Booking online with kayak etc.....yay or nay?

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.

I bought from Kayak which actually took me to Obitz. No problems so am trying them again. I actually had to change my flight home the first trip....because of the Iceland Volcano..... Delta changed it no problem with no fee.

Hey, Just wondering where I can find a LCC? How do I get a hold of one?

Cheers

A.C.

Whats an LLC?

It's LCC = Low Cost Carrier (it's higher up the thread).

Try a search on something like "budget airlines" and the route you're interested in. Otherwise you just have to know what they are, eg. Air Asia is a brilliant LCC for travelling to and around Asia.

Finding LCCs is a little difficult since they are not usually listed on flight finder websites as noted above. If you start a new thread on the appropriate branch/es and ask what LCCs exist to service the route you want to fly, then those in the know will no doubt give you some names.

For example, to fly from Canada to the UK, there used to be several but now there is really only one and that is Air Transat. But they sell tickets directly or through A company called Canadian Affair. On any given day one or the other might have a lower price.

Sunwing besides being a tour company also has their own airline and can have some cheap offers to Europe as well. But I don't think they fly year round to Europe.

I know this is an older thread, but I had a bad experience booking with Kayak. Thankfully, it was only for a few days' stay at a hotel. I enjoyed using their search engine, but their booking services are horrible. If you have any problems with your reservation, all calls go to India and the agents work off a script. You will go through the same script every time you call and getting a refund is next to impossible. I used other booking sites and I never, ever had thins kind of problem. I eventually had to dispute the charge on my credit card and got my money back.

I would differentiate between their search services and booking through them. Use their search engine for research, but book through another site or directly.

Same problems with calling 1-800 phone numbers, stateside.

DO NOT PURCHASE FLIGHTS THROUGH KAYAK I booked flights through Kayak for my family and me for a trip this June to the World Cup. Booking the tickets was easy enough after being redirected to Travelocity. Everything was very simple until I received an email stating that my flight itinerary has changed and to call the Customer Support Center to confirm the changes. It took me five phone calls each lasting over 30 minutes to fix my flight itinerary. The first four times I was told by "Dennis", "Katie", "Ricky", and some other made up name for their overseas support person that they could not get through to the airline to fix my flight. Finally, on the fifth try, I was able to arrange my return flights so that they worked for my travel dates. Great! Done! Now I can get on with my life!! Except, when I get the confirmation email the next day listing my new flight itinerary, I notice that they also changed a flight on the last leg of my outgoing trip so that I am now missing a connector flight to my final destination. This was never reviewed with me during my five phone calls so I have no idea why they changed it to begin with. Now I am in the process of getting this flight fixed. I'm two calls in. The first time, I got the same response, "We're having a hard time connecting to the airline. Please call back." This morning, I just got off a call with "Nancy" where I was on hold for over 30 minutes before my call was picked up. When I explained to her the situation, she said that I'd need to contact the airline directly. What?!! I was very adamant that I would not be doing that since this was their mistake and that they need to own it until it's resolved. After a few minutes of back and forth, "Nancy" finally realized that it is indeed an issue that they need to fix. So, she calls the airline and guess what? She's having a problem connecting and I'm asked to please call back in a couple days. Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!! NEVER EVER WILL I BOOK THROUGH KAYAK AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!