February 23, 2006
How hard is it to find good fares online?
A recent investigation by Sophie Butler reveals some interesting things about finding low fares. The differences in price were larger than you might think. With a range of prices from 630 British Pounds to 1,038 Pounds, it clearly pays to shop around. The excuses different travel sites make are worth reading as well. What's the article about?
I was asking for the cheapest return ticket on a British Airways flight to Sydney, departing on February 27 and returning on March 21, and including all taxes and charges. Although I checked the websites, I confirmed the prices by phone to be sure I was being quoted for the right flights and airline.Posted by James Trotta at February 23, 2006 12:10 AM
I've always found booking a flight via the web to be economical, user friendly and stressfree. As long as my days and times are flexible I've found reasonable flights. I re enter my days/times until I find the right fit for my plans. I also use many sites - Travelocity, Orbitz, Cheaptickets and many times US Air.
Posted by: Christine Burdick at February 23, 2006 12:57 PMThe trouble I have had is in tryig to locate the fares posted by the airlines , or by Orbitz, as their current wonderful bargains. I get emails from AA, UAL, and Orbitz regularly. Once yopu get the email, it is virtually impossible to find the advertised fares.
Calling them to ask for the listed fares is also fruitless. They claim that the number of available fares with the bargain price have already been taken.
This practice is certainly a "bait-and-switch", which shold be outlawed.
Posted by: mike jones at February 24, 2006 1:32 AMI hope this doesn' sound like a shameless plug, but you might want to look at an article I wrote in my blog about some online services that will send you email alerts on low fares. The link to the post was http://guerrillatraveler.blogspot.com/2005/12/put-your-discount-airfare-travel-plans.html#links, and the article is called, "Put Your Discount Airfare Plans on Auto Pilot."
CB