Thai Airways - Is this reasonable?

[merrilyanne]

You talk the hypothetical talk, but can't walk the factual walk. Find me a price of $900. for the $1600. flights offered by Singapore Air, if you and your consolidators are so great. You simply ignore the facts of what is occurring with websites tracking cookies and history, because obviously you make money off of booking people flights at much higher rates. I do have access to consolidators also and yes, I do understand what you are accusing me of not being knowledgeable about, but the fact remains that online websites still offer the cheapest prices, otherwise people would contact travel agents to do the work for them. I have NEVER found a travel agent to be able to find the same flights as cheap as I book them online myself for, and the travel agents readily admit this. Consolidators are very limited in what flights they can offer, hence the higher prices and long layover times.

 

I am stunned that you say you book over 800 flights per year yet haven't discovered that travel agents and consolidators charge more for the same flights as the online companies do. That is so unfortunate for your clients.

 

Leaving for the airport soon, so I am sorry I won't be able to continue to try to discuss the well known fact that websites track cookies and raise the prices when you return to their site. I will leave readers to draw their own conclusions about this widely known and widely publicized practice.

Edited May 27, 2015 by merrilyanne

[waterbug123]

... the professionals on the internet that have studied this and wrote reviews...

 

.. please stop posting comments that aren't even understandable due to your improper phrasing and use of grammar...

 

Before one goes criticizing other people's grammar, one should make sure one's own grammar is correct. ex. The first post above should read, "the professionals on the internet who have studied and written reviews..."

;)

Edited May 27, 2015 by waterbug123

[fbgd]

What you also fail to mention/realize is that a lot of the sites are connected to each other, so when one sight raises its price when you go back in, all sights have increased prices.

 

What this, and practically all of your statements, show is that you have great ignorance towards many aspects of the airline ticket pricing.

 

Many of the online TAs just tap into the GDS, so when that centralized availability runs out in a specific fare bucket that translates into any other website tapping into the same GDS showing an increased price too. This isn't a cartel situation!

 

I'd also be interested to see how the fare rules for your Singapore Airlines flights compare to the ones on the fares through the airline directly. You seem to be quite handily dodging that.

 

The reason why many regular travelers, myself included, don't buy on price alone is because you're not buying the same product at that much lower price point. It's akin to saying that ground chuck and Wagyu steak are the same thing because they're both beef. I don't want some nonsense consolidator fare with ridiculous restrictions.

 

Additionally, just because something hits the mainstream press it doesn't make it legitimate or true! The same people telling you to buy on a Tuesday at 3pm because it's cheapest, or to just ask for a free upgrade are the ones feeding you this nonsense about cookies.

 

I bought a ticket this morning. For various reasons I'd been checking the price several times since I first identified my want for the trip last week and I had to check with other family members first before buying. The price altered by $0 during that timeframe. ;)

 

I'll finish by saying your advice is extremely unhelpful. Cruise Critic tends to attract the inexperienced traveller and those who, like you, claim to know everything and attack other experienced travellers with baseless accusations really muddy the waters for those looking for advice. I hope anyone reading this thread looks at all the information listed and not just read what they want to see.

[waterbug123]

"I booked a flight for $900. to Bali and return, that was listed at a price of $1600. and my flights were identical to those I met on the plane that did pay the $1600". You have ignored that fact and rambled on incessantly that the flights I booked aren't the same as the $1600. flights, which is totally false.

 

Same flight? Yes.

Same ticket, with the same rules and restrictions attached to it? Almost certainly not. If things all go as planned with your flights you'll likely never realize they were different. If things go wrong, there's a good chance you'll find out just how different your tickets likely are.

Edited May 27, 2015 by waterbug123

[notentirelynormal]

You need to become aware of what is happening in the real world and stop arguing with people just so you can be right. I am sure that I likely book ten times the number of flights in any given year that you do, and have had many travel agents confirm that this practice occurs. You are hypothesizing on what you imagine might be true, and are not basing your views on FACTS. You are incorrect about hypothesizing that people will go to the airlines' sights, because the airlines sights do not usually offer the lower prices that other booking websites initially do. I think it odd that you have not bothered to try it out for yourself before insisting/hypothesizing that you are right. Top travel writers and even 60 minutes had a program on this. Guess you know more than they do, also.

