Why It's Getting Harder to Comparison Shop for Flights

[craigt3365]

As airlines adopt policies that make it harder to list their fares on sites like Expedia or Orbitz, the practice of comparison-shopping for flights has gotten harder. Here's why.

Travelers already frustrated by the complexity of booking air travel could soon find it harder to bargain shop for flights online, as major airlines take steps to steer consumers directly to their own sites—effectively cutting out the middleman. And since those middlemen are some of the best-known names on the web—among them Expedia, Orbitz, and Priceline—the trend is attracting attention from members of Congress, some of whom are calling for the government to investigate.

The latest salvo in the controversy came when New York Senator Chuck Schumer, a persistent critic of big airlines, staged a press event in front of a Manhattan luggage store to warn that some discount travel websites “could be gone in one or two years” if consumers can’t get flight and fare information they need to make informed choices. Consumers will pay an additional $6 billion in fares as a result, he said—a prediction that comes from a recent study by the Travel Technology Association, which represents leading online travel agencies and is pushing for Washington to take action.

What set off this latest dust-up—which comes on the heels of Justice Department probe of airline collusion—are the actions of several airlines to limit the role of third-party sellers. Delta reportedly is restricting its fare information on online travel agencies (OTAs) like Hipmunk, while Lufthansa raised eyebrows when it said it would soon begin charging a €16 ($18) fee for tickets bought anywhere other than on its own website, a policy that will also apply to sales on its sister companies, Swiss, Austrian, and Brussels. It also said it wouldn’t allow metasearch sites like Kayak to show any prices lower than those on Lufthansa.com.

Continued

http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2015-07-24/why-its-getting-harder-to-comparison-shop-for-flights

[phuketrichard]

??

i dont find it hard at all to search for flights using

https://www.kayak.com/

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

http://www.skyscanner.co.th/?langid=EN

"It also said it wouldnt allow metasearch sites like Kayak to show any prices lower than those on Lufthansa.com."

opposite of the hotel booking sites where hotels are NOT allowed to show lower prices.

[Tomtomtom69]

??

i dont find it hard at all to search for flights using

https://www.kayak.com/

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

http://www.skyscanner.co.th/?langid=EN

"It also said it wouldnt allow metasearch sites like Kayak to show any prices lower than those on Lufthansa.com."

opposite of the hotel booking sites where hotels are NOT allowed to show lower prices.

For years I've almost always booked my flights directly through the website of the airline. Indeed, for low cost carriers this has always been the case as you won't find Air Asia or Nok Air or Vietjet Air etc. fares listed on third party booking sites.

Although in my case I'm talking about full service carriers like THAI, Singapore Airlines and Qantas (I don't fly low cost). In most cases, I have not found cheaper fares on third party websites, in the rare cases I even seek them out. What I would normally do if I were heading somewhere I don't normally go, is look up the Wikipedia information on the airport I'm travelling to, which lists all the airlines and airports that service that airport. Then I separately look up all the airlines I am interested in and if I still want to make a further comparison, I look up Zuji (a sister company of Travelocity) or occasionally I book through a travel agency with physical offices such as STA Travel, Student Flights or Flight Centre. In most cases, booking direct seems to be the way to go.

[marcusd]

??

i dont find it hard at all to search for flights using

https://www.kayak.com/

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

http://www.skyscanner.co.th/?langid=EN

"It also said it wouldnt allow metasearch sites like Kayak to show any prices lower than those on Lufthansa.com."

opposite of the hotel booking sites where hotels are NOT allowed to show lower prices.

It says they will limit - FUTURE not right now...

[dotpoom]

I booked a flight to Ireland for this coming October through Expedia with Lufthansa. The flight was quoted at 13,300 Bt.....great... I thought to myself,... I'll have that. Taxes and fees amounted to 16,910 Bt. No booking fee by Expedia...Total price 30,210 Bt. The Taxes and fees cost more than the flight....I think that was a first for me.

