Air Consolidator

[Jancruz]

I have lost my favorite air consolidator..does anyone have a company they can share with me??

Thanks,

Jancruz1

[iancal]

Not allowed to mention names.

 

But a few years ago we scored two 'cheapo' one way tickets to Istanbul on BA at less than half BA's web price and considerably lower that the cruise air price at the time.   Good flights, good connections at LHR all the way through.    The earth was in the right 'orbit' when we scored two return tickets to Bangkok at a saving of 33 percent over the airline's website. And they turned out to be regular economy fare code tickets...ie not consolidator fare code.

Edited July 5, 2019 by iancal

[thinfool]

Naming air consolidators is not prohibited on CC.

[iancal]

I used cheapoair for our Istanbul tickets and orbitz for our Bangkok tickets.  

 

Tried about three other sites before hitting on the Orbitz site for the Bangkok tickets.  Great thing about Orbitz is that they display the applicable ticket fare code BEFORE you press the buy button.  That way you know exactly what you are getting.   Also the routing.  So, if plane changes are required you can easily see if your are on the same airline from start to finish.     We were able to select our seats and we were given mileage credit on our Delta Sky miles account.

 

I think that we hit both fares at the right time. Other times, when we have shopped these sites for pricing they were the same as others.  Luck of the draw I guess.

Edited July 5, 2019 by iancal

[CruiseDigits]

I agree, my interpretation of the community guidelines is that it's acceptable to mention air consolidators, or most other types of companies (except travel agents) by name, assuming they aren't your company.  I think the biggest thing is that CC doesn't want the site overrun by advertising.

 

These seem like the relevant parts of the "Advertising is Not Allowed" section of the community guidelines:

 

• "Cruise Critic defines advertising as an individual or company's attempt to generate business or other commercial enterprise, either directly or indirectly, by using our Cruise Board."
• "There shall be no third-party recommendation (whether positive or negative in tone) of travel agencies on any forums within Cruise Critic."  Note no mention of companies other than travel agencies.

 

 

[RocketMan275]

15 hours ago, CruiseDigits said:

I agree, my interpretation of the community guidelines is that it's acceptable to mention air consolidators, or most other types of companies (except travel agents) by name, assuming they aren't your company.  I think the biggest thing is that CC doesn't want the site overrun by advertising.

 

If you click "Find A Cruise" at the top of the page, you'll find multiple travel agencies advertising cruises.  I suspect CC doesn't want to lose the revenue from those travel agencies already advertising on cruise critic.

[fbgd]

As with "Cruise Air" type products you need to know what you are buying. Consolidators are cheap for a reason...does your ticket allow for endorsements over to other carriers? Reroutings? etc. etc. 

 

There's no such thing as a free lunch and consolidators are often discounted because you're hamstrung to ridiculous ticketing rules. Sure, when everything goes fine you probably won't even notice but when things go wrong then you'll realize how you saved a few dollars on your ticket.

[CruiseDigits]

10 minutes ago, fbgd said:

when things go wrong then you'll realize how you saved a few dollars on your ticket.

I always ask the question of how something will be handled and unfortunately there are usually recent travel snafus in the news to help make the conversation with any provider "real".  For example send a note to ask how a cancelled ticket booked on EVA Air (due to the strike) be handled.  You'll see how timely they are, you'll see if they answer the question, and you'll learn more about their policies.  You'll also have something in writing.

[iancal]

Cruise air tickets can just as easily be consolidator fare code tickets as tickets purchased from any vendor.

 

[Hawaiidan]

5 hours ago, iancal said:

Cruise air tickets can just as easily be consolidator fare code tickets as tickets purchased from any vendor.

 

yes they can..... they can also be  sold FF miles which if discovered makes the ticket void    Bad guys are now adept at hacking FF accounts to get tickets in another name  and selling them.    I have seen folks have their tickets pulled at the gate and the cops show up.      There are good ones who get 30 to 40% off    when it gets over that watch out  it could be a stolen ticket  or a forgery.      Yes  people forge  tickets... and people buy them.    The airlines have  now special divisions called  revenue protection  than looks at all the scams.

If you use a  3d party  to buy the ticket   they actually own the ticket.    Only the 3 erd party can change it.... not you  its not owned by you !... 

[newyorker123]

21 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

If you click "Find A Cruise" at the top of the page, you'll find multiple travel agencies advertising cruises.  I suspect CC doesn't want to lose the revenue from those travel agencies already advertising on cruise critic.

I don't see that on my page.  I know I have in the past but not now - or today, at least.

[RocketMan275]

28 minutes ago, newyorker123 said:

I don't see that on my page.  I know I have in the past but not now - or today, at least.

Funny.  It's on my page.  Top Dead Center. "Find A Cruise".  If you click on that it takes you to a form to fill out describing what/where you want to go.  There are also multiple links such as Cruise to Aruba.  All of these result in cruises advertised by various agencies.

 

Or, you can go to the cruisecritic home page and find the same form.  Cruise Critic allows multiple travel sites to advertise on cruise critic.  But, you can't mention the name of a travel agent?????

 

 

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, newyorker123 said:

I don't see that on my page.  I know I have in the past but not now - or today, at least.

 

Same thing.  I just hadn't noticed until now.

 

At the *top* of the page, there is a lot of "white space", maybe 1 inch down.

The ONLY thing above that is any orangey/coral bar with center wording of "Log in issues - Help with Logging In", which is clickable.

Then the white space, and then the tabs, "Forums",  etc., and under that it starts with "Logo Store"...

 

GC

[newyorker123]

5 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Same thing.  I just hadn't noticed until now.

 

At the *top* of the page, there is a lot of "white space", maybe 1 inch down.

The ONLY thing above that is any orangey/coral bar with center wording of "Log in issues - Help with Logging In", which is clickable.

Then the white space, and then the tabs, "Forums",  etc., and under that it starts with "Logo Store"...

 

GC

Not there for me!  I know I've seen it in the past.  Gotta wonder.  Thank you.

[RocketMan275]

Try this:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/

[newyorker123]

6 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Try this:

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/

Nope, not there.  I'm good though.  I found it through Google. Definitely odd.  Thank you.