 

HaHaHa rolling on floor.... OMG. Greatam flies a LOT more than the regular person. Her trips are not only frequent but she goes to destinations most of us wouldn't even think to venture to. Her experience in flying/flights trumps 99.9% of the general flying public. She probably has more experience in her little pinky fingernail than you have for your entire body. For the record, she probably does know more than a lot of the travel writers (who I doubt book their own travel arrangements OR have to pay for the privilege). Her very successful business is all about flights.

 

Just out of curiosity, besides news programs (that NEVER lie or exaggerate) what exactly is your personal experience? I mean, let's compare apples to apples here on first hand knowledge.

[epixx]

Leaving for the airport soon, so I am sorry I won't be able to continue to try to discuss the well known fact that websites track cookies and raise the prices when you return to their site. I will leave readers to draw their own conclusions about this widely known and widely publicized practice.

 

As one of the "regular people," not the road warriors, I read the entire discussion and drew my own conclusions.

 

I'm going with Greatam, Globiliser, waterbug123, fbgd, and notentirelynormal. Thanks for the useful info, all of you!

[Zach1213]

Ok, I'm coming in to this conversation new as a person who travels frequently for work and pleasure - highest level OneWorld frequent flier for several years now. Here's what I know:

 

1) I just used two separate computers where I've looked up separate trips several times without booking. On my work computer I looked up MCI-DFW-SYD-BNE on AA/QF which has shown $11,302 roundtrip for about 10 days now. I also looked up BHE-WLG on NZ, which has shown $112 per person for my wife and I for about 6 days now. I cleared cache and cookies on both and re-searched. Same prices came up.

 

2) consolidators are in the business of selling discounted tickets. Consolidators come in many forms - online sites (including but not limited to CheapOAir), cruise sites, and businesses catering to ethnic groups (such as a consolidator in Los Angeles Chinatown offering cheap tickets to China, catering to those visiting friends and family). Consolidators offer tickets which generally do not offer the same terms and conditions as "normal" tickets, such as those you buy directly from an airline or a traditional travel agent. Someone with a consolidator ticket can often sit in the same seat of the same flight as someone with a "normal" ticket, but if things go wrong, they are likely to be treated differently. I think that's what greatam and others are trying to point out - people buying tickets that are substantially cheaper are likely buying consolidator tickets, and those can result in problems in the case of irrops - they may be heavily restricted on being re-routed or handed over to another airline. This has saved me several times - I would have missed a seriously big meeting in Dublin, for example, but US Airways rebooked me on Delta at the last minute when they realized they couldn't get me there on time. A consolidator ticket would have likely left me SOL at home, far from Ireland.

 

3) it seems clear to me that greatam doesn't work as a travel agent or anything in the travel industry itself and has actual real world experience.

 

If someone wants a cheaper ticket via a consolidator, so be it. But they need to be aware of the potential and frequent differences.

[Gsel]

Ditto!!!!!

[buggins0402]

My story....about 6 years ago a friend with whom we were cruising hunted down the best prices for our flights to Rome. He found some that were a few hundred less than the airline websites on a large on line travel site. The flights we booked were Delta DTW to ORD, with a few hours to make a connection to an Alitalia to FCO. The flight would have gotten us into Rome a day before the cruise. Around a month before the trip, Alitalia cut back their flights from ORD. They came back with a itinerary change....original flight DTW to ORD stayed the same....but, we now had a 2 night layover in ORD before the flight to Rome. Even if we had taken this screwy flight, it would have gotten us into Rome a day after the cruise sailed!

 

Both couples spent endless hours on the phone with Delta, Alitalia and the Indian office of the online travel site, trying to remedy the situation. We finally got a refund. We ended up booking tickets direct with Delta...at a price that was about $100 more than what we would have paid if we had originally started out there (price had gone up).

 

Moral of story...not all airline tickets are created equal. The original ticket was a Delta and if it had not had a ton of restrictions we probably could have worked with DL to find an acceptable alternative flight.

