What website would you recommend for cheap fights?

[Adamvu]

Hi Everyone, 

Whaich websites do you use to find cheap airline tickets? I checked flight tickets prices from Boston to Miami on CheapOair.com, OneTravel,com and AviaGuru.com, anymore I shoudl try? Thank You

 

[Sianli]

I search on Skiplagged but I always buy directly from the airline 

[Adamvu]

Thanks, I tried it, but I see that sometimes its cheaper to buy from flight ticket search engines or travel agencies. 

[Sianli]

Usually that is ok. If you have no issues causing delays, changes, weather etc that is fine. I like to buy from the airline so that I can deal directly with them, not have to call the travel company. 

[muffydawg]

I checked schedules and prices on Kayak, Travelocity for our 2024 Island Princess trip then compared $$ to EZ Air and airline-specific websites. Best value we found was booking directly with the airline.

[FlyerTalker]

I assume the OP knows all of the inherent pitfalls that may occur with tickets bought through these third-party "discount" sources.

 

Such as luggage restrictions when using a skiplagged ticket.  Or the danger of you getting a FF award ticket that gets cancelled for fraud.  Or having a highly restricted consolidator ticket with fare rules different from the published fares from the airline itself.

 

There is much more to an airline ticket than just the bottom line price.  Better be an informed consumer.

 

 

[FlyerTalker]

On 1/8/2024 at 11:33 PM, Adamvu said:

cheaper to buy from flight ticket search engines or travel agencies. 

 

2 hours ago, muffydawg said:

I checked schedules and prices on Kayak, Travelocity

 

On 1/7/2024 at 1:06 AM, Adamvu said:

CheapOair.com, OneTravel,com and AviaGuru.com,

 

The important question to ask, and have answered is:  "Why are the tickets priced lower than what I would pay to the airline directly?"

 

If you get some honest answers, you will see that airline tickets are NOT a commodity product.

 

 

[muffydawg]

Always pays to comparison shop for the best value.

[CruiserBruce]

31 minutes ago, muffydawg said:

Always pays to comparison shop for the best value.

As long as you can correctly diagnose what you are getting. 

[muffydawg]

25 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

As long as you can correctly diagnose what you are getting. 

In our case our requirements were:

• same airline (MIA to Europe, Europe to MIA)
• biz class
• airplane (777 v A380 or 747)
• price
• airport connection time

Each of the above were easily "diagnosed" while performing due diligence prior to booking air tickets

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

Just now, muffydawg said:

In our case our requirements were:

• same airline (MIA to Europe, Europe to MIA)
• biz class
• airplane (777 v A380 or 747)
• price
• airport connection time

Each of the above were easily "diagnosed" while performing due diligence prior to booking air tickets

 

 

What about...

 

Who are you going to call when things go sideways?

 

What rights do you have for accommodation and/or refund?

 

I know the info you list, as well as the info I list, when I book directly through the airline website. 

[CDNPolar]

We have friends that are convinced that they are getting better deals when they are buying from one of these "cheap alternative" sites, but they have had issues because they did not investigate closely enough and got caught paying to check luggage and then once when they needed to cancel, they lost the whole fare.

 

We personally always buy direct from the airline, or in the case of a cruise, through the cruise line ONLY IF the fare is lower or free and we don't want to upgrade.

 

We also closely investigate airlines cancellation policies when buying and sometimes pay a slightly higher fare to have a full cancel policy.

 

We bought Premium Economy seats on EVA Air about 10 months ago now for a total of $6,500.00 for the two of us.  (Toronto to Bangkok). We bought these because we could cancel up to and including the day of travel for a $200.00 per person penalty.   Because of this cancel policy we did not have to include the cost of these tickets in our insurance.

 

Unfortunately we had to cancel close to last minute because of a health concern, and we got all but the $400 back.  Through a cheap seats site, this never would have happened.

[6rugrats]

Book directly with the airline.  If you find very cheap business class seats from one of these third parties, most likely they are booked with miles purchased (or sometimes stolen) from another person's frequent flyer account.  This is against the rules of every airline and they vigorously pursue this fraud.  If found, your ticket will be canceled, possibly leaving you stranded and having to purchase a new fare at walk-up prices.

I don't know of a single airline that sells discount business-class tickets to a third party, despite the claims on many of these webpages that, "we have a special relationship" with airlines.  No, they do not. 

And, if you see cheaper economy tickets, they are often not live prices or they are showing you basic economy tickets.  Most of these sites will charge you fees, even if your flight is canceled.  Make sure you read all of the terms and conditions associated with your ticket.

I know the airline I work for will pretty much rebook you for any problems at no charge.  But, not if you have one of these tickets.  Know what you are purchasing because there is no magic cheap price.

[MacMadame]

I use Google Flights to find the flight. They let you put in how many bags you'll have and the prices reflect that so you are comparing apples to apples. Then I check a few airlines that Google Flights don't have (Southwest and Jetblue). Once I find the flight that is the best combination of price and convenience, I book directly with the airline. 

[Globaliser]

2 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

They let you put in how many bags you'll have and the prices reflect that so you are comparing apples to apples.

 

No, that doesn't mean that you are comparing apples to apples. All it means is that you're comparing different fares that allow for the same number of bags. There are all sorts of other things that may yet be different between the fares - and possibly invisibly different, if you're trying to shortcut the selection process.

[CDNPolar]

I have had the experience with Google Flights that when you get your options and then choose outbound and return flights that Google then offers you several booking options at the bottom of the screen.  Some of these are lower price options.  I have clicked on these in the past and you end up in some strange booking site that personally I was not prepared to trust so I exited and paid the slightly higher price to the airline.

 

The other thing that I think can happen sometimes is if you are picking airlines and flights that are not in the same alliance then you are technically booking separate tickets and not one ticket return with one airline.  This can also bring challenges.

 

BUT, I DO use Google Flights as my starting point for any booking.

 

The other thing to note is that if you are putting specific dates and don't have flexibility with dates, you can miss availability of an airline that you might prefer to fly, because GF is only giving you results for airlines that fly on your specific dates.  Play with the dates if you have flexibility and sometimes you find better deals.

 

Then I book directly with the airline.