air fare question/ok,no brainer for some

[gebo]

I want to book air fare for a Nov/Dec cruise. If I go to exmedia,cheap seats , pricezilla etc will my fare be guaranteed at the price they quote or can they increase it later? Help...I don't want to get in over my head. thanks in advance

[larsenbiz]

My experience is that you actually purchase the ticket, so the price will not change. However, they may change your flight times. The past 4 flights I have booked have had the flight times changed:mad: . Sometimes on ly by a few minutes, but on others, by hours. This is kind of scary, 'cause who wants to miis the boat! I guess we have to book with a lot of leeway.

[pms4104]

While I have not dealt with the e-agencies you mentioned, I've always understood on the airline website that the price I pay (when I hit the "buy" button) is the price I pay.

I would read the terms and conditions for the e-agencies you're considering. Also, since agencies likely charge a fee for the air booking, you might do just as well searchiing flights and fares directly on the airline websites. I think most of the legacy carriers guarantee the best fare on their website with, perhaps, a refund if you find and can substantiate a lower fare for the same arrangements.

[vbmom87]

For what it is worth, my son doesn't recommend booking through anyone other than the airlines direct. When he travels for work, he has to use an online agency. When things go wrong...weather, etc. and changes need to be made, he claims the people who booked directly with the airlines get much better customer service. So for personal travel, he only books direct.

[jhannah]

Some sites show a price, then when you click "buy" the price is higher with some lame explanation as to why. I agree with vbmom87 that it's best to purchase airline tickets through the airline itself.

[gebo]

I checked with the airline directly per your advice and found the ticket to be $15 dollars cheaper than the others...go figure. Thanks a bunch!

[Northshorecruisers]

It has been very rare that I have found a better deal through an e-agency than booking direct with the airline. As Jim said, quite often they quote a really low price and as you get into the booking process the flight increases with "fees" to end up costing more. I usually use the e-sites to see what airlines are flying to that airport from my home airport and then start checking the individual airline sites.

[NHBob]

There are a couple of additional advantages to booking on airlines' websites:

Major carriers will e-mail you if there is a schedule change
If the schedule change doesn't work for you, they will normally change flights at no extra cost. I hate to contemplate dealing with that thru one of the on-line agents.Example: I'm booked BOS-IAD-LHR on United in September. My IAD connection was originally tight but doable. However, UA subsequently adjusted the schedules of both flights, reducing the connecting time to 45 minutes.

Even though UA says this is a "legal" connection, my past experience at IAD indicates that the chances of me and/or my luggage making the connection were somewhere between slim and none, so called them. They did not hesitate to book me on an earlier BOS-IAD flight at no extra cost, and immediately e-mailed me the new, confirmed itinerary.

One other hint: although the airlines are fairly good about notifying passengers of schedule changes, particularly their frequent flyers, it's still a good idea to check the website as you get closer to departure date just to make sure the schedule is still OK.

[lawyerrose]

I've booked both domestic and international flights using places like Orbitz, Expedia, etc. etc. I've ALWAYS compared their prices with the best the airline, itself, can do and use the online services when they're cheaper. Most of the time, I can get much better fares through the online sites. Places like Orbitz DO call or email you when there are changes in your flights.
I saved literally thousands of dollars on our flights to Venice this fall using online booking over what the actual airline was offering.

No matter who I've used to book, once the ticket is paid for, they can't increase the ticket amount. If there's an exception to that rule, I haven't run across it yet.

Rose

[JORAY]

There are a couple of additional advantages to booking on airlines' websites:

Major carriers will e-mail you if there is a schedule change
If the schedule change doesn't work for you, they will normally change flights at no extra cost. I hate to contemplate dealing with that thru one of the on-line agents.Example: I'm booked BOS-IAD-LHR on United in September. My IAD connection was originally tight but doable. However, UA subsequently adjusted the schedules of both flights, reducing the connecting time to 45 minutes.

Even though UA says this is a "legal" connection, my past experience at IAD indicates that the chances of me and/or my luggage making the connection were somewhere between slim and none, so called them. They did not hesitate to book me on an earlier BOS-IAD flight at no extra cost, and immediately e-mailed me the new, confirmed itinerary.

One other hint: although the airlines are fairly good about notifying passengers of schedule changes, particularly their frequent flyers, it's still a good idea to check the website as you get closer to departure date just to make sure the schedule is still OK.

Direct with the airlines, there use to be one more advantage -- if the price goes down they will give you a credit -- good for one year but, you must ask for it -- This advantage now days may causes you to LOL.

Ray

[Krazy Kruizers]

For what it is worth, my son doesn't recommend booking through anyone other than the airlines direct. When he travels for work, he has to use an online agency. When things go wrong...weather, etc. and changes need to be made, he claims the people who booked directly with the airlines get much better customer service. So for personal travel, he only books direct.

I agree with you -- that's the only way we buy our airline tickets.

[RoupMom]

Even though you asked about the larger sites vs. individual airline sites, and I think the advice given is good, I have another suggestion. Do be sure to at least check what the rate is through the cruise line. We're going on a holiday cruise to OZ/NZ in December. My TA and I each checked multiple sites, and she checked her charter sites, and none of them could match the fare from HAL. HAL was a good $300 less each, and the others have gone up since then. That's partly because it's over the holiday, and prices tend to be higher. But we also used a cruise line fare to Venice last summer and it was cheaper than what we could find elsewhere. There are some disadvantages, such as not having as wide a choice of carriers or schedules and perhaps not knowing your exact flights very far ahead of time. On the other hand, then the cruise line will do what it takes to get you to the cruise if there are delays. Some say that cruise line connections are notoriously bad, but on the trip to Venice (admittedly through another line) we had great connections coming from Seattle, and my in-laws had equally good connections from Florida.
You may still want to book airlines separately, but I suggest at least checking the rate with the cruise line.