lauren

Hi<BR>I will be going to Italy in the next few months and am starting to look at airline prices. I find that I am getting the same quotes from travlocity and cheaptickets.com, and other similiar companies as I am directly from the airline's direct websites. So my question is, what good are these services if they don't actually give you a lower fare?

xxx

Once when I was checking into airfares I found that cheaptickets.com quoted higher rates than if I contacted the airlines directly. I don't believe their fares are any lower.

John H

LAuren,<BR><BR>I think the key -- whether bookingairline tickets, hotels, or rental cars -- is to check multiple sources, including:<BR><BR>1) Airline/hotel/car rental web site<BR>2) Orbitz/Travelocity/Expedia<BR>3) A few other &quot;niche&quot; web sites<BR><BR>I have found in buying airlines that in a few cases I save money (sometimes hundreds of dollars) booking on United directly; other times, I have saved hundreds of dollars booking a United ticket on Orbitz; and, in most cases, the fare is identical.<BR><BR>So, it can indeed pay to check multiple web sites listings from time to time. But, you won't save all the time. [I often check the non-airline sites first because they tend to give more flight options, and then compare on the airline's own site]. <BR><BR>Good luck.<BR><BR>John H.

Gerry K

Lauren,<BR><BR>ALWAYS

Gerry K

Lauren,<BR><BR>ALWAYS buy from the airline directly, thereby eliminating the middleman. I've booked about fifteen trips with Travelocity over the past three years, and most went by without a hitch, but when something goes wrong, Travelocity is nowhere to be found. I went through Hell trying to get a refund (twice) from Travelocity for flights that two different airlines had cancelled. I have not used them since.<BR><BR>Cheers,<BR><BR>Gerry K

Ira

Hi Lauren<BR><BR> www.tiss.com has a flight from the East Coast USA to Florence, Italy for $546 + Tax in mid March.<BR><BR> Does this help?

Angela

Also, when fares are the same on Orbitz and the airlines website, you eliminate the surcharge on Orbitz by booking directly with the airlines. And in the case with American anyway, you get extra miles for booking on their website. 99% of the time I book directly with the airlines.

Ira

Hi Lauren<BR><BR> www.tiss.com has a flight from the East Coast USA to Florence, Italy for $546 + Tax in mid March.<BR><BR> Does this help?

Stewart Grace

I believe the reason that the travelocity / orbitz fares are the same is because they all the use the Sabre reservation system. (Note, Travelocity is owned by Sabre)<BR><BR>It's my understanding that the Sabre system keeps track of the 'what flights are available, how many seats, and at what price' questions for all the major airlines. That's why the prices are usually the same on travelocity et al.

Christina

Travelocity is generally just a one-stop online travel agency with some good tools and features. It doesn't present itself as a discounter or consolidator or a place that is supposed to give you lower fares (like Cheaptickets does). I like Travelocity a lot, have never had a problem with them, and have had very good customer service in several cases that were a little out-of-the-norm. I just find it convenient to do a lot of travel planning and booking with the same agency, that's all. Also, I do use their web site a lot for research and planning and sort of feel it is only fair to give them some business. I've had better dealings with them than some airlines directly, I might add. I do check with the airline directly though for a specific ticket and may book with the airline if their price is lower (and it may be for web fares, about $15, at least).<BR><BR>If you want to search every airline's web site individually, go ahead, but I find it convenient to use one site for that. The fares are supposed to be the standard airline fares in most cases, I would get concerned if they were all different. In fact, when checking, I was pleased to know they were quoting the fares so accurately. What &quot;good&quot; they are is like asking what good is any travel agency or service or business which you find convenient or useful or have a relationship with. I think Travelocity and Expedia do supposedly negotiate discounts on some fares occasionally, but that's not the norm. I did get a ticket about 1/3 off on Travelocity once in comparison to the airline's own web site the same day, I might add. I was afraid that was a mistake and they would email me to say that offer was over, but they didn't, and I got the ticket at the low price. <BR><BR>I don't fly so much that it takes a lot of time for me to check a few places when I need a ticket -- I check Travelocity, Expedia, the airline itself when I've narrowed down to the flight I want (or it's not available on them, a few are not), and occasionally Orbitz but I don't like them very much. I used to check Cheaptickets or Tiss for European tickets I was thinking about for several weeks, but never found anything cheaper on them than the standard. I think Cheaptickets and Lowestfare are the worst, at least from my experience, in not offering any deals or having higher prices. I don't even bother checking them any more.

John H

I wanted to reiterate that there is no good rule of thumb regarding airline web site pricing versus pricing on other sites. <BR><BR>Last Christmas, I flew SFO-TPA-SFO for $198 by booking on United. The EXACT SAME flights on the Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia web sites were priced at $374. [But, I found out about the flight combination I used by doing a search on Orbitz first].<BR><BR>This week, I am flying a triangle fare from SFO that I booked on Orbitz. Booking the EXACT SAME flights on the United website was more than $200 more (50%) higher. I'm willing to pay Orbitz their fee and to lose the 1000 United miles for booking on their site in order to save this much money.<BR><BR>So, for a little extra structured web surfing, you can indeed find meaningful savings from time to time.<BR><BR>John H.

carol

I have used cheaptickets.com with very good results. Last February, after months of checking all the other sites and finding nothing cheaper than $620 for a roundtrip from Washington, DC to London in May, I found one on cheaptickets.com for $350. It was a direct, Virgin Atlantic flight, at the times that I wanted to fly. The tickets (paper tickets) were delivered to my home by FedEx in 3 days. I called the airline a couple of weeks later just to confirm that I was in their system -- I was, with the seat assignment I had requested online. Everything went fine, no problems at all. I think it is worth checking the consolidators every few days just because you never know when you might find a really good price.

Erin

I've used orbitz, travelocity and airline websites with success. What I usually do is go to orbitz first and see what airlines are offering the cheapest fares. Then I go to the airlines' websites and try to match or beat that price. I've found that Orbitz is really good for people who live near the hubs for their airlines. If you are not flying out of one of their hubs, you will probably get a better deal on the airlines' websites.

Betsy

Lauren, let us know your departure city and your destination. Maybe someone out there who has researched a similar itinerary will be able to help you.