[jacko45k]

I booked a flight to Ireland for this coming October through Expedia with Lufthansa. The flight was quoted at 13,300 Bt.....great... I thought to myself,... I'll have that. Taxes and fees amounted to 16,910 Bt. No booking fee by Expedia...Total price 30,210 Bt. The Taxes and fees cost more than the flight....I think that was a first for me.

Was one of the fees a fuel surcharge?

Amazing if there still is one at under $50/barrel.

[razer]

I've found discount airfare websites aren't at all discount. I can always get a flight way cheaper by booking direct.

[Hayduke]

I booked a flight to Ireland for this coming October through Expedia with Lufthansa. The flight was quoted at 13,300 Bt.....great... I thought to myself,... I'll have that. Taxes and fees amounted to 16,910 Bt. No booking fee by Expedia...Total price 30,210 Bt. The Taxes and fees cost more than the flight....I think that was a first for me.

Was one of the fees a fuel surcharge?

Amazing if there still is one at under $50/barrel.

It generally seems fees rise more quickly than they fall. It likewise seems they rarely disappear.

[Anthony5]

I've found discount airfare websites aren't at all discount. I can always get a flight way cheaper by booking direct.

In November last year my flight with China airlines was 2000 Baht cheaper through Expedia, as straight with the airline, and 3000 Baht cheaper compared with the cheapest travel agent.

[Liquorice]

Why is it so much cheaper to book a return flight from UK to Asia, than it is to book Asia to UK return.

The difference can be as much as £200.

I've never found a definitive answer to this question..........anyone?

[Tomtomtom69]

Why is it so much cheaper to book a return flight from UK to Asia, than it is to book Asia to UK return.

The difference can be as much as £200.

I've never found a definitive answer to this question..........anyone?

I thought it used to be the opposite - because Thais (and other Asians) earn less, so they are charged less, or at least that was the logic, 10-15 years ago.

Nowadays it seems that you are right though. Fares from say Australia to Asia are now cheaper than Asia to Australia too. I think that might be because more Aussies travel to Asia and there is more competition for fares than in the reverse direction, something like that.

[Pdavies99]

Utter garbage!

Thousand of web sites you can book with and compare prices etc.

[sometimewoodworker]

For years I've almost always booked my flights directly through the website of the airline. Indeed, for low cost carriers this has always been the case as you won't find Air Asia or Nok Air or Vietjet Air etc. fares listed on third party booking sites.

FYI AirAsia lists some of it's seats on Expedia.co.jp which is a third party booking site

[superal]

Why is it so much cheaper to book a return flight from UK to Asia, than it is to book Asia to UK return.

The difference can be as much as £200.

I've never found a definitive answer to this question..........anyone?

Hi Faz ,

I posted the same question a few weeks back but nobody could come up with the answer . The other posts that say it is cheaper to book direct with the airline , well I have never found this , only the complete opposite , however I have a friend who booked direct with EVA and got a good deal that was cheaper than the agents , a rarity . The one good thing is that if you book direct you are unlikely to be ripped of as quite often happens with some of the agencies who advertise a low price to suck you in , take your money but cannot come up with the tickets only to sell you another more pricey ticket a few days later when you are panicking . Buyer beware and do a quick research on the agency review sites . Some of these agencies are Mumbai based and the agents give themselves English names despite the fact that sometimes they are barely understandable because of their local dialect .

Many airlines are now involved in alliances with other air carriers to enable them to be more efficient , e.g. BA for instance may be the declared carrier for your 2 stage flight but can only manage the first leg but sub the second leg to an alliance member , thus taking half the fare as opposed to nothing . But what intrigues me is the fare structure , remember the " Standby Flights " when you could bag a bargain . Now it seems the first 10% of seats sold are at the starting fare and the next 20% and so on increase and no matter if there are empty seats a few days before the flight , the airline will not sell them at a lower price .

Finally does anyone know how these agencies acquire flights at a much reduced rate ? do they buy them at a discount block booking on a no sale // return basis ?

