Jumping on a plane this evening
Comments
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Voyager2002 wrote: »Many OTAs do not have live pricing, so when you book the fare that you see is not available. So before the ticket can be issued they contact you and let you know the new fare and collect payment, and only after that does the issue process begin. For most travellers the main issue is that the 'new fare' might be a good deal higher than fares offered elsewhere at the time of booking, but of course the delay involved might be the main frustration for this traveller.
Never happened to me. Perhaps back in the day when you took a price in a newspaper as the true flight price.
I don't know an OTA these days that doesn't have access.
If you can show one linked to from the likes of Kayak and SkyScanner, that would be helpful for those who would like to avoid such a seller.
Personally, I have not come across one of those of late. Not even eDreams and opodo.0 -
Sorry to hear it is family not well.
I think its best to book with an airline direct on their website.
Just to clarify, it's not happening as of right now. Just that it's likely to happen sometime in the nearish future, and I wish to be prepared. EDIT: My subject was misleading - apologies for that.Voyager2002 wrote: »No-one has mentioned ITAsoftware, which is a good way of finding low fares that can be bought directly from the airline.
I am looking into learning ITASoftware for other purposes. However, for the particular purpose I'm discussing in this thread, a few hundred quid here or there will be the least of my problems.
I don't think I'll need the flexibility of compassionate fares. It seems that I can just go. Coming back may be less flexible, but in some trial searches I ran I could find suitable options. There was some unexplained fussiness with dates for Philippine Airlines however.0 -
Just to clarify, it's not happening as of right now. Just that it's likely to happen sometime in the nearish future, and I wish to be prepared.
I am looking into learning ITASoftware for other purposes. However, for the particular purpose I'm discussing in this thread, a few hundred quid here or there will be the least of my problems.
I don't think I'll need the flexibility of compassionate fares. It seems that I can just go. Coming back may be less flexible, but in some trial searches I ran I could find suitable options. There was some unexplained fussiness with dates for Philippine Airlines however.
Cathay Pacific, as richardw has suggested, is recommended, but you will get much better fares via an OTA than direct. Access to the better flight times for less. £700, as opposed to £860 and beyond and longer stopovers to boot.
Hope you can find a suitable combination if necessary.0 -
NiftyDigits wrote: »Never happened to me. Perhaps back in the day when you took a price in a newspaper as the true flight price.
I don't know an OTA these days that doesn't have access.
If you can show one linked to from the likes of Kayak and SkyScanner, that would be helpful for those who would like to avoid such a seller.
Personally, I have not come across one of those of late. Not even eDreams and opodo.
Never happened to me either, but people have posted this kind of experience within the last couple of weeks.0 -
NiftyDigits wrote: »Never happened to me. Perhaps back in the day when you took a price in a newspaper as the true flight price.
I don't know an OTA these days that doesn't have access.
If you can show one linked to from the likes of Kayak and SkyScanner, that would be helpful for those who would like to avoid such a seller.
Personally, I have not come across one of those of late. Not even eDreams and opodo.
I think a quick Google search on those latter two businesses, or a search on the Trip Advisor Air Travel forums will give some indication why perhaps those two Skyscanner referral link OTA's should perhaps be avoided.0 -
I think a quick Google search on those latter two businesses, or a search on the Trip Advisor Air Travel forums will give some indication why perhaps those two Skyscanner referral link OTA's should perhaps be avoided.
I'm sure that I wrote earlier that I wouldn't touch either, even with a bargepole.
Though they do have access to live pricing, they might delay things ever so slightly, so that they appear to have the best prices via search engines. But once you click through, the real price should appear.
Perhaps they picked up a few tips from GoldCar.0 -
Interesting point about Skyscanner etc but when I have tried them they always say click on the Airline/Supplier link to get up to date pricing to check whether the advertised price is still valid or has gone up. All the Airlines use very sophisticated algorithms to measure activity against certain flights/routes and prices can change very quickly, I recently booked flights to Tenerife to travel in November and the headline price on Skyscanner with Thomson was accurate and I booked with them, the day after the prices had increased by £50.00 per person so I was in the right place at the right time. The old idea of booking way in advance if you can still applies if using the low cost Airlines as their prices normally go up nearer the time of travel but it really is a lottery.0
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NiftyDigits wrote: »Never happened to me.
Good for you but I must have wasted hours of my life reading complaints from people who booked from a 3rd party and then were told tickets weren't available at the quoted price. There's a reason most 3rd party sites tell you to allow for 24-48 hours before confirming your ticket.0 -
For years I found Skyscanner to be accurate, but not recently.
Often when i click through it says these prices are no longer available.
They have definitely changedtravelover0 -
Good for you but I must have wasted hours of my life reading complaints from people who booked from a 3rd party and then were told tickets weren't available at the quoted price. There's a reason most 3rd party sites tell you to allow for 24-48 hours before confirming your ticket.
Since you to have wasted your life reading these complaints, you can try to reclaim it's usefulness by listing the OTAs involved. Otherwise it's just heresay.
So far, it's just happened to "other people" and we have no idea what method they undertook.
I also have no idea what you statement of "There's a reason most 3rd party sites tell you to allow for 24-48 hours before confirming your ticket.".
Perhaps you can take a screenshot of some of these third party websites, since you claim "most" of them contain said statement. I can't say that I've ever seen it.0
This discussion has been closed.
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