 Poster: A snowHead
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When booking my flights for the BB bash using Skyscanner the cheapest flights turned out to be more expensive after including the hold luggage. It turned out cheaper to book direct with the airline who charged less for the luggage.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The morals of the story appear to be:
- It can be cheaper to book flights via an agent.
- But not always.
- It might be less risky to book directly with an airline.
- But it might not be.
- Regardless, the airline can screw you over with any changes they like - and with no recompense or comeback - up to 14 days before you go.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I think the moral of the story is read the Ts and Cs and research your flight options with google flights, ITA matrix and/or skyscanner (or use Glasgowcyclops "flight club" thread).
Regardless, the airline can NOT screw you over with any changes - it's dependent on the Ts and Cs and EU 26 legislation. If you book direct with BA, then any changes >2hrs have always given me a full refund or change to _any_ other date I want for the same flight. Any flight number change (even if the new flight has the same timings) has entitled me to all of the above as well as reasonable rerouting.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@mountainaddict, I have not read all of this thread so someone may have already mentioned this, as I understand it the reason most travel agents and and other online search engines are cheaper than the airline itself is due to the class of ticket they usually sell. Ie most tend to be a class of ticket that the flyer cant change even for an admin fee whereas if you book direct with the airline they sel a different class of ticket that allows changes to be made but with an admin fee.
Personally I have only used an agent once and that was Phoenix to Manchester with the first part of the flight delayed when we arrived at the airport and it was a nightmare trying to understand how we were going to get back home - never used and agent since.
Have had changes when booking direct with BA etc but it has always been painless- I just view. The slightly higher cost as an insurance fee and I don’t mind that knowing that any changes will be easy to resolve.
I am sure someone will disagree but this is how it works best for me.
Also not sure why you would fly to grand junction for aspen🤔 been to the aspen area many times and Denver has to be the obvious choice.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| MogulMonkey wrote: |
Also not sure why you would fly to grand junction for aspen🤔 been to the aspen area many times and Denver has to be the obvious choice. |
Actually, the obvious choice is Aspen 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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MogulMonkey,
I think Mountainaddict is flying to Grand Junction as the "obvious choice" of Denver is 100 miles further from Aspen than Grand Junction is...
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@Bergmeister, GJ maybe closer by 90 miles but given the availability of flights and cars for me I would only fly into Denver from the uk.. if I was already in the US and could get a direct to GJ then I agree that would be better.
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It's not clear why @mountainaddict opted to fly to Grand Junction. Perhaps that's why his tickets WERE so much cheaper than flying to either Aspen or Denver, because it's an under-used route? But perhaps it turns out it's too under-used that whichever airline operates it decide they are NOT going to operate the flight at all?
Had the OP booked directly with BA, he could have just taken a refund. Yes, re-booking on a different route may turn out to be more expensive than the original. Though probably no worse than what he would have paid initially going to Denver or Aspen. But that option is not available to him because he's bound by the travel agent's "package". That, being the down side of booking with an agent.
It's a classic case of trading away your flexibility options for a saving. When things work out (most of the time), and the saving is big, it's worth taking. But these days, the saving is typically too small to trade away the flexibility.
It's no different than a refundable vs non-refundable booking of flights or hotels. Most people takes a non-refundable flight, because the saving is substantial, often as big as 50%. But for hotels, the saving tend to be a lot smaller. So when presented with the choice of 5-10% saving with a non-refundable hotel booking, I almost always opted for the refundable one, paying the extra "premium" as an insurance against any unforeseen hiccups.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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[quote="snowdave"]@Bergmeister, with modern flight search engines I'm surprised if there's actually any significant savings to be had any more. I'd love to see any current example of a BA flight price that is over 5% cheaper via an agent (any route, destination or date). In the 120+ flights I've booked in the last 12 months an agent has been cheaper on a few, but only because I was booking very expensive fully flex tickets on which it is still commissioned so could discount slightly. quote]
Not sure about short haul, but there are significant savings to be had on long haul flights booking through an agent. Our flights to Bangkok were about 10% cheaper through an agent this summer compared to booking direct with Emirates (non flexible, cheapest tickets we could find)
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@Ghost Dog, was it a special fare that fell outside the usual Emirates price match? If not then you can send them the quote and get it matched.
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FAQ
