Cheaper to pay with US dollars for same flights!

karendb

Hi - I've been pricing up a trip to Oz with a stop-off in HK on the way back.

If I book with Qantas direct, the cost is £1007 per ticket. If I book with Opodo (flying with Qantas on the same flights), the cost is £995.43. However, if I book with Orbitz and pay in USD, the cost works out at about £878. These are for exactly the same fights.

I would pay using my Halifax clarity card, so there would be very little loading. I can't see any major extra fees by booking with Orbitz. As I'll be booking for 4 of us, the savings will over £400.

Am I missing something? Has anyone done this before?

PS. I just phoned them and checked - there are no fees for paying by credit card.

bagand96

As long as Orbitz T&Cs do not prohibit you doing this there is no problem. I've done it before booking with Expedia Canada for flights to the US.

The only thing to consider is if anything changes with your flights and you need to re-arrange anything it always needs to be done through your agent so you would be needing to contact Orbitz in the US. Its only an "if" though and there are ways to call the US cheeply enough.

karendb

Thanks for your reply!

I can't see anything in their t&cs but will check further.

When I registered with them, I ticked that I was a EU member. Also, I've put my UK address & home phone number with them, so I'm not hiding anything.

I'm going to book tomorrow and see if anything is thrown up. Should be fun - I've done lots of "roundabouts" in the past to get good deals but this is a first

Bye for now.

Karen

daniellebel

sounds about right karen - i have been in a similar situation with flights to melbourne, and turned out a discount flight site was cheaper than going directly through the dealer, in a different currency. maybe the weak american dollar is to blame?