Tiss.com/Flights.com - any experiences regarding booking flights thru them?
 

<BR>I'm traveling to Scotland in late April 2000. I ran into this on-line flight booking website called Flights.com (formerly Tiss.com?) Their fare to Glasgow right now is probably about 1/2 the prices of other companies.Is this company for real, or the prices are too good to be true? I guess they are a consolidator firm. Any input is appreciated.

Jan -- I JUST went through something with them. The way their system works is you book your flight, give them all of your info & payment info. They give you a confirmation number -- BUT your reservation is NOT confirmed until you hear from them in 24 to 48 hours. They will then e-mail you & let you know that your reservation (hopefully) is confirmed with that particular airline. BUT at this point you have to print out your e-mail & fax it back to them with your credit card information (again) & signature. There are two other payment options you can handle through overnight mail if you prefer. After I received my confirmation from them, I called them to see if I could still cancel (the whole thing just made me nervous, the rate was not THAT good AND there was a fee for each ticket in addition to taxes. I found that I could get a cheaper ticket booking directly w/the airlines.) I was told that I could reply to the e-mail & mark "CANCEL RESERVATION" on the subject line. I was told that there would be NO charge to my credit card for cancellation... no obligations etc.... I have done this & booked through the airline directly. Whether Tiss/Flights follows through & I have no hassles remains to be seen. <BR>Bottom line: For me personally, I just feel better booking directly w/the airline. (I have booked through Expedia before & had no problems. Tiss/Flights just made me nervous.) <BR>--J

Lots of experiences reported with tiss on eurotrip.com travel discussion board.

Count another nervous one when dealiing with TISS. <BR> <BR>I made two separate reservations on TISS.com as we are a group of four people departing from two different cities. It was the weekend, so I had to wait till Monday night, when I finally received the e-mailed confirmation. On the first e-mail, they added $20 to $475 and came out with $595. On the second one, they charged $26 on taxes on one ticket and $52 for the other. Both tickets have the same itinerary and cost the same. They only use FedEx service, and the booking fee (which includes handling is a min of $20; others consolidators typically charge $10-12). My advice; be careful. Use them if you are truly, truly getting a GREAT fare. Otherwise, I don't think they may be worth that extra, extra hassle.

Well, here's what has happened so far. I found a fare on Air France from Paris to Lisbon--called the California office to inquire about the handling or shipping fee. Decided that $15/per ticket was still worth it. Booked the flight--got the e-mail confirmation which said I would hear back from them within 48 hours. I didn't...6 days later I e-mailed them asking "what's up" they quickly replied saying they needed my credit card. (I thought I had elected for an invoice) Decided okay that's okay. Gave it to them. 1 week later tickets came in the mail (not Fed Ex) <BR> <BR>Exhilaration...until...I saw that they had us leaving one day earlier than I had requested. I-emailed the Germany office. Got a response right back--the person admitted it was their mistake--said to send tickets back and they would reissue. I still haven't gotten my new tickets. I e-mailed last week--according to them, they are on the way. Tomorrow I should receive them. Takes 4-7 days between Seattle & Germany. <BR> <BR>They have been responsive, courteous, and so far, it looks like the mistake will be corrected. Tune in for tomorrow's episode. BTW, they only charged $14 for handling both tickets, not $15 each as I had been told. <BR> <BR>Waiting anxiously, <BR>Jean

We booked Philly to Munich on USAir for early July through them. Excellent rate for that time of year - a bit less than half of the airline's posted rate. Took a while to get the tickets - maybe 10 days, by FedEx. But we got them and have seat assignment. For the substantial savings, I think it's worth the trouble.

So far so good with us at tiss, and it's the only way we could have possibly afforded this trip. Excellent Honolulu-Paris rt fare, purchased in September for May-June travel. We have seat assignments which I confirmed directly with the airline.

Today's news: well, no tickets arrived today. I have just e-mailed them (will get a response after midnight PST so will see it when I awaken tomorrow) asking where are my tickets. They had indicated they were mailed March 7th. They received mine in 7 days, I got their 1st ones in 7 days, (and BTW, it cost me $1.67 USD to mail them back and they mailed mine--not Fed X. I hope tomorrow to have a good answer(in the form of tickets in hand). I did get credit for the ones I returned. <BR> <BR>Jean