Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia or Direct Airline to purchase air to Europe?
 

Need to book tickets to Italy, into Pisa and out from Rome, Pisa or Florence. I can only get the flights I want (multi-city, with great times and airfares but on different airlines) on the online ticket websites Orbitz, Travelocity or Expedia. Normally I only book directly through the airline web site but I can't seem to get the flight combinations I want through any specific airline. The leaving and return flights are on different airlines. Is it okay to purchase through the online ticket broker websites and which is best just in case I need to make changes, want specific seats, etc. Please offer some advice and from which website would you purchase your ticket ?

I normally use the airlines websites-- but sometimes Orbitz/etc will get you a better fare or better routings.

I just returned from an open jaw SMF > EDI and LHR > SMF that saved me $400+ and got me better connections than I could could get from either AA or BA. Orbitz saved me $$$ and didn't route me through Madrid of all places - which was the best BA could offer.

Had no problems at all. I've done similar before - 4 or 5 times out of maybe 25+ trips to Europe over the years.

moo - this is the true exception to booking with one airline.

As janisj says - <<I normally use the airlines websites-- but sometimes Orbitz/etc will get you a better fare or better routings.>>

Some of us tend to be 'slaves' to one ariline and try our darndest to avoid competitors. Something to do with racking up those FF miles.

I'm well over a million and counting with AA. Slave mentality at its best.

Be aware that if you buy through Orbitz and there is a problem, you will be on hold literally for HOURs trying to get help and they will do nothing for you. I mean hours, I went through two 153 minute phone cards and had to end up finding us a way home myself.

Pray that the airline has an employee who will help you, not the employee of a partner airline, but an actual employee of which ever one sold the ticket. The employee of the partner airline actually refused to help us. She did give us a phone number which didn't work.

We purchased through Orbitz recently. Due to a strike in Spain our return flights were cancelled. It ended up costing us over $3000.00 to get home. Orbitz reply? Sorry.

You may not get a lot of help if you buy directly through the airlines, but I can assure you, you will get no help buying through Orbitz. The convenience of a better schedule was far outweighed by the problems we incurred. I will never use Orbitz again.

I suggest you write down the itinerary you like, and call the first airline you want to use. Most airlines now are in alliances, but they don't seem to be very good about showing flights by their partners on their web sites. They have more information if you call; in your situation I think it is a good idea even if there is a fee.

You are not specific enough about the itinerary you have found, but I am not confident that one of the third-party agencies would be certain to get you flights that are tied on a single itinerary, and if they are not, you could have trouble if one flight arrives late. I used one of those third party agencies once, and there were so many problems I decided to avoid them for purchasing, but they are useful in finding itineraries.

I think Florence is not an international airport, so flying out of there would require a connection at an international airport. I think Pisa is an international airport, but I suspect it doesn't have a lot of international flights, as I know no one who has flied out of there. When last I looked, Venice seemed to have more possibilities.

Hi, DorianGray,
This is Robert, and I am part of the Orbitz Customer Relations team. We want to learn more about your experience so that we can address the issue. Please email us at [email protected]. Please use my name in the subject line, so that I can investigate further.
Thank you for your patience, I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Robert Woyach
Orbitz Customer Relations

Hi Robert,

You are the one said 'sorry' and did nothing.

>>>The leaving and return flights are on different airlines.<<<

What are the flights? Are they in the same alliance? We can't help you unless you state which flights you are trying to book.

I occasionally watch "Europe through the Back Door" staring Rick Steves on PBS. He often suggests open jaw flights with overnight train travel between several cities and then flying home from the other major city. Have you done any research on train travel between some of your cities? Short airplane flights within Italy are probably not as economical as trains.

I wouldn't worry about using Orbitz, Travelocity, etc. They're huge companies. Millions use them. Do people occasionally have bad experiences for whatever reason? Of course. You could say the same thing about the best restaurants and hotels, too, not to mention the airlines. But if problems were the norm, they'd eventually be out of business.

Why not book directly with one airline so if anything happens you are covered? Delta has a nonstop to Pisa out of JFK and also flies to nonstop to Venice,Milan and Rome out of Detroit,JFK and Atlanta so you could do your open jaw ticket without the hassles of a middleman.

Done. Thanks everyone. As always your help is so valuable! Booked through Air France on Air France. It just worked out that I didn't have to book two different airlines. Again, thanks!