TheresaThoma Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I'm trying to find the best deal I can on some airline tickets in January for a retreat. I've found through sites such as Travelocity, Expedia and Hotwire that I can get the tickets at least 30 dollars cheaper (if not more) than the actual airline websites. On my budget that would make a big difference. I'm hesitant to book it though because I have no experience about using these types of sites. Has anyone had any issues with these sites in the past? Thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IgnatiusofLoyola Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 (edited) Although I am sure that some people have had bad experiences, I read recently that something like 80% of Americans book their airline tickets online. (I apologize if I have the number wrong--but it was high.) Travelocity and Expedia are both sites that, as far as I know, can be trusted. I know less about Hotwire, so I hope that others who have used it can give their experiences. One difference between travel sites that are not airline sites is that they often (usualy?) charge additional fees for booking tickets through their site. Also, there may be additional restrictions beyond the restrictions imposed by the airline. Certain sites may require you to "book blind," that is, you may not know the travel schedule or the airline on which you will be traveling until you pay for the ticket. Or you may find that to get a very low fare, you have to travel on a very strange schedule or have long layovers, etc. So, before booking a ticket on ANY site (including an airline site) it's important to check into all the fees, restrictions, and other requirements of the site, especially since airlines seem to add new fees every day. For an apparent difference of $30, it may be safer and easier to use the airline's site--or you may find that the difference is less than $30 due to booking fees charged by the site. I hope others post answers, as well, because, although I used to travel alot, I have traveled much less in the past few years. Edited October 14, 2011 by IgnatiusofLoyola Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissScripture Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 We have used Hotwire for hotels, and it has always turned out well for us. We have never used it for airline tickets, though, so I can't comment on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheresaThoma Posted October 14, 2011 Author Share Posted October 14, 2011 Ok now the airline's website is showing the same price as the other sites. Maybe it was just a lag between the two websites. On the bright side the prices have dropped by 60 dollars since I first started looking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisa Marie Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I've used all three sites multiple times throughout the last four years and any problems always were with the airline itself, never those sites (and by problems, I just mean not getting the seat I was confirmed for, delays, etc). Go for it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachael Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 there's also kayak.com i use hotel.com for hotels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlySunshine Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 [quote name='TheresaThoma' timestamp='1318614780' post='2321229'] I'm trying to find the best deal I can on some airline tickets in January for a retreat. I've found through sites such as Travelocity, Expedia and Hotwire that I can get the tickets at least 30 dollars cheaper (if not more) than the actual airline websites. On my budget that would make a big difference. I'm hesitant to book it though because I have no experience about using these types of sites. Has anyone had any issues with these sites in the past? Thanks so much! [/quote] I always book my travel through the actual airline websites, but my mom, who was pretty new to the whole booking thing, booked our tickets for Los Angeles through Orbitz. I was horrified when she told me about it because I've heard bad stories about them, but, we were blessed not to have a single hitch on our trip. I know virtually nothing about Travelocity, Expedia, or Hotwire except to say that they also have complaints (ones worse than Orbitz). If you can, try to stick with booking through the airline's website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aya Sophia Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I've done all my airline booking through sites like Traveocity for years and had not problems. One this I [i]do[/i] do, however, is [u]call the ariline directly a few days after making my booking just be sure everything is confirmed[/u]. (Only once in many years was there a case where airline did not have my seat assignment) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Vega Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 If you're a student: studentuniverse.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominicansoul Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 i always book with southwest airlines. they are the cheapest and you don't have to pay for bags. i paid $350.00 for TWO round trip tickets this past summer (they have on-line deals on their own website.) They don't have seating assignments, you get to board the plane first if you print out your boarding passes on line first. They're funny, very corteous, and give you about the same service as a higher priced airline. Plus, Southwest has never had one plane go down, ever. They had only one accident in the last 40 years, and that was caused by ice on the runway, not the plane. Plus, southwest airlines are deliberately kept off travel websites. No one can beat their prices, so travelocity, expedia, etc. do not include them... their only fault? they don't fly to Maine, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas but they keep expanding their destinations, and hopefully will continue to do so.. and no, I don't work for Southwest Airlines, just trying to help you find the best deal...OH, and I forgot, if you have to cancel your flight, no prob, Southwest saves your tickets for up to one year and you can change the destination and pay any difference without paying an extra cancellation fee... