Kayak = Priceline and unavailable flights?
 

Kayak has been my favorite tool when booking flights for years now. The last time I used it was August 2016 and that was for a domestic flight the following October. I am now shopping for an international flight and while I am noticing great flights at times and prices that I want. When I select one to book, I am being directed through Priceline customer service and given the following message: "This rate is no longer available for the dates you requested, please adjust your travel dates, find a different flights or choose a different rate" for every flight with-in a $200 price range from the first flight I selected. I've refreshed, changed dates, changed airlines... all the same. When I look for the flights on the airline websites the rates are significantly higher ($200+) which makes me feel like the lowest rates Kayak is advertising are not real. Is this the new Kayak? Because it is not the kayak I have known, loved and trusted for years. I know they were purchased by Priceline in 2012, but I have used them countless times and until recently have had nothing but good experiences. Anyone else having these issues?

My experience with third party online fare sites is that the airlines' websites usually have the same price. Sometimes I check kayak or others, but then I almost always book directly with the airline itself.

Maybe I'm missing something? But that's been my experience.

(And if there's a glitch, I'd much rather be dealing with the airline than a third party.)

Bait-and-switch.
You may notice even legit hotel sites claiming "Last two rooms! Book now!" Sure, last for right now, tomorrow maybe more. My rule-of-thumb is airline sites are the best for flights but hotel sites are often undersold by booking.com and all the rest. Consumer beware.

Exactly why I loved kayak, I could browse all of the airlines at once and then when I wanted to book they would direct me to the airline website. Now it seems to be through Priceline and not the airline.

cbg - So you're going to book through Kayak via Priceline and then via airline itself? Just go to the airline.

I was really disappointed with kayak last time and switched to liligo.
But after the search I always book via the airline.
Always.

<<You may notice even legit hotel sites claiming "Last two rooms! Book now!">> There are only two rooms left on the booking site you are looking at, not necessarily two rooms left in the entire hotel! The hotel website can't know the exact availability of hotel rooms in the hotel, it can only know the availability of the allocation of rooms within that hotel it can sell. Do you not purchase anything else online, like clothes or shoes? Have you never seen the response, low stock? Have you never seen an item you want sold out, only to find it for sale again days later?

The response from Priceline is due to far less exciting or sinister reasons than the imagined ones given above. The fare and flights are not available anymore or that particular fare deal is withdrawn.

<<I could browse all of the airlines at once and then when I wanted to book they would direct me to the airline website. Now it seems to be through Priceline and not the airline.>> You don't understand - Skyscanner searches many websites for the dates/route you want and present mixed options on the screen for various booking sites, could be Priceline or other OTAs, could be airline websites. In your case, you picked Priceline, you were thene redirected to the Priceline website where your original request (date/route etc) is refreshed to get the latest info, in this case, you found out that the fare is not longer available.

<<But after the search I always book via the airline.
Always.>> Unless it is business travel, right?

People who use third party online booking sites get what they deserve.

Book direct with the airline or hotel by phone. That's my advice. It has never failed me yet.

Third party sites count on GREED as your motivation. They 'offer' only one thing, 'lowest price'. In fact, they rarely even deliver that. But it gets you to book with them.

I prefer to look for 'value for money'. That does not necessarily mean the lowest airfare or room price.

Unfortunately, the travelling public today has been brainwashed into thinking that the objective is always to find the lowest price and to ignore value. As a result, they get LESS for their hard earned money while providing profits to third party parasites who add nothing to the value equation.

The funny thing is that most people do understand value and often buy products/services where they do not choose the lowest price. Yet somehow when it comes to airfare and hotel choices, they suddenly seem to ignore value and focus solely on price. I wonder who is working hard at getting them to do that?

I on the other hand, usually book through Expedia, which is where I do my initial search. I've had excellent service from them over the years. I usually also check with the airline site, but prices being equal, I book with Expedia. I often have complicated itineraries, and Expedia is good at putting together flights from different airlines. Besides, why deprive them of the commission when their website is so helpful.

I almost never book a flight+hotel package, though. I can almost always do better booking the hotel separately, and they show you a limited number of flights when you're booking a package.

I just use Kayak to find what I'm interested in, I'll admit, I'm a freeloader. It's good to have all options in one place so I can decide on the best time and airline for me. Then I always book through the airline.

I don't know why anyone would book through Kayak, but I guess they wouldn't be in business if they didn't.

However, I will say that I have never found prices much different on the airlines website and Kayak, which is good, as I use them to pick the fares I want. Priceline is another story, I never even check those options as I don't want fares shown from all those other 3rd party operators, they have several of them now on there, used to just be vayama, I think. So maybe it is typical the Priceline fares don't show, I have no idea.

On the other hand, Kayak isn't the airline itself, so it may not have instantaneous info on fares, I don't know how it works or how often they update their rates.

The bottom line is you are looking for some bargain obviously and to get a fare cheaper than on the airlines own website, which given how full planes are nowadays, I don't know what you expect on that, so I think that's your problem.