Kiwi: what could go wrong?

Voyager2002

Skyscanner has shown me some flights that are significantly cheaper from Kiwi.com than from the airline directly. (The extra cost of booking directly with the airline is about another 50 per cent of what Kiwi want.)


Now, I appreciate that there is no question of date changes, refunds or anything, and that if the airline changes departure times Kiwi might not bother to tell me. Are there any other possible reasons for paying the extra to book directly rather than using this particular agent?

peachyprice

Apart from the fact that those prices might not actually be available but you won't find out until after you've already paid?

Caz3121

they may advertise a cheap price but that does not mean they can book you a flight for that amount. They don't have live pricing so it is only when they go to book the flights they will find the real fare.
Which airline / routing? Some elements may be included in the airline price that are extras with kiwi - third parties don't make money on the flights, they make money on the extra fees - charging more than the airline for baggage, checkin etc

jpsartre

It would be helpful to know exactly what flight(s) you are looking to book. As Caz3121, there may be extra fees if you try to add baggage. Kiwi is also known for selling tickets that claim to include checked baggage when in fact it doesn't. Finally, they will cobble separate tickets together on one itinerary (may not be relevant for you, depending on what you are booking).

Voyager2002

These are some very basic flights on German Wings to Thailand via Dusseldorf. Nothing is included (no checked luggage; no seat reservation; no in-flight food). The Kiwi offerings also tack on a domestic flight on a Thai carrier to a nearby destination: missing that final flight would not worry me.


I suppose the key is the lack of live pricing...

jpsartre

Are you sure the German Wings flights won't be issued on separate tickets? That would be the main potential downside IMO (assuming you don't need to add checked luggage, etc).

Westin

Kiwi are well known for cobbling together different and separate airline bookings and showing them as a thru flight.

I would have a look at the very long thread running on Trip Advisor Air Forum about Kiwi and the many complaints.

BTW - the Kiwi Guarantee, if you miss your second flight because the first one is late, would seemingly be worthless, at least according to their many complaints on that forum.

Personally I would not touch Kiwi.com with a long barge pole, or a short one.

Voyager2002

Westin wrote: »

Kiwi are well known for cobbling together different and separate airline bookings and showing them as a thru flight.

I would have a look at the very long thread running on Trip Advisor Air Forum about Kiwi and the many complaints.

BTW - the Kiwi Guarantee, if you miss your second flight because the first one is late, would seemingly be worthless, at least according to their many complaints on that forum.

Personally I would not touch Kiwi.com with a long barge pole, or a short one.

Yes indeed.


In this case there are two sectors on German Wings (or Eurowings) that are sold as connections on the German Wings website. The connection time is ample, and presumably there will be plenty of people on the two flights with through tickets, so the risk of missing that connection is not great.


The third sector is a domestic flight that is not important to me.

jpsartre

Voyager2002 wrote: »

In this case there are two sectors on German Wings (or Eurowings) that are sold as connections on the German Wings website.

But how does Kiwi sell it? If as separate tickets and if you are happy with an unprotected connection, have you compared the price of booking the tickets separately yourself?

AlSto

Westin wrote: »

Kiwi are well known for cobbling together different and separate airline bookings and showing them as a thru flight.

I would have a look at the very long thread running on Trip Advisor Air Forum about Kiwi and the many complaints.

BTW - the Kiwi Guarantee, if you miss your second flight because the first one is late, would seemingly be worthless, at least according to their many complaints on that forum.

Personally I would not touch Kiwi.com with a long barge pole, or a short one.

Nope.....I've actually seen it in action. I guess people post when they booked something they didn't understand.
But Kiwi re-routed their passenger whilst all the rest of us were clambering around looking for flights.
When he told me that he booked with Kiwi, I winced visibly. A little while later he came back and told me that Kiwi had re-routed him and off he went, whilst the rest of us looked on enviously.

leylandsunaddict

Kiwi are about the worst reseller around, along with eDreams. They do cobble together separate tickets, even when the flights can be booked on a single one, and their Kiwi Guarantee is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, if the myriad of complaints about them not honouring it are anything to go by.

There isn't a barge pole long enough for me to touch them with.