Edited May 27, 2015 by buggins0402

[CantanaLobo]

While coincidence and causality both start with 'c' they are different things indeed. If I do a search and get a price, dust off my keyboard, do another search and get a different price, does that mean dusting off my keyboard caused the price change? My $0.02: If cookie setting affected the price, there would be all sorts of posts on FlyerTalk and the travel blogs about how to hack your cookies to get the cheapest price. I actually wish it were true.

 

(We won't talk about some sites (hello United) whose cookies crumble or something and work more reliably (never mind prices) with periodic vacuuming of the cookies.)

 

The fare rules restrict what you can do with the ticket brought with that fare. Things like what airline or alliance you can use it on (e.g. "UA ONLY" on a cruiseair ticket I once brought), how much it costs to change and/or cancel or if that's even possible, how long you have to stay before returning on a R/T, and whatever other conditions the airlines want to use to differentiate one fare from another. The airline then decides which of those fares are more valuable to the purchaser, and prices them accordingly.

 

I might find a ticket for $1600 on Thai Air with a fare rule that lets me use it on any other airline if things go pear-shaped. Or I can buy a ticket for $900 with fare rules that say I can only use it on Thai Air.

 

For a cruise - I'd spend the $900 and hope things go OK. For a trip to close a multimillion dollar deal - might be better to spend the $1600 so I can use it on any airline that gets me to my meeting on time. The $900 ticket? Well, I'll have to wait for a Thai Air plane, or cough up money for a walk-up ticket on the other airline.

 

To make an informed decision that the extra $700 is justified, one needs to understand that those two tickets are indeed different, and more importantly, how they are different. To understand the how, you must actually read the fare rules before you plunk down money - which no one makes easy. I'm perfectly comfortable buying a ticket with with sundry restrictions to save money - as long as the conditions are not too onerous. But I think of myself as an informed consumer for knowing those restrictions exist.

 

FWIW, I'm a couple times a year leisure traveler. I'm also one of "those" that actually have read their cruise line Contract of Carriage. It's always the fine print that gets you in the end. Pretending otherwise is IMHO a recipe for disaster.

[klfrodo]

I will leave readers to draw their own conclusions about this widely known and widely publicized practice.

 

I've read the entire thread. I have drawn my own conclusion,,,,,

 

You my dear have lost the bet

[Chairsin]

I find it quite "interesting" that Marilyn has conveniently left the thread just when she can see the tide of informed posters is turning against her. One can only hope she is traveling on a consolidator purchased ticket and is now stuck somewhere trying to figure out her options for a missed connection-- such poetic justice!

 

Bottom line is I do hope travelers do not buy her bunch of nonsense and think that the savings on that type of ticket does not come without risks.

[greatam]

I am stunned that you say you book over 800 flights per year yet haven't discovered that travel agents and consolidators charge more for the same flights as the online companies do. That is so unfortunate for your clients.

 

 

You really have NO IDEA what you are speaking of and you certainly don't read posts very well. And I resent the idea that we are ripping off our clients. We try to make this a win/win for everyone and the last thing I want to see is too much money spent for these trade shows because it impacts our freight business (and payment from clients) in the end. We make NO money booking flights or hotels for clients for trade shows-it is merely a courtesy because we have the expertise and hope by their participation in the trade show, they get new business and our freight business increases.

 

We don't use any travel agents or consolidators which YOU do use to get your heavily discounted tickets but you can't understand that. CheapoAir is a consolidator as is ChoiceAir/EZ Air, Vayama, BestFares.com, 1-800-FlyEurope, Mobissimo, etc. etc. etc. There are hundreds of them.

 

Just as an example- referencing the Fancy Food Show in NYC the end of June https://www.specialtyfood.com/shows-events/summer-fancy-food-show/. We have clients coming from Kashmir and Afghanistan and their 4 sales agents here in the US. They sell fresh saffron. Do you really think I would trust someone who doesn't understand the intricacies of a REFRIGERATED trade show to MAKE SURE those clients reach NYC in a timely manner? It's only for two days and a large outlay for small specialty food manufacturers. They NEED to make the most of their investment and not overspend for airline tickets or hotels unless they can actually afford it (and most can't-they are small startups just trying to increase their business).

