OTA or Airline Direct ?

stevie11

fifeken wrote: »

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.

Good to know for the future but as I said I wasn't sure. I was just glad it was dealt with quickly and professionally by the airline.

Heliflyguy

fifeken wrote: »

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.

Dont know where you got that idea from because they most certainly do not take control after the first flight is taken and if the booking is refer to agent for changes then back to the agent the passenger must go.

An airline can take control of a booking at any time they need to which will lock the agent out unless the agent requests it to be handed back from the airline (requiring a rather laborious process) so generally the pax will make any other changes direct with the airline.

If the airline took control after the first flight it would be a nightmare for the agent to make any changes to the return flight refer to agent or not.

fifeken

Heliflyguy wrote: »

Dont know where you got that idea from because they most certainly do not take control after the first flight is taken and if the booking is refer to agent for changes then back to the agent the passenger must go.

An airline can take control of a booking at any time they need to which will lock the agent out unless the agent requests it to be handed back from the airline (requiring a rather laborious process) so generally the pax will make any other changes direct with the airline.

If the airline took control after the first flight it would be a nightmare for the agent to make any changes to the return flight refer to agent or not.

Sorry, but I disagree. I and several mates have done it several times when we've changed the length of spells away. Booked with an OTA (usually for price) and changed return dates by calling the airline. Never been referred back to the TA and I thought it was quite common knowledge going by posts on FlyerTalk.

One I'm not sure about is your middle paragraph where I thought if control was to be transferred in advance of any travel, I understood the TA had to initiate this. I've never had to do it so only going by what I've picked up. What makes you say the airline can unilaterally take control?

Heliflyguy

The fact that you and several mates changed your flights on a ticket issued via an OTA with the airline does not mean that airlines take over the booking after the first flight had flown trust me if they did agents would not be able to make changes to any part flown ticket without having to get the booking passed back to them.

The airline took over the booking when you called them to make the change not before.

Your tickets probably were not refer to agent type (mostly corporate and private fare are though)

As an example to you second question what do you suppose happens if a flight goes tech just before departure and the airline was not able to take control of the booking without contacting the OTA who are closed for the day. How do you suppose the airline rebooks the disrupted passenger onto other flight(s). Hope that helps.

Matisse_Grojan

Yup i would go with the agents - always found them good and nearly always cheaper. There are multiple theories for this but ultimately, choose yourself a good one like ebookers or flyusanywhere.com and you shouldn't go wrong :j

fifeken

Heliflyguy wrote: »

The fact that you and several mates changed your flights on a ticket issued via an OTA with the airline does not mean that airlines take over the booking after the first flight had flown trust me if they did agents would not be able to make changes to any part flown ticket without having to get the booking passed back to them.

The airline took over the booking when you called them to make the change not before.

Having asked about this over the weekend, it's even more than I thought. Airlines are said to have taken over the booking when the flight comes under airport control, typically 24 hours before take off. That then allows them to make all the changes I thought and more.

Agents may well still have access as you describe, but it's as well as the airlines, not instead of.

photome

I always book direct, except this time I have used netflights for a Virgin Atlantic flight.

The saving was £108 for the 2 of us, confirmation was instant and was able to log on to Virgin pick seats and add my flying membership number instantly, all good so far.

It is a direct flight, I often fly indirect with KLM and they always change the flight timings, I wouldn't book that with an OTA

Blue264

fifeken wrote: »

Having asked about this over the weekend, it's even more than I thought. Airlines are said to have taken over the booking when the flight comes under airport control, typically 24 hours before take off. That then allows them to make all the changes I thought and more.

Agents may well still have access as you describe, but it's as well as the airlines, not instead of.

Airlines always have access to the booking, but when they make major changes to a booking at the request of the pasenger, such as significantly amending flight itineraries, it falls under their control. That's the point where most agents will refuse to have further dealings with the booking because the 'contract' is now between the passenger and the airline.

The regular alterations an airline makes to a booking include, seat request confirmations, flight time changes, bassinet request confirmations, flight cancellations, etc... These are all noted in the booking by the airline and queued back to the agent so that they can notify the passenger.

fifeken

Blue264 wrote: »

Airlines always have access to the booking, but when they make major changes to a booking at the request of the pasenger, such as significantly amending flight itineraries, it falls under their control. That's the point where most agents will refuse to have further dealings with the booking because the 'contract' is now between the passenger and the airline.

The regular alterations an airline makes to a booking include, seat request confirmations, flight time changes, bassinet request confirmations, flight cancellations, etc... These are all noted in the booking by the airline and queued back to the agent so that they can notify the passenger.

It was explained to me that once a flight is under airport control changes like bumping pax, re-routing etc may be required and the TA is essentially out the loop at that point and the airline has taken control of the booking. I would certainly agree that there's lots more reasons for the airline to exercise control and effectively that's what they do.