Esperanza Travel - Legit?

mgdavid

sazzaa wrote: »

Okay, any reason or just general skepticism? Does nobody on here use third party sites? Kayak, Skyscanner etc? Because that seems a bit odd for a moneysaving forum!

People on here do use Skyscanner etc - but mostly only for timetabling. The general concensus is always to find what you want then book direct with the airline.

Blue264

mgdavid wrote: »

People on here do use Skyscanner etc - but mostly only for timetabling. The general concensus is always to find what you want then book direct with the airline.

Exactly. Skyscanner for the routings, Momondo or Kayak for fare comparison, then book with the airline. Simple reason for this is that few agencies are open 24/7, so if your flight is seriously delayed or cancelled in a different time zone, the airline can't always help you as much as they would like because your agent has control of the ticket.

Caz3121

There is no cheap air fairy. Many of these third party sites (intentionally or unintentionally) use "bait and switch"
Advertise a non-live price which makes them come top of the "cheapness" scale on search engines
Take "request for booking" and money then contact the booker after 24-48 hours to advise that the fare requested was sold out/not live/(never existed) and to proceed with the booking you need to part with £ more (possibly taking it to the airline price or more) of course at this stage you can decline to proceed and wait a few weeks to get your money back
The real savings compared to buying from the airline (based on the fare they will sell the ticket at not the advertised price) is often minimal or none. If you search for reviews the consensus appears to be.....
if you need to make changes, if the airline makes changes, if you spell your name wrong etc...it will be more difficult/cost you more if you book through a third party than direct with the airline
Research is key (and well done for asking before booking) I find the trip advisor air travel forum useful for third party experience (enough on there to make me go direct to the airline each time)

sazzaa

Caz3121 wrote: »

There is no cheap air fairy. Many of these third party sites (intentionally or unintentionally) use "bait and switch"
Advertise a non-live price which makes them come top of the "cheapness" scale on search engines
Take "request for booking" and money then contact the booker after 24-48 hours to advise that the fare requested was sold out/not live/(never existed) and to proceed with the booking you need to part with £ more (possibly taking it to the airline price or more) of course at this stage you can decline to proceed and wait a few weeks to get your money back
The real savings compared to buying from the airline (based on the fare they will sell the ticket at not the advertised price) is often minimal or none. If you search for reviews the consensus appears to be.....
if you need to make changes, if the airline makes changes, if you spell your name wrong etc...it will be more difficult/cost you more if you book through a third party than direct with the airline
Research is key (and well done for asking before booking) I find the trip advisor air travel forum useful for third party experience (enough on there to make me go direct to the airline each time)

I've used Opodo and Expedia for booking cheap flights before and not had any problems, phonecalls or price hikes... Are they considered reliable? Or was I just lucky?

PeacefulWaters

sazzaa wrote: »

It also means confidence. Is anyone going to post anything useful? I thought this was supposed to be a helpful forum.

posted within an hour of asking a question?

richardw

Opodo under their current owners are to be avoided.