[Archived] Flights

[only2garners]

how come?

eDreams often don't provide live pricing information on their website. They get you in to buy the seats and then tell you that the price has gone up and ask you for a payment which also includes a fee for their services. You end up paying more than you would direct from the airline. There are plenty of other shonky third party online agencies but eDreams are one of the worst.

Unless you have a very complicated itinerary I'd advise you always book direct with the airline. There is no magic online air fare fairy that can get you cheaper fares.

Personally never had a problem with them, lots of Asian flights booked with them before

Yoda - have a look at Trip Advisor's Air Travel Forum and search for eDreams - there are hundreds of complaints about them.

[Paul]

Unless you have a very complicated itinerary I'd advise you always book direct with the airline. There is no magic online air fare fairy that can get you cheaper fares.

Agree always cheaper direct with the airline.

If you do have a complex itinerary, especially one which involves multiple flights, always book through one airline. If you book different flights with different airlines as part of the same trip it can go badly wrong.

Book with one airline and it is responsible for getting you to your final destination. Book different flights with multiple airlines and each is only responsible for the bit they ticketed.

Long haul always fly with a quality airline.

[Guest]

There are plenty of other shonky third party online agencies but eDreams are one of the worst.

It's worth noting that eDreams also owns Opodo. I used Opodo a couple of weeks ago to book a flight about four days before it departed. I got an email saying that my booking is being processed and will be confirmed shortly. 24 hours later I received an email saying I'd been declined. I ended up booking directly with the airline.

I've heard a couple of bad things about eDreams, but that process from a consumer's point of view is bizarre to say the least.

[only2garners]

Agree always cheaper direct with the airline.

If you do have a complex itinerary, especially one which involves multiple flights, always book through one airline. If you book different flights with different airlines as part of the same trip it can go badly wrong.

Book with one airline and it is responsible for getting you to your final destination. Book different flights with multiple airlines and each is only responsible for the bit they ticketed.

Long haul always fly with a quality airline.

I'd add to this that you can use different airlines if they are all part of the same alliance, such as OneWorld, Star Alliance or Sky Team, and everything is on one ticket. The last bit is the really important bit.

I would also consider one of the highly regarded agents if you have a complicated trip, such as Trailfinders.

[JC4LAB]

Had a scare with a Chicago ticket with E dreams..as i used Ba one way & AA to other.Paid and they Emailed me one E ticket one way but not the return..A long phone call 30 mins and got it emailed to me last minute which was stressful. Trailfinders are great. ,maybe cost more..but it takes ages playing about with times and connections and prices and I feel guiity about messing a consultant about, spending up to 15 mins going through different options and then having to say no...Dealing with just a screen before you,you are not arsed about this but too often you then see the price go up each time you go back to it if you dont book straight away Naughty Naughty....

[only2garners]

JC4LAB - your last point is rubbish. Why would an airline business see that someone is searching to buy something from them, but doesn't buy, but then put the price up deliberately when you go back? Fares do go up, but that's when either the fare bucket that was on offer sells out or the airline decides to either increase (or reduce) prices across that particular flight.

Unless of course, you are looking at a third party agency, then all bets are off.

It's worth noting that eDreams also owns Opodo. I used Opodo a couple of weeks ago to book a flight about four days before it departed. I got an email saying that my booking is being processed and will be confirmed shortly. 24 hours later I received an email saying I'd been declined. I ended up booking directly with the airline.

I've heard a couple of bad things about eDreams, but that process from a consumer's point of view is bizarre to say the least.

Opodo are another one to avoid these days, along with pretty much any site that has the work cheap in it somewhere.

[perthblue02]

JC4LAB - your last point is rubbish. Why would an airline business see that someone is searching to buy something from them, but doesn't buy, but then put the price up deliberately when you go back? Fares do go up, but that's when either the fare bucket that was on offer sells out or the airline decides to either increase (or reduce) prices across that particular flight.

Unless of course, you are looking at a third party agency, then all bets are off.

Opodo are another one to avoid these days, along with pretty much any site that has the work cheap in it somewhere.

If there is interest in a certain flight it is possible for that to trigger a travel agencies software to reserve book a block of seats therefore increasing the price of remaining seats, so that only more expensive options are available, then after someone purchases the more expensive seat they un-reserve the cheap seats except the ones ordered by the buyer, with the purchaser paying x and the agency only paying the airline for the original price after their commission etc) . It is easily done within seconds with certain software and does not require somebody to press a button.

The reason it is done is to force a buyer into making a snap decision based on the presumption that either the price goes up again or that flight sells out

This was touched on in the Dispatches episode on flight centres in a slightly different form.

How widespread it is in use nowadays , who knows.

