OTA or Airline Direct ?

Murphy_The_Cat · 11 July 2017 at 11:07AM

Resurrecting this thread from the dead.

Everything went 100% with the NetFlights booking. The cherry on the cake was £20.79 cash back via Quidco.

For a simple & straightforward booking, I'll happily go down the Net Flights route again (they don't seem to be set up online for multi stop trips)

leylandsunaddict · 11 July 2017 at 1:48PM

Netflights are one of the better OTAs around. They've been trading for many years. If you went in a high street agent to book a flight the chances of they'd book through Gold Medal. Netflights is just the direct sell arm of Gold Medal. They're one of the few OTAs I'd even contemplating using. You can book an open jaw online, but not a multi city as far as I know.

stevie11 · 12 July 2017 at 5:27PM

Murph, I read the thread then realised it was a year old. Anyway couple of points, I would normally book via the airline and I am glad I did on a recent trip with Qatar Airways (QR). After a day at our destination we had to return home asap, a quick call to QR and they got us on the most convenient flight home at no extra cost. Back home in less than 24 hours of the call. If I had been booked via an OTA I am not sure we would have been successful in getting back home so soon and without cost. QR customer services came up trumps in light of all the problems they are currently experiencing.

Second point, did your AA points come through booking via the OTA?

Cheers

pollypenny · 12 July 2017 at 5:59PM

We had a similar experience two years ago. We always get short notice of when were needed to babysit in the USA.

July 15: BA from Manchester to Philly - £1100! :eek:

Luckily I'd done a trial booking through Expedia a few weeks earlier and received a timely email pushing it. £880. Phew!

stevie11 · 12 July 2017 at 6:14PM

pollypenny wrote: »

We had a similar experience two years ago. We always get short notice of when were needed to babysit in the USA.

July 15: BA from Manchester to Philly - £1100! :eek:

Luckily I'd done a trial booking through Expedia a few weeks earlier and received a timely email pushing it. £880. Phew!

Peak season Polly and they know people will pay it if they urgently need to get to the destination. Even at £880 it was still high:eek: but at least you saved a few £000. I assume they are economy fares.

We had no choice we had to get back home so would have been at the mercy of the airlines compassionate fares but QR came good for us.

Murphy_The_Cat · 12 July 2017 at 9:55PM

stevie11 wrote: »

Murph, I read the thread then realised it was a year old. Anyway couple of points, I would normally book via the airline and I am glad I did on a recent trip with Qatar Airways (QR). After a day at our destination we had to return home asap, a quick call to QR and they got us on the most convenient flight home at no extra cost. Back home in less than 24 hours of the call. If I had been booked via an OTA I am not sure we would have been successful in getting back home so soon and without cost. QR customer services came up trumps in light of all the problems they are currently experiencing.

Second point, did your AA points come through booking via the OTA?

Cheers

Hi Stevie

Thankfully, I've never had to call on the services of the airline or OTA to amend an itinerary, so I can't give an honest comparison - but the pragmatic part of me says that dealing directly with the airline surely is easier than with the TA, then the airline.

The AA points did track through within a few days, no problem there at all.

stevie11 · 12 July 2017 at 10:10PM

Hi Murph, thanks for the feedback, hopefully that is the one and only time I need to call to get back home sooner.

Glad the points came through for you:)

fifeken · 13 July 2017 at 4:16AM

stevie11 wrote: »

Murph, I read the thread then realised it was a year old. Anyway couple of points, I would normally book via the airline and I am glad I did on a recent trip with Qatar Airways (QR). After a day at our destination we had to return home asap, a quick call to QR and they got us on the most convenient flight home at no extra cost. Back home in less than 24 hours of the call. If I had been booked via an OTA I am not sure we would have been successful in getting back home so soon and without cost. QR customer services came up trumps in light of all the problems they are currently experiencing.

Not strictly true. After the first flight is taken, the airline takes control of the booking and can make amendments in line with their own rules and procedures.

budgetflyer · 13 July 2017 at 6:34AM

Its a shame OTAs reputation have been ruined by the cowboys. Years ago it was the normal way to book .

Murphy_The_Cat · 13 July 2017 at 8:59AM

stevie11 wrote: »

Glad the points came through for you:)

They did come through, but it wasn't a massive amount. I was booked on the cheapest ticket class possible, on a BA ticket, on a BA plane, so my AA points were earned/awarded at a very low rate.

budgetflyer wrote: »

Its a shame OTAs reputation have been ruined by the cowboys. Years ago it was the normal way to book .

Absolutely right. Several years ago, I wouldn't even have considered booking directly with an airline, as using a high street, then phone, the internet TA was the way to go.

Nowadays, my holiday trips are multi stop and openjaw and I always do them myself. Mostly because I enjoy setting them up, but also because I'm not 100% confident that someone else can do exactly the trip that I'm looking for.

OTA or Airline Direct ?

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