 

To make sure everything goes as it should, we book everything ourselves. We don't use any outside help. Getting our client out of Afghanistan presents the most problems. But since I have lived and worked in Afghanistan, I know the lay of the land pretty well and getting the ticket was rather easy, even though darn expensive. I am hoping saffron production in Afghanistan increases. The price of pure fresh saffron is higher than heroin, so maybe a saffron crop will bloom instead of opium poppies. But I digress.

 

This particular client will need 12 airline tickets from various worldwide points. The part owner out of Kashmir is bringing his wife and two kids. The gentleman out of Afghanistan is bringing his wives (2 so far). Two of the sales agents are bringing their wives, one is based in MA and is driving and one is a single guy. All different airport departure points although most will land at JFK. They were all booked on a one off basis but before we booked, we presented the clients with the prices, airlines and connections. They had 24 hours to make up their minds.

 

It's our service to our freight clients because we have to move their freight into the trade show and keep an eye on it if it needs refrigeration. Very often, if the coolers are full or access is limited to only certain times of day, we bring in one of our own refrigerated trailers to provide only our clients with access to their products anytime during the show. We have an organic butter customer out of Northern CA that used to have to abide by the trade show access rules to her product. With our trailer on site, she can now access her product about every two hours so the people at the trade show see as fresh butter at 3PM as they did at 8AM. Her displays look considerably better the last three years. It has really helped her and increased our business in the end. These things we make money on. BUT NOT airline tickets or hotels.

 

So please DO NOT state that my small company is RIPPING OFF PEOPLE. You really pushed a hot button there.

Edited May 28, 2015 by greatam

[iancal]

In the recent past we have flown on AirAsia, Tigerair, Nok, Jeststar, and ANA.

 

We were happy with all of them...especially on of our Air Asia flight from KL to Gold Coast. Kept on watching the prices until our price hit. It was $258 AUD all in. Our Jestar flight to HNL turned out to be a codeshare with Qantas.

Edited May 28, 2015 by iancal

[FlyerTalker]

Also coming a bit late but as one of the "regulars" at Cruise Air forum, I can only add that I COMPLETELY concur with the words of Greatam, Globaliser, Zach, fbgd and the other very frequent flyers.

 

There is a certain mentality that thinks only in terms of price. Airline tickets have the outward appearance of being indistinguishable commodities. As some have found to their dismay and pain, they are 180 degrees from that...they are as varied and distinct as one can likely find. Folks look at airline, flight numbers and times and think "they are all the same". But it's precisely what is beyond those basic data points that makes the world of difference.

 

An informed consumer needs to know that these are different products that are being offered for sale. Heavily discounted tickets from consolidators come with a "cost"...highly restrictive fare rules that make it a far different proposition from what the airline offers directly.

 

For an real-life experience about restrictive fare rules, try this thread here at CC: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1398770&highlight=us+airways

 

Should people pay more or pay less? That's COMPLETELY up to the personal purchasing evaluations of the individual consumer. A Ferrari and a Yugo will both get to the grocery store, but there's a world of difference. Is the price difference worth it? Only you can say. But you would at least know the difference before plunking down your hard earned cash.

 

Finally....Merrilyanne has put more false, misleading drivel into this thread than I've seen in a LONG time. I hope that few people will be taken in by her misconceptions.

[bouhunter]

clear your cache and cookies and history and go back to the originally low price that you saw

 

Absurd and ridiculous. You're the one who doesn't know what they are talking about..................:rolleyes::D

 

To everyone else here who DOES know what they're talking about, thanks for all the great info. As far as this one poster is concerned, her posts are so long and ignorant they're almost amusing :) As for trying to get through to her, you may as well talk to the wall. But you guys have provided lots of good information to the other folks here who are capable of rational thought.

