem-free.

Incidentally, I am planning a trip to Hong Kong, then San Diego, then home, and the prices I found today on the discounters were just slightly higher than the prices on the Continental web site, due to the fee charged by the discounters.

Flyboy

Speaking of Continental and alternative websites, it is important for people who are interested in achieving/maintaining elite status to remember that Continental fares in classes Q,I,S,W,T,X and L will only earn 50% Elite Qualifying Miles as of January 1, 2004 UNLESS they are purchased on Continental.com. (After this year, even purchasing directly from the website may not help, unless Continental relents on their plans.)