I have found some outstanding deals on travelation and other websites.
I just am really scared by the amount of bad reviews about these online ticket sales websites.
Many people advise to just bite the bullet and go to an agent and pay the extra money for a guaranteed ticket.
What are your thoughts? has anyone experinced online flight websites good or bad?
cheers
I've not booked a flight through an agent in years. I book online either directly with the airline or via sites such as Opodo or Expedia. I've never really had any problems with either of those.
Like Toad above.....I haven't used a travel agent for a long time (or at least,only in countries where you can't book online and I couldn't get to the airport to do it in person).
I use Opodo too and find it absolutely trustworthy..never had any problems with them or their tickets....
I use kayak for initial search. Handycapping three days b4 or after my target leaving date.
Then I go to the airline's site, to see if the price matches.
If you go through a third party like Orbits etc, if its listed on kayak for That flight, be warned; if you have to cansel<like happened to me...every middle man gets a huge cancellation fee.
US Airline refund was "flight of equal or lesser value IF TAKEN W/IN THREE MONTHS."
I never worry about flight mile hussle, because I never worry about which airline I use. I go for the price. I'll use any airline.
I just found a site called sunwing.ca! its absolutley brilliant it has some wicked deals to cancun in may. I will keep searching on expedia and opodo and see what happens....
Cheers guys
Generally, the major flight finder sites are reliable. There is no real issue there.
Having said that, they do not guarantee you the best price on any given flight on any given day. I usually book direct with the airlines but when looking for a flight recently I found a tour operator who had a cheaper price ($299 vs. $419) for the same flight on the same day on the same airline. The point being there is no best answer.
You should also consider that if any LCCs (low cost carriers) service the route you want to fly, that most of them are not on any flight finder sites because they do not pay any commission to middle men. So the sites like expedia, opodo, etc. do not list them.
It does sound from your comment in #4 however that what you are looking for is more of a package holiday type thing. It might help if you say what you are specifically looking for. For example, if you wanted a flight from Canada to the UK the best prices will be from Canadian Affair or Air Transat (the $299 vs. $419 example I mentioned above) and you will not find them on any flight finder sites such as expedia.
Have used Expedia and Zuji and not had any probems.
I find that you still have to shop around, even online. Sometimes one site will be cheaper than the other and vice versa. Sometimes it's cheaper to book direct with the airline, sometimes not. You just have to try a few sites and see. Also, prices can go up or down as you get nearer to the departure date.