Edited May 28, 2015 by bouhunter

[gubby]

I read this thread with a lot of interest. A couple of years ago, I was tempted to use Choice Air but remembered the advice of a number of frequent flyers on CC air and decided to use the airline site, pay a higher price but have less stress and more peace of mind when it came time to make the Med cruise on time. After just reading the link that FlyerTalker referenced a few posts back, I have a much better understanding of how those consolidator tickets work against the purchaser. I would still like to save a few dollars, but not at that risk. Once again I want to thank all of you great people trying so hard to educate those of us who really have no clue about fare codes and the resultant rules.

[Zach1213]

I would still like to save a few dollars, but not at that risk.

 

Oh of course. We all want to save money. It's just a matter of knowing the risks and making an educated decision. It's one thing to say "sure, the benefits outweigh the risks and I'm making the decision to save some money"; it's another thing to not be aware of the risks at all.

[merrilyanne]

It is hilarious that although I flew out BEFORE of all you other posters jumped on this thread, I am accused of leaving because of the recent threads. If you really think my travel is governed by what unknown people "think" on a thread, you are sorely mistaken. I stand by everything I have said. I have missed flights, had delays, etc. etc. and all of my flights have been honoured by the airlines, regardless of what website I have booked them on. Once again, everyone on here is making assumptions and hypothetical analysis, about my travel and that is not fair. You ASSUME the tickets I purchase have restricted fares or bad routing, and they do not. You ASSUME the airlines won't provide me with the next flight or an alternative flight. You ASSUME I don't investigate what I am purchasing before I purchase it. You ASSUME all of the professionals that have written articles on this subject and all of the people that have tested the tracking of cookies, are wrong and they are not. No, I never said that every time that you go back to a site they increase their price - sometimes they do, sometimes it is after a few times, and sometimes it is after a few days. But THE FACT is, that when I clear my cache and cookies and history, after going in many times over a few days, the price magically becomes lower. What all you people who merely want to bash others on here are missing, is that I am talking about comparing an internet site's prices with that same internet site's prices if you keep returning to the site. Therefore the routing, terms of contract, etc. are obviously the same. And yes, the airline websites are higher priced and often I have been told by the airline that yes, I should go to an internet site to book at a lower cost, as the flights and terms are the same.

 

I am writing on here about my, and other travellers I have spoken with, experiences. If your experience with bringing business people to trade shows is different than my purpose in booking flights, than why is it even relevant? Again, you are making assumptions about the nature of my travel. The issue has nothing to do with the nature of anyone's travel - we are talking about websites tracking cookies, not about why anyone books certain flights or the risks associated with it or why business people need higher priced flights. You keep saying you can't compare apples and oranges, then why are you comparing your business purposes in booking flights, to my purposes in booking flights? They clearly are not the same. Basically, you admittedly are offering travel services which is an entirely different situation than how and why I book for my own purposes. My comments were for those people, like myself, who use internet booking sites and have experienced price increases when returning to the site, and price decreases after clearing out cookies, cache and history. You admittedly don't use these sites, so why is your experience with booking for business people, even relevant? I would never compare the price of my flights with the price paid by a dressed up businessman sitting in first class whose company is paying for his flight.

 

First, you argued that the prices aren't lower on internet sites after clearing cache and cookies, etc., but now you are totally changing your argument to arguing about the flights and routing and conditions not being the same between airlines and internet sites. You give no credit to travellers for knowing what they are doing, or comparing routes, conditions, etc. and making educated decisions on what they are booking. And anyone who thinks an airline's contract is carved in stone, and can't be easily overturned in court, is mistaken, particularly when airlines are always guilty of violating their own tariffs.

 

Why would travel writers, newspapers and T.V. shows write totally false articles that they know the public will discredit them for, if their research is not true? To hurt their own reputation and discount their own credibility? To try to generalize and say all of these writers and reporters are writing false articles, is a bit bizarre. All I know is that I book many, many, many flights each year, for myself and friends and people all over the world, with no profit and no business purpose, and know that the internet sights track cookies and cache and this has been proven over and over again by professionals in the travel industry and media and MYSELF. I note that most bashers on here are not writing about their own personal experiences with this, only choose to hypothesize about something they haven't experienced first hand.

 

Happy travelling!

