Third party booking sites

[georgegeorgia]

They're the ones for flights & accommodation.

Let me in all my wisdom talk about booking them for flights .

 

Expedia,Aunty Betty, booking com kayak  etc 

Trouble is most DONT read the fine print AND are shocked they usually cannot be contacted to change flights names etc albeit I must say in my wisdom for a large fee !

Of course comes with that a myriad of terms & conditions 

 

I once took over 8 hours to study the T&C's using analytics to define that it wasn't reasonable to book through that 3rd party website 

 

 

I always now book through the airlines directly in which means I like to record the name and use graphs of time of call, name I'm speaking to etc including times of calls ,

 

Of course 3rd party bookings,  but hotels are usually booked through a 3rd party in which I have been abused by hotel owners for booking through them such as AGODA 

 

Why do I use a 3rd party HOTEL booking site , usually because it's much cheaper ,yes 

 

I then record this through graphs on how many 3rd party  hotel bookings sites I have used ,colour co ordinated for Agoda , Expedia etc 

 

Edited April 9 by georgegeorgia

[Chivas]

1 hour ago, georgegeorgia said:

They're the ones for flights & accommodation.

Let me in all my wisdom talk about booking them for flights .

 

Expedia,Aunty Betty, booking com kayak  etc 

Trouble is most DONT read the fine print AND are shocked they usually cannot be contacted to change flights names etc albeit I must say in my wisdom for a large fee !

Of course comes with that a myriad of terms & conditions 

 

I once took over 8 hours to study the T&C's using analytics to define that it wasn't reasonable to book through that 3rd party website 

 

 

 

 

 

Absolute utter poppycock with bells on

 

Completely the opposite experience. I have no idea how many "agent" trips I've done London Bangkok return but a minimum of 100 (the rest staff tickets BA and Qantas)  but certainly a lot more than 100

 

Not once have I had the slightest issue with agents quite the opposite in fact when on 2 occasions they went well beyond the call of duty when I needed them around 6 and 8 years ago

 

On rare occasions when I've changed the inbound ticket never was I charged more than the "class" of ticket I had in economy as dictated by aiirlines own fee changes. Not once.

 

On the contrary on 2 (of the I think 6 times) I have booked direct with the airline I had issues with Eva and Etihad in the noughties...Now because no agent I've got no one to bat for me on my behalf and I was at the check in desks arguing with ground handling at Bangkok.

 

If you go to the travel section of Asean you'll see a report I did last month on China Eastern. Go and read it and the very real reason why I go via agent every time and the assistance I got from Travel Trolley when CE were simply not answering phones Twitter or FB Messenger

 

Classic example.

[georgegeorgia]

And yet you as a distinguished gentleman and a avid fine traveller failed to back this up with charts & graphs ,pure analysis information!!!

[Chivas]

32 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

And yet you as a distinguished gentleman and a avid fine traveller failed to back this up with charts & graphs ,pure analysis information!!!

 

What are you babbling about this time fella.....

 

I really shouldn't take the bait and considering every thread and post you make is pure idiocy you're now on ignore.

 

Out....

 

[Martin71]

Have you stolen Gamma Globs crack pipe..?

[cmjl]

33 minutes ago, Martin71 said:

Have you stolen Gamma Globs crack pipe..?

Have you thought that maybe he's got nothing better to do so decided to see who he could get a rise out of!

[edwardflory]

4 out of 4 bookings with a LA Travel Agency with NO problems. 3 were LEX to BKK round trip, last one was BKK to CVG ( $1230 ) round trip tourist.  6 hours average layover time, 1 checked bag, 1 carry on all meals included in cost.

I have a FREE USA VOIP phone number so LA, USA and Canada calls are "local" call for me.

[brianthainess]

So what date have you booked to go to talk to the prisoners, 

I was just wondering how much you would enjoy berating them about deserting their kids to make them cry, and you laughing, while giving them psycho help.   I hope they keep you locked up you sad bustard.

[nana kid]

Children  children  Please            be civil             I think one of the best advantages of third party bookings is split airlines

my last trip was   BKK-CDG  on CE   return CDG -BKK on TG      Trip.com had great CS  but if there's a problem it is usually easier to deal with the airline directly.

[Chivas]

15 minutes ago, nana kid said:

Children  children  Please            be civil             I think one of the best advantages of third party bookings is split airlines

my last trip was   BKK-CDG  on CE   return CDG -BKK on TG      Trip.com had great CS  but if there's a problem it is usually easier to deal with the airline directly.

 

Not in my experience regrding dealing with airline direct. Quite the opposite experience in fact

[Bangkok Barry]

On 4/9/2024 at 8:56 PM, georgegeorgia said:

I once took over 8 hours to study the T&C's using analytics to define that it wasn't reasonable to book through that 3rd party website 

 

An interesting exercise for you, I guess. The problem I used to find when I booked flights with a third party was, if I had to change it, I had to contact that third party. This could be difficult if I was in a different country at the time, especially if it was urgent.

[Paris333]

Good news for travel agencies mean bad news for our pockets.

Online travel agencies are in growth mode after a pandemic pause. According to the Business Research Company, the global online travel market is projected to grow from about $461 billion to about $972 billion between 2020 and 2025.

Source:
https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/online-travel-agent-market

 

The great booking debate: Is direct better than a third-party site?

Source:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/booking-direct-travel-websites-flights-hotels/

and remember most people who have a good experience with direct sites don't write a review furthermore using third party site mainly in airtickets you have the advantage to compare prices.

You can also search flights and when you find your best flight option check the airline website. Most if not all airlines offer package deals and If you want to save money you have to do some research. No single source is always the cheapest or best way to book.

 

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[new2here]

At the end of the day the reality is this.. for issues that may occur BEFORE actual travel, it is not UNCommon for the passenger to have to “go through” their agent to make various changes.. after all, the agent is the one who facilitated the booking on behalf of said passenger.. but.. when it comes to day-of-departure issues - like enroute delays etc - the carrier will usually deal with you, the passenger - directly (unless it requires a future date booking, which may require the agents involvement)

 

All that said, are agents good? bad? use them or not?  I think what others have said is true.. for *most* bookings where there are no pre-travel” issues like carrier initiated cancellations or passenger-initiated changes, things good pretty smoothly and largely indistinguishable from those bookings made directly with the carrier itself. 

 

However, where i think things *can* go bad is when this isn’t true.. where there are pre-departure cancellations or you need to make a booking change .. THIS is where SOME agents really shine and others not so much so. 

 

The industry and carriers have largely moved away from preferring agent-based booking platforms to preferring their own in-house (clearly for cost and commssion control) but they do remain a viable option and to me, one that can’t be wholly dismissed .. it’s just that you have to remember that when you book through an agent - you can’t always “side step” them and then deal with the carrier directly IF some kind of pre-travel issue comes up. .. the carrier may rightly tell you that you’ve got to first contact the agent whose booking it is.