Catalina

Several Fodorites have suggested using TravelTeam for my ticket SFO-MAD in June. Right now TravelTeam is quoting the lowest fares by about $300. Has anyone actually bought tickets through them? If so, what was your experience? Thanks. Catalina

Jenny

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Geo

I just bought my tickets through them for my June trip. I bought tickets from NY to Barcelona coming back from Rome. At the time the lowest fare I could find was British Airways with a stop in London for $830. Through Travel Team I found direct flights on Delta for around $700. <BR><BR>I paid for the tickets, they faxed me a credit card charge consent form which I signed and faxed back. A couple of days later I got my paper tickets on the mail. So far so good.

Catalina

Thanks for your reply, Geo. Have you flown Delta internationally before? I haven't and I read on this forum that someone had a bad experience with Delta. Catalina

zooza

Catalina, be realistic. Depending on people's expectations, and/or whether someone on the airline staff was having a bad or not, you will probably find that someone somewhere along the road has had a 'bad' experience w/each of the airlines.

xxx

Can someone quickly fill me in on how TravelTeam works...do you know what airline you are flying and what your flight times are before you pay?

Dick Yeager

Catalina,<BR><BR>I responded positively about Travelteam on your other post. <BR><BR><BR>xxx,<BR><BR>Yes, you know everything you want to know including seat selection and FF miles.<BR><BR>I found them very professional. As Geo says, a couple of days after paying for the tickets, the paper tickets arrived n the mail. <BR><BR>Dick

aimi

You mean you get FF miles on a cheaper flight. I was unable to on a hotwire.com flight.

Geo

If I remember correctly you can hold the tickets for about a week before you have to pay for them. They'll send you an email with your flight information. I went to Delta's website plus others (Travelocity, Expedia, Etc.) before I paid to see if I they had a better deal. Through Delta I would have gotten the same direct flight seats for much more. I don't remember how much more but I believe it was over $1000 (because of open jaw flights) as opposed to $700. Since Delta only has one direct flight to Barcelona per day I rushed to finish the order with TravelTeam. Just make sure you ask what the restrictions are and that you can live with them (fees for changing plans, cancelling trip, etc.). I'm getting travelers insurance just in case I have to change my plans between now and June.

Maria

Geo--<BR> Which travel insurance company do you purchase your policy with? I'm interested because most of the ones I looked at only reimburse for things like illness or death. Do any reimburse for just a "change in plans"? <BR>

Geo

I should have been more specific. This is going to be my honeymoon so the only way I would change my plans would be because of emergencies like illness or death.

Dick Yeager

Travelteam uses Travel Guard International for travel insurance.<BR><BR>I declined the insurance since I felt I could work around any potential problems that might arise.<BR><BR>Dick

Jerry

ttt<BR>

xxx

Thanks for the info. I tried TravelTeam's website yesterday. All I got was the message that says no flights were available. I know there are flights available because both Travelocity and Orbitz found them. I tried to use Travelteam's suggestions and changed the dates, times, etc., but still no luck. Can anyone clue me in as to what I was doing wrong?? Thanks.

jj

I've had the same problem with TravelTeam. There is never availability on the cheaper flights when I check.<BR><BR>I've heard a lot of good things about Orbitz also, but when I try them (East Coast to Paris) for this summer, they are about $200 more/ticket than a couple of other discount websites I've tried.

Don

Triple x and jj, what's probably happening is that the fares to which Travelteam has access--let's say 'H' class fares--are already sold out on your dates. That does not necessarily mean that all seats on the plane are sold out on certain dates currently; it just means that the cheap fares that Travelteam (and most other consolidators) can sell you are currently sold out for those dates. <BR><BR>Airlines use fare classes to determine fare and restrictions on a ticket. H class (aka "Hospitality" class) is quite popular with airfare consolidators, but other heavily-restricted fare classes can sometimes be booked.<BR><BR>Try being as flexible as possible with your travel dates, and keep checking. Someone may have tickets reserved, but if they don't pay then those seats will become available again. Also try calling Travelteam to see what a live reservations agent can find for you. Good luck.

GAELEN

We used Travel Team to buy our Spain tickets for March. I initially tried their website, but found it much easier to talk to a person on the phone. We got PDX-Barcelona, Madrid-PDX for about $500, which beat all the scheduled flight prices I could find. Of course, always shop around thoroughly, first so you know what a good price is.

Bill

Just remember, the fare quoted on TravelTeam do not include taxes or airport charges which could add up to an additional $100.00

Geo

I agree with the previous posts. I only used their website to get an idea of available fares. Give Travel Teams toll free number a call. They where very helpful when I called. If they don't have your exact dates they may be able to find alternate ones for you.

xxx

Thanks for the advice. I'll try calling. For the same dates, Orbitz listed nearly 700 options, Travelocity showed none and Expedia had far fewer but nearly $200 more than Orbitz. Okay, another probably obvious question...does Travelteam also deal in domestic air? The headings all seemed to refer to international travel.