 

http://www.johnnyjet.com/2013/02/why-you-should-delete-your-cookies-when-booking-travel/

 

http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/16581/does-browsing-ticket-sites-in-incognito-mode-and-or-from-different-ips-result-i

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2010/aug/07/computer-cookies-booking-online

Edited May 29, 2015 by merrilyanne

[merrilyanne]

If all of you bashers could write all of these lying, misleading writers, and prove to them why their theories don't work, that might be a first start instead of writing generalized and hypothetical comments on this thread that don't really say or prove anything. And when you write them, tell them that it was just a fluke that I have travelled to over 164 countries in the past few years, (because I get my flights so cheap), and never had a problem with my "cheap" online flights, even when I have missed a flight or my flight has been delayed, by following their instructions to clear the cache and cookies when finally going back in to book a flight.

 

http://gadling.com/2010/02/15/airline-tip-clear-your-browsers-cookies-before-booking-flights/

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/seaney/2013/04/30/airfare-expert-do-cookies-really-raise-airfares/2121981/

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Buy-Cheap-Airline-Tickets

 

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/travelers-ed/seven-mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight

 

http://dotcomplicated.co/content/2014/01/save-money-on-flight/

 

http://www.happyschools.com/tips-find-cheap-flight-tickets/

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-advice/10658392/Do-airlines-raise-fares-while-you-search.html

 

http://www.smartertravel.com/photo-galleries/editorial/seven-more-dirty-little-secrets-of-the-travel-industry.html?id=710&photo=64623

 

 

http://www.johnnyjet.com/2013/02/why...ooking-travel/

 

http://travel.stackexchange.com/ques...t-ips-result-i

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/blo...booking-online

Edited May 29, 2015 by merrilyanne

[fbgd]

Why would travel writers, newspapers and T.V. shows write totally false articles that they know the public will discredit them for, if their research is not true? To hurt their own reputation and discount their own credibility? To try to generalize and say all of these writers and reporters are writing false articles, is a bit bizarre. All I know is that I book many, many, many flights each year, for myself and friends and people all over the world, with no profit and no business purpose, and know that the internet sights track cookies and cache and this has been proven over and over again by professionals in the travel industry and media and MYSELF. I note that most bashers on here are not writing about their own personal experiences with this, only choose to hypothesize about something they haven't experienced first hand.

 

You know anyone can write anything on the internet, it doesn't make them an expert. Having a blog doesn't give you credibility automatically.

 

I see incorrect information posted on the internet by newspapers, magazines and other outlets on an almost daily basis. Some of it misquotes or misconstrues people who are somewhat knowledgeable, other is just downright incorrect.

 

In the previous post in this thread I happened to reference my own booking experience from earlier this week.

[greatam]

If all of you bashers could write all of these lying, misleading writers, and prove to them why their theories don't work, that might be a first start instead of writing generalized and hypothetical comments on this thread that don't really say or prove anything. And when you write them, tell them that it was just a fluke that I have travelled to over 164 countries in the past few years, (because I get my flights so cheap), and never had a problem with my "cheap" online flights, even when I have missed a flight or my flight has been delayed, by following their instructions to clear the cache and cookies when finally going back in to book a flight.

 

http://gadling.com/2010/02/15/airline-tip-clear-your-browsers-cookies-before-booking-flights/

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/seaney/2013/04/30/airfare-expert-do-cookies-really-raise-airfares/2121981/

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Buy-Cheap-Airline-Tickets

 

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/travelers-ed/seven-mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight

 

http://dotcomplicated.co/content/2014/01/save-money-on-flight/

 

http://www.happyschools.com/tips-find-cheap-flight-tickets/

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-advice/10658392/Do-airlines-raise-fares-while-you-search.html

 

http://www.smartertravel.com/photo-galleries/editorial/seven-more-dirty-little-secrets-of-the-travel-industry.html?id=710&photo=64623

 

 

http://www.johnnyjet.com/2013/02/why...ooking-travel/

 

http://travel.stackexchange.com/ques...t-ips-result-i

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/blo...booking-online

 

 

Did you REALLY read the USA Today article? Did you comprehend it??? Do you understand the dynamic pricing, the different fare codes, the different this, this and that. I don't think so.

