Jumping on a plane this evening

richardw · 6 October 2016 at 12:53PM

"There's a reason most 3rd party sites tell you to allow for 24-48 hours before confirming your ticket."

of course! You can't beat instant purchase and instant ticketing.

You actually haven't bought anything until you have ticket numbers, so why bother?

NiftyDigits · 6 October 2016 at 1:14PM

richardw wrote: »

"There's a reason most 3rd party sites tell you to allow for 24-48 hours before confirming your ticket."

of course! You can't beat instant purchase and instant ticketing.

You actually haven't bought anything until you have ticket numbers, so why bother?

Since you are agreeing with this statement, perhaps you can list perhaps five of these third party websites. I can't say that I've ever seen it on the OTAs that I have utilised.
It will certainly assist others in avoiding the ones that suggest that you wait two days. That is just crazy.

richardw · 6 October 2016 at 1:39PM

From http://www.traveltrolley.co.uk/terms-conditions/

"Booking Your Travel Arrangements

All services offered are subject to availability. ...

When you make your booking you must pay the relevant deposit as specified at the time of booking. No contract will come into existence until we accept your booking and we receive your deposit or full payment in cleared funds and issue you with a confirmation invoice either on behalf of ourselves or the supplier in question. Please ensure that the names given are the same as in the relevant passport.

Bookings made online: If you book online, you must provide us with all information which we require. You must also ensure that the credit or debit card you are using is your own (or, subject to our agreement, if it is a third party's you have their express authorisation, to use their credit or debit card) and that sufficient funds are available to cover the cost of the arrangements which you book with us. When we receive and accept your booking we will send you a confirmation e-mail and invoice and debit payment from you. We do not make any representation or warranty as to the availability of any package holiday, flight or Individual Components....."

So no instant purchase.

From http://www.southalltravel.co.uk/terms.aspx

"Booking Your Travel Arrangements

All services offered are subject to availability. Fares are not guaranteed until they are ticketed...."

Again no instant purchase

silvercar · 6 October 2016 at 11:46PM

I've bought tickets within a hour of take off, direct from the airline website.

jpsartre · 7 October 2016 at 8:25AM

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Since you to have wasted your life reading these complaints, you can try to reclaim it's usefulness by listing the OTAs involved.

I doubt there's a single major 3rd party site where I haven't read this type of complaint. Go to the Tripadvisor Air Travel forum and see for yourself, it's a common complaint.

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Perhaps you can take a screenshot of some of these third party websites, since you claim "most" of them contain said statement. I can't say that I've ever seen it.

From Expedia T&C:
2.2.1 Confirming

Confirmation of a booking, which includes the essential elements such as the description of the Service(s) booked and the price, will be sent to the Customer by e-mail. If the Customer does not receive a confirmation e-mail within 24 hours of placing the booking, he / she should contact Customer Services

From Bravofly T&C:
2D. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THE BOOKING CONFIRMATION

If you do not succeed in completing the booking process or if you do not receive a confirmation email within 24 hours of placing the order and no operators from our offices have contacted you via email or telephone to inform you of possible problems, please get in touch with us by telephone to check the situation.

RHemmings · 7 October 2016 at 11:56AM

Having run some trial searches, I must admit that Air New Zealand's website appears to work much better, and be more confidence inspiring, than those of some other airlines I could mention. Bang in the dates, up comes a grid showing +/- 3 days. Today is there. Click, and it looks like the purchase process will start from there. Price varies dramatically.

Emirates and Philippine Airlines both had issues that had me fighting the site.

Qantas and China Southern both wouldn't allow me to book flights for today on their website. China Southern being a bit worrying, as Kayak brought up cheap fares from them, but the fares can't be found on their own site.

Air NZ had prices that were only a few hundred pounds more than the lowest on Kayak etc. EDIT: They did the other day, but today it's a bigger margin.

silvercar wrote: »

I've bought tickets within a hour of take off, direct from the airline website.

Which airline?

NiftyDigits · 7 October 2016 at 11:57AM

jpsartre wrote: »

I doubt there's a single major 3rd party site where I haven't read this type of complaint. Go to the Tripadvisor Air Travel forum and see for yourself, it's a common complaint.

From Expedia T&C:
2.2.1 Confirming

Confirmation of a booking, which includes the essential elements such as the description of the Service(s) booked and the price, will be sent to the Customer by e-mail. If the Customer does not receive a confirmation e-mail within 24 hours of placing the booking, he / she should contact Customer Services

From Bravofly T&C:
2D. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THE BOOKING CONFIRMATION

If you do not succeed in completing the booking process or if you do not receive a confirmation email within 24 hours of placing the order and no operators from our offices have contacted you via email or telephone to inform you of possible problems, please get in touch with us by telephone to check the situation.

I have to say that is not quite the same as " "There's a reason most 3rd party sites tell you to allow for 24-48 hours before confirming your ticket.".

There is also a reason why sometimes there is a delay; For instance if there is a problem with someone's payment and the OTA have been trying to contact them....or that the OTA doesn't have twenty four hour customer service, the booking was made out of hours and there is a problem with confirming the payment.

Either way, it's not a problem from which i have suffered in the many years of buying from OTA, even some odd ones based in other countries. Always confirmed within the hour, other than once when I was contacted to confirm my payment card.
Perhaps some people are just unlucky.

I can assure you, if I didn't have a ticket number within the hour, I would be on the phone.

Murphy_The_Cat · 7 October 2016 at 12:03PM

Going back to the OPs' original question - if he (she ?) has a drop everything and I need to fly TONIGHT requirement to go to NZ, he (she ?) will on;y be able to deal with someone who is able to issue the ticket either instantly or as near as dammit instantly.

An OTA (of whatever ilk) would be NBG if it took several hours or a day to issue the e tickets.

RHemmings · 7 October 2016 at 12:14PM

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Going back to the OPs' original question - if he (she ?) has a drop everything and I need to fly TONIGHT requirement to go to NZ, he (she ?) will on;y be able to deal with someone who is able to issue the ticket either instantly or as near as dammit instantly.

An OTA (of whatever ilk) would be NBG if it took several hours or a day to issue the e tickets.

I'm a he.

Yes, that's precisely what I am thinking. It's not only a matter of booking directly with the airline. It's also a matter of booking directly with an airline whom will allow me to book for today/tonight, and whom I have faith will actually fly me.

EDIT: Air New Zealand can't do it. They fly through Los Angeles and I would need a visa even for transit. They also tell me that their website won't allow me to book a ticket for today, even though it does. (They told me that the 7th would be greyed out on one screen, but it's not.)

That's a confidence reducing result.

EDIT: Singapore airlines can do it, at least their website suggests they can. But, with 10 hours in the wrong city in NZ, that makes for a long trip and it may be faster to leave the next day on a faster flight.

eDicky · 7 October 2016 at 1:05PM

RHemmings wrote: »

Singapore airlines can do it, at least their website suggests they can. But, with 10 hours in the wrong city in NZ, that makes for a long trip and it may be faster to leave the next day on a faster flight.

Have you checked for flights from that 'wrong city' to your destination, at better times, that you could book separately to the main SQ flight? Perhaps there are domestic carriers that Singapore Airlines cannot include.

Jumping on a plane this evening

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