baggage allowance on booking page - will it stand?

geoffken

Well if you can tell me why an airline will (in the days of internet) sell via a third party which will need to be paid a commission ,cheaper than they sell at then I will believe in fairies.
30 years ago when there were "excursion" fares and restricted fare classes this was possible but not now.

stevebootes

Hey, I'm just asking questions here. I don't think they're stupid ones. I'm asking about booking via screenscrapers that are recommended on this site with the purpose of saving money. I'm asking *before* I book. I haven't told any of you you're wrong and I know better. I'm just here for advice.
If I choose to ignore you all and go against your advice and it all goes t**ts up then you're welcome to tell me what an idiot I am. But only then.

Again, thanks all for the advice.

duchy

When using for fares on Kayak I tend to work my way down the list til I get a company I'm happy to use - I'd skip past Tripsa, edreams etc and stop at someone like ebookers or expedia or direct with the airline It may be £20 more than the absolute cheapest consolidator but in thirty odd return trips mainly to the US I've never had an issue with booking a cheap fare .

On the other hand often the complaints are from people who can't understand that these fares are invariably non changeable and non refundable and you can't name change etc -although there are a significant number from cases where the prices change. I tend to check views based on the second type of problem not the first.

stevebootes

duchy wrote: »

When using for fares on Kayak I tend to work my way down the list til I get a company I'm happy to use - I'd skip past Tripsa, edreams etc and stop at someone like ebookers or expedia or direct with the airline It may be £20 more than the absolute cheapest consolidator but in thirty odd return trips mainly to the US I've never had an issue with booking a cheap fare .

On the other hand often the complaints are from people who can't understand that these fares are invariably non changeable and non refundable and you can't name change etc -although there are a significant number from cases where the prices change. I tend to check views based on the second type of problem not the first.

Thanks, really useful advice.

geoffken

Steve,we understand that you have not committed but all the advice is do not do it.
If you stand on top of Sydney bridge believing you can fly you are welcome to jump off but 99 out of a 100 will tell you it is a bad idea.
The consequences of getting it wrong are extreme.
Death on the Sydney bridge.
No holiday on the 3rd party website or having to pay walk up fare on Norwegian probably £800 each.
Your choice but THINK.
£200 or no holiday and probably lost £1000

richardw

Not sure when you are thinking of travelling, but the pound against the dollar has already weakened and may weaken further if it's out of the EU at the end of June, a weaker pound could be more of a problem for hotels and spending money than baggage charges.

stevebootes

richardw wrote: »

Not sure when you are thinking of travelling, but the pound against the dollar has already weakened and may weaken further if it's out of the EU at the end of June, a weaker pound could be more of a problem for hotels and spending money than baggage charges.

End of May [2016]. I know, bit of a b*gger with the £/$ but hasn't so far made a dramatic difference to our costings. But yes, that could all change at the end of June. It may end up getting moved to next year if I can't get everything lined up properly for a late May trip.

duchy

I think when it comes to the exchange rate whether it's an in or an out vote won't really matter as it's the uncertainty that is killing the pound at the moment. Realistically nothing is going to change straight after the vote anyway so once the vote is done with things will improve - Pain for those who are booked for before then though.

Back to your flights-if you really want to upset the naysayers AND save money put your dates in with a DUB to your destination.

Allow (ideally) an overnight in DUB on the way out and add a Ryanair flight to DUB and see what that does to your prices.

stevebootes

Thanks, I've already seen that. DUB-SFO is MUCH cheaper than anything else. Of course it goes back to LHR (40 minutes from me..) then changes to a Virgin or BA flight depending on the day. Trying to get that flight separately is £1200! It's amazing the way these airline flights work.
My problem doing that is back to baggage again - flights to DUB are £40 return but I'll pay twice that in baggage charges, negating the saving on the flights.
I'm thinking we just go ultimate tight-a*se and go carry-on luggage! We've got quite good at it now. What do you need other than t-shirts and shorts in California anyway? (or maybe *two* t-shirts in SFO).