[Ste B]

JC4LAB - your last point is rubbish. Why would an airline business see that someone is searching to buy something from them, but doesn't buy, but then put the price up deliberately when you go back? Fares do go up, but that's when either the fare bucket that was on offer sells out or the airline decides to either increase (or reduce) prices across that particular flight.

Unless of course, you are looking at a third party agency, then all bets are off.

Opodo are another one to avoid these days, along with pretty much any site that has the work cheap in it somewhere.

Opodo USED to be excellent, but after having credit card issues last time I tried and the "no guarantee the price is the same the next morning" emails, I wont be using them in a hurry. It wasnt my credit card company who declined it, it was them. I dont have any issues with Expedia, and if you also want hotels you get the advantage of a discount and it being booked as a package.

[only2garners]

Ste - that was perhaps before eDreams bought them.

Expedia are OK and you can get good package deals with them but yo still run the risk of having to deal with a third party if something goes wrong - cancellation, date change etc.

[Ste B]

Ste - that was perhaps before eDreams bought them.

Expedia are OK and you can get good package deals with them but yo still run the risk of having to deal with a third party if something goes wrong - cancellation, date change etc.

I have only ever had excellent customer service from Expedia when things went wrong with our Man - LHR - BGI flights. (same with booking.com).. That said, If I'd booked the flights in question direct with BA then I might have got a bit more out of them, as it was down to our first flight being on the Virgin MAN - LHR service even though it was BA ticketed. In the end, I got our money back and booked far cheaper direct options with Thomas Cook.

[only2garners]

My only experience with making changes with an Expedia booking was two years ago when my mother in law died and we had to cancel a trip to Madeira and Lisbon at short notice. We had a flight booked direct with EasyJet, a flight with TAP through Expedia and a hotel booked direct. We got the money back from EasyJet very quickly and a non-refundable deposit from the hotel back from our travel insurance fairly quickly but the Expedia refund took quite a while. Now this might have been TAP's fault rather than Expedia of course but either way putting a third party in the way certainly slowed everything up.

But we did get our money back in the end - Expedia is OK.

[Baz]

If there is interest in a certain flight it is possible for that to trigger a travel agencies software to reserve book a block of seats therefore increasing the price of remaining seats, so that only more expensive options are available, then after someone purchases the more expensive seat they un-reserve the cheap seats except the ones ordered by the buyer, with the purchaser paying x and the agency only paying the airline for the original price after their commission etc) . It is easily done within seconds with certain software and does not require somebody to press a button.

The reason it is done is to force a buyer into making a snap decision based on the presumption that either the price goes up again or that flight sells out

This was touched on in the Dispatches episode on flight centres in a slightly different form.

How widespread it is in use nowadays , who knows.

I believe its now banned in the EU, but some of the low cost airlines would recognise your IP address, and increase the price if you went away from the site and came back later (even a few minutes), in order to try and make it look like seats where selling to get you to buy.

But agreed, the dispatches show was interesting, but only very few people now must book flights via a travel agent, almost all must be direct. Package holidays totally different, but I think that will change soon too.

[yoda]

eDreams often don't provide live pricing information on their website. They get you in to buy the seats and then tell you that the price has gone up and ask you for a payment which also includes a fee for their services. You end up paying more than you would direct from the airline. There are plenty of other shonky third party online agencies but eDreams are one of the worst.

Unless you have a very complicated itinerary I'd advise you always book direct with the airline. There is no magic online air fare fairy that can get you cheaper fares.

Yoda - have a look at Trip Advisor's Air Travel Forum and search for eDreams - there are hundreds of complaints about them.

Well I also take trip advisor with a pinch of salt

[only2garners]

So do I yoda for reviews - too many professional grumblers an friends puffing places up to be reliable. However the various travel forums are excellent - they are now what I use to back up a good guide book with any detailed information I need on a location, or in this case air travel.

By the way Trip Advisor is another place not to make flight and hotel bookings.

[Guest]

This was touched on in the Dispatches episode on flight centres in a slightly different form.

Had a look and found a Dispatches summary of that episode I think.

In short, I think what some have already said on here is accurate enough. Avoid third-party agencies when booking stand-alone flights. Go direct with the airline.

[Ste B]

Funny enough Flight Centre did us a cracking deal to south Africa last year as we needed open jaw flights.

[old darwen blue]

What on Earth is an open jaw flight?

[Paul]

What on Earth is an open jaw flight?

Return ticket where the return leg isn't the same as the outward leg. For example London > Los Angeles and Los Angeles > London would be a standard return trip. An "open jaw" could be London > Los Angeles flying back San Francisco > London.

Funny enough Flight Centre did us a cracking deal to south Africa last year as we needed open jaw flights.

I had a really good deal from Flight Centre to South Africa as well. Open jaw as it happens. Excellent service, lots of help with planning and by far the cheapest direct flights.