Last minute con ? Is it legal ?

mug_2

Just thought I'd let you know about what seems to me a total con and ask if they're allowed to do this.

On Travelselect.com (part of Lastminute.com) I got some quotes for London to Rome, one person, one night -

Using Flight + Hotel tab = "no frills carrier" 2* £147.95, 4* £175.51 - plus many others, but you get the drift (includes flight, tax, surcharges and hotel)

They describe this as "The flight best matching your search".

Using "Flight" tab = £165.70 + £47.50 (tax) = £213.20

When waiting for the flight only search, a message on the screen declared that they were searching 1000s of flights to get me the "best deal".

On what basis could this ever be described as the "best deal", when their own website offers the flight AND hotel for £65 less ?

When using the "flight" tab, neither Ryanair nor Easyjet are listed (if you want to choose the airline). So to appear to give good value for a flight and hotel they use low cost airlines, but when you just want a flight they don't. This in itself doesn't seem right to me, but I suspect it's probably legal.

However, surely they can't describe this as the "best deal" when it obviously isn't?. When asking for a flight and hotel this is, "The flight best matching your search", but when I want just a flight this option is nowhere to be seen. How can this nolonger be the best flight, just because I don't want the hotel? Are they allowed to do this ?

gizmoleeds

mug wrote:

Are they allowed to do this ?

Probably. I'd stop worrying about it and start telling the world of this potentially very useful tip for getting cheaper flights.

WiseInvestor_2

I think it's almost impossible to compare differing deals. It's been well documented here that many consider return flights cheaper than singles to be unfair but there's a very good reason why it often happens.

In this case, the hotel could be subsidising the price of the flight to generate bookings, in which case an "all in" deal could be less than the sum of the compenent parts. Also, flight-only customers could easily be residents or business travellers who'll pay more than an occasional holidaymaker on a budget