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisa Marie Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 [quote name='dominicansoul' timestamp='1318677493' post='2321556'] i always book with southwest airlines. they are the cheapest and you don't have to pay for bags. i paid $350.00 for TWO round trip tickets this past summer (they have on-line deals on their own website.) They don't have seating assignments, you get to board the plane first if you print out your boarding passes on line first. They're funny, very corteous, and give you about the same service as a higher priced airline. Plus, Southwest has never had one plane go down, ever. They had only one accident in the last 40 years, and that was caused by ice on the runway, not the plane. Plus, southwest airlines are deliberately kept off travel websites. No one can beat their prices, so travelocity, expedia, etc. do not include them... their only fault? they don't fly to Maine, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas but they keep expanding their destinations, and hopefully will continue to do so.. and no, I don't work for Southwest Airlines, just trying to help you find the best deal... OH, and I forgot, if you have to cancel your flight, no prob, Southwest saves your tickets for up to one year and you can change the destination and pay any difference without paying an extra cancellation fee... [/quote] Yep. Most of my friends LOVE Southwest, and it's probably the best if you don't fly regularly. The only reason I don't fly Southwest is because I do the Star Alliance (and then Alaska Air, because it's partners with American and Delta) to wrack up frequent flyer miles on multiple airlines, so I had more flight options when flying back and forth to school in college. The thing about Southwest is that they're so consistently good that anytime something terrible happens (like someone gets booted off a plane), it makes the news. I also just don't really like that I don't get a seat assignment unless I pay extra, and when I fly by myself I'd much rather just know where I'm going, plop down next to random stranger with my book and earbuds and tune out the world until drink service comes around. Student universe is the best ever if you have a flexible schedule...I usualy don't, though. I usualy check the on-time rating for a flight before I book, especially if I have like a million layovers (okay...two or three) on some site like flightstats dot com. That way I know if a half hour layover is more likely going to be a fifteen minute dash across the airport. But if you don't have any layovers don't worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Vega Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 (edited) [quote name='dominicansoul' timestamp='1318677493' post='2321556'] they are the cheapest[/quote] Depends where you live and where you want to go. [quote] Plus, Southwest has never had one plane go down, ever. They had only one accident in the last 40 years, and that was caused by ice on the runway, not the plane.[/quote] Although air travel is to the place where any incidents are statistically insignificant, this is not accurate. They have had a number of incidents, including a runway overrun in Burbank which was due to pilot error and resulted in a write-off ([url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Airlines_Flight_1455"]http://en.wikipedia....nes_Flight_1455[/url]) and another overrun which, though not resulting in a write-off, killed a person on the ground; this second incident, Flight 1248, was also due to pilot error. ([url="http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/2007/AAR0706.pdf"]http://www.ntsb.gov/...007/AAR0706.pdf[/url]). (If you really want to go for a spotless record, go for jetBlue - no fatalities OR writeoffs. Other airlines with no crashes include: Frontier, Allegiant, Spirit, and Sun Country.) [quote] Plus, southwest airlines are deliberately kept off travel websites. No one can beat their prices, so travelocity, expedia, etc. do not include them...[/quote] Nope. There are different reasons as to why they are or aren't on various travel search websites, so that can't be painted with quite so broad a brush (e.g., they've had an on again off again thing with Travelocity throughout history, for various reasons; Orbitz doesn't sell their tickets because it was started by a joint investment from Continental, United, Delta, Northwest, and American Airlines (not sure how who it's run by now, though). Best not to help out a competing business.). [quote] their only fault? they don't fly to Maine, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas but they keep expanding their destinations, and hopefully will continue to do so..[/quote] Also no service to Alaska, Kansas, Hawaii, West Virginia, Vermont, or New Hampshire (but to be fair, nobody has service to NH - it's the only state in the US not served by any airline). Edited October 15, 2011 by USAirwaysIHS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercy me Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 [quote name='dominicansoul' timestamp='1318677493' post='2321556'] Plus, southwest airlines are deliberately kept off travel websites. No one can beat their prices, so travelocity, expedia, etc. do not include them... their only fault? they don't fly to Maine, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas but they keep expanding their destinations, and hopefully will continue to do so.. OH, and I forgot, if you have to cancel your flight, no prob, Southwest saves your tickets for up to one year and you can change the destination and pay any difference without paying an extra cancellation fee... [/quote] Southwest is not on alot of online booking engines for technical reasons. They are not really a GDS carrier meaning than they are not fully connected to the General Distributions Systems that the booking engines use. It is Southwest's decision and it seems to work for them. No one is conspiring against them. They march to the beat of their own drummer. As to cancellation policies, Jet Blue and Virgin America have similar policies. Both are easier to book. However, they too have limited schedules but are expanding. As to price, Southwest is not always the best price but they are competitive. It is very well worth shopping especially if you have the option of more than one airport. What you can do is use the booking engines to find the best flight/price combination and then book it on the airlines site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheresaThoma Posted October 15, 2011 Author Share Posted October 15, 2011 I typically fly Southwest (and love them). I was kind of surprised to find for this particular trip that Frontier is cheaper, though my departure airport is one of their hubs so it kind of makes sense. Thanks for all the suggestions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dUSt Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Frontier airlines's CEO is a devout Catholic and runs the company with very high Catholic moral standards. Fly them when you can. [url="http://www.denverpost.com/emailed/ci_13786516"]http://www.denverpost.com/emailed/ci_13786516[/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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