[ozyjon]

I fly the same route 4 times a year, i always buy a one way ticket

for each leg, i'm a frequent flyer member for every carrier there is

and although Air China is the cheapest right now, i'll give it a miss.

I search for flights on the net, get the lowest fare then go to the

carriers web site and compare the fare, in my flying history

booking direct is always more expensive (prove me wrong i

dare you) than searching on the net, i just saved $400 AUD on

a Sydney - London flight and i fly this route for over 10 years,

booking direct = porky me thinks

[Anon999]

I've found discount airfare websites aren't at all discount. I can always get a flight way cheaper by booking direct.

The policy of many airlines now is to offer the same or marginally lower fare than the agencies. I recently booked with my usual agency who matched the price that Eva had on their website.

[craigt3365]

I fly the same route 4 times a year, i always buy a one way ticket

for each leg, i'm a frequent flyer member for every carrier there is

and although Air China is the cheapest right now, i'll give it a miss.

I search for flights on the net, get the lowest fare then go to the

carriers web site and compare the fare, in my flying history

booking direct is always more expensive (prove me wrong i

dare you) than searching on the net, i just saved $400 AUD on

a Sydney - London flight and i fly this route for over 10 years,

booking direct = porky me thinks

100% agree with your approach. I do the same. Find the cheapest (acceptable) price/routing on the various consolidator websites, then book direct. 95% of the time, the price is exactly the same. Or at least very close. I've never seen a huge difference in price when booking direct. But I have been able to find cheaper fares on the consolidator website, but was able to replicate the routing and get the same price on the airline's own website.

Takes a bit of time, but works for me. The exception is the various airlines who don't put their fares on the consolidator websites. And there are quite a few of those.

[sandyf]

There is a certain benefit in booking direct with the airline. Last December I booked a British Airways flight to the UK through Opodo. About 24 hours before the flight I was notified by BA that the flight was cancelled and had the option of booking the next available flight or a refund. I wanted the refund but could not use the refund facility on the BA website as I had booked via an agent and would have to contact the agent. I contacted the agent, this was early June, and so far they have not responded to my refund request. I will not be using an agent again.

[Liquorice]

I always use a Credit Card to book flights, then in a situation like yours, I can just contact the Credit Card company who will deal with the refund.

[HeijoshinCool]

I wanted to book directly with EVA, even though they were $150 more than Expedia, because I wanted to be assured the seat I selected was what my wife would really get when she boarded.

But EVA said no. I can't use my Visa card to buy my wife's ticket, because EVA requires the card at check in.

So I ended up buying on Expedia.

EVA's loss. Other airlines have the same policy.

[sandyf]

I wanted to book directly with EVA, even though they were $150 more than Expedia, because I wanted to be assured the seat I selected was what my wife would really get when she boarded.

But EVA said no. I can't use my Visa card to buy my wife's ticket, because EVA requires the card at check in.

So I ended up buying on Expedia.

EVA's loss. Other airlines have the same policy.

I doubt if that is the whole story. We have the problem on a regular basis with my niece flying back and fore to China. We have to go to the airline office and sign a waiver, that was the case for Thai Airways and Southern China.

I accept the fact that may not be a viable option for many people.

[sandyf]

I always use a Credit Card to book flights, then in a situation like yours, I can just contact the Credit Card company who will deal with the refund.

Well done if you have successfully obtained a full refund from a booking agent that way.

I paid by credit card but from previous experience they are like insurance companies, reluctant to pay or get involved if there is some dispute. I got my money back without a problem when Air Europe went bust, all cut and dried.

The other point is that with an airline refund you are entitled to disruption compensation, you won't get that from a credit card.

I initiated a court claim against the booking agent and BA. The agent immediately filed an acknowledgement of service but I have since heard from BA that the claim will be paid in full, including consequential loss and court costs.

As I said initially, you are on much safer ground with a direct airline booking.