 

It DEBUNKS your entire theory about cookies and repricing flights. Two or three times in the article the author states your cookie theory is MYTH, which is what we have all been saying.

 

This from the 4th paragraph in regard to clearing cookies:

 

"Before determining whether you need to do this, though, let me address this myth (and myth is what I strongly believe it to be) by starting off with a couple of geeky facts:"

[vjmatty]

Maybe if I keep clearing my cache, the Euro will drop below USD in time for my September cruise.....

[waterbug123]

You know anyone can write anything on the internet, it doesn't make them an expert. Having a blog doesn't give you credibility automatically.

 

I see incorrect information posted on the internet by newspapers, magazines and other outlets on an almost daily basis. Some of it misquotes or misconstrues people who are somewhat knowledgeable, other is just downright incorrect.

 

This^^^^

 

But as long as you (merrilyanne) are convinced that anything printed/reported in the media is always true and accurate, what does Brian Williams have to say about cookies and clearing cache? LOL

Edited May 29, 2015 by waterbug123

[merrilyanne]

I think when so many reporters and writers are saying the same thing, and so many people have found it to be true, then it likely is true.

If the person booking so many flights for trade shows is that paranoid about someone missing their flight and not being given another one, perhaps they should advise people not to fly at all, given there have been several airplane crashes in history. I do not appreciate this person scaring others into not booking online. What he/she is NOT telling you, is that travel agents use the same consolidators that the online websites use. What he/she is not telling you is that once you book airline seats online, the booking goes to the airline and the internet site does not monitor or control that ticket or seat afterwards. Think about it. Once you check in at the airport, and hand the boarding pass to the agent, the airline does not know or care who you booked the ticket through. Therefore to say that if you book flights online, you are going to get stranded and the airline won't try to find you a seat on the next flight, is totally false. Think about it. Have you ever been at the gate when a flight has been delayed or cancelled? Does the gate agent announce that everyone that bought their ticket through an online internet site should move to the right as only the passengers who bought tickets directly from the airline are going to get on the next flight?!!!! Absurd!

 

And I find it odd that posters/haters on here want to discount all of the information and evidence contained in all of the articles I posted, saying they are false, but they are so ready to believe one person's hypothesizing about why they book high price flights for their clients. Obviously, the poster does not use online internet sites to book flights, so why is everyone believing him or her and denying that what the independent writers and articles are saying?

 

Originally I called Singapore Airlines before I booked my flights with an internet site and they assured me that they don't differentiate between flights they sell and flights that people book online with the various internet sites. They said otherwise, they wouldn't sell blocks of seats to the consolidators if they didn't want them to sell them to the public. The rep said that the consolidators can offer lower prices if they want to, and Singapore Air does not care if the price is lower, given it is up to the consolidator to sell off the seats at whatever price they want, as well as Singapore Airlines being able to also control and monitor their own seats that they sell. The contract is not any different, given that once you purchase the seats, you are under Singapore Air's contract as far a their tariffs, rules, regulations, etc.

 

I am on vacation and won't be addressing any more bashers/haters posts. I have tried to provide concrete factual evidence on here but unfortunately the bashers and haters (and friends of the main poster) jump on here and condemn me personally without ever providing specifics or factual information. This site is supposed to be to assist others, and it serves no purpose for haters and bashers to jump on here and take sides without providing anything concrete.

 

Again, although the main poster has gotten friends to come on here (how else would they know it is a "she" when I thought it was a "he) and make generalized attacks on me, I still don't see any concrete evidence from anyone. And if you really believe that this person books 800 flights a year and doesn't indirectly make money off of it, you better think twice. The person who started the post is taking a short flight for personal reasons, whereas the main instigator is talking about business dealings with people from other countries who have to get to a certain place on time. I wonder if they ever heard of flying out the night before to avoid all of the fear this poster has, that they will miss their flight? I think when I save $700. on flights, I could opt for a $100. hotel room to make sure I got some where on time. The original poster did not say it was crucial that he had to be there in a certain timeframe. So all of this nonsense that has been posted by someone running trade shows, that isn't paying for the high price flights themselves, really doesn't apply.