KrisL1

When you fly domesticly within the USA which is your prefered Travel agent or if online which webiste company you go through for example Expedia, Hotwire, CheapOair to name but a few, typicaly I usualy go through Expedia or Hotwire to get the better deals.

md95065

I usually just book direct with the airline.

Egon

Yea, I also book directly with the airline to get the airmiles.

I only bother searching Travelocity, etc for international flights

Noorah101

I might do some searching through Travelocity or Expedia, but ultimately when I know what flight I want, I book directly with the airline. I've never experienced a better deal using an outside source rather than direct with the airline.

Rene

materialcontroller

http://www.skyscanner.net/ is a good place to start searching. But ultimately, as everyone else has said, I generally book direct with the airline once I've narrowed down my options.

sir_eccles

The advantage of booking direct is when you need to change something, you are talking with the airline or hotel directly and they can change things for you.

When you go through travelocity or hotwire or whomever, that extra layer makes it extra tricky to fix things or change dates or whatever. Heard it direct from a small hotel manager (the hotel was small, the manager was regular sized). Basically it makes it virtually impossible for the hotel to actual access your reservation because it is not really in their system it's in hotwire's system (or something like that).

Bob

I don't travel, but I'd look at kayak.com and ask CindyAbs, on BE if she can help out with any deals.

Noorah101

A friend of mine told me about kayak.com, so I signed up for the weekly specials and also signed up for the specific destination deals. I input all my relevent information (my departure city and destination). I was excited to see one of the first notices having a great deal to a non-US destination I had listed. I clicked on the link in their notice, but no matter how much I looked, I could not find THAT low fare. The link took me to a fare that was significantly higher than what their email stated. It was extremely frustrating. I also noticed that the weekly deals aren't such a great deal, either, as they either never go where I want to go, or it lists a low fare from New York or some place I'm nowhere near. So much for making it client-specific. I finally just unsubscribed! Too much hassle and no result.

Rene

hobbes79

To echo what others have said, use the travel website to search then just book direct. Orbitz, Expedia, etc never seem to be cheaper than direct.

At best, they're the same.

And when you book direct hotels can be a little nicer to you since it saves them fees.

Years back I booked a trip to Tenerife (when still in the UK). Booked the flights with the airline and the hotel directly with the hotel.

Upon arrival at the hotel they didn't have my reservation, though I had the print out (that's the not so great bit of the story!).

But they told me flat out that it's more profitable for them when customers book direct and that, with the slight hassle of the lost reservation, they immediately upgraded our room. They said they wished all customers just booked directly.

tonrob

I get miles and points via credit card sign-up deals. I haven't paid for a domestic flight for a few years now.

If using money - always directly with the airline.

Englishmum

I mostly fly on international flights and in general I agree with other posters here that it's usually best to book directly with the airline. For example if there is a cancelled flight or missed connection the airline agents can re-book you onto the next available flight. If you have booked via a third-party such as Orbitz, Expedia etc. then quite often the airline will refer you to contact the third party agent to re-book you.

As for trying to get a refund on an airline ticket when it was booked via a third party, then it can be very problematic. Look here at this passenger's experience:

http://travel.usatoday.com/experts/b...che/51338204/1

OK - the above situation is more complicated than most. However, a couple of years ago I made a very last minute booking to fly (within 48 hours) from Newark to Singapore. The prices to book direct with various airlines were astonishingly high, so I looked up prices with Expedia, Travelocity etc. Well I managed to get a flight - with Expedia - with Continental to
Tokyo Narita and then connecting from Tokyo to Singapore on United Airlines. This ticket was approx $1600 compared to more than $5000 by booking the very same itinerary directly with Continental Airlines.

Unfortunately the return flight to Newark had a tight connection in Tokyo of about 1hr 50 mins. It was monsoon season in Singapore, with a massive tropical rainstorm on the way to Changi airport. When embarking the plane, the carpet in the economy section was soaking wet....apparently due a leak in the aircraft's door (not an encouraging start to a flight! ). The United stewards refused to fly until the ground staff used a wetn'dry vac to soak up the excess water.

The plane departed more than an hour late and I was very anxious about making my connection..... only because I'd booked via a third party with Expedia! My phone wouldn't work in Japan, I had no Japanese Yen, wasn't familiar with Narita airport/airport hotels etc. and I knew that if I'd booked directly with Continental (and this was before they merged with United but the ticket was on the same PNR booking ref) the airline would have simply rebooked me onto the next available flight - although this route was 1 flight a day only - or even put me up in an hotel for the night if necessary.

What made it worse was that they announced on the flight that United would hold its flights in Tokyo for passengers connecting to other United flights to San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC etc, but I was transferring to another airline so no such luck!

The flight attendant let me move a few seats further up the cabin just for landing and I ran like the wind through the airport......only to find a massive queue of passengers from other flights going through security at the flight connections. I'm ashamed to say I just went directly to the front of the queue and somehow was allowed to 'jump the line' to go through the X-ray machines...then had to run to the other end of the terminal. I made the CO flight by the skin of my teeth and the aircraft door was closed as soon as I stepped on the plane. Whew, what a relief it was! I could never have managed if I'd had kids with me.

OK....sorry this turned into an essay but it really is why I prefer to book directly with an airline where possible.

OTOH I did manage to get a great fare about 5 years ago to have some mum and daughter time in Aruba. I booked with Site59.com (now http://www.lastminute.com - it's British owned but has UK and US websites) We managed to get a holiday in Aruba including accommodation and flights (American Airlines via Puerto Rico) for cheaper than booking the flights alone on the AA website. So it does sometimes pay to shop around as sometimes there are good deals if you want accommodation too and book a trip as a package.

Ash UK/US

Couple of years ago we booked a flight via an agents (US-UK) and due to snow/ice the take off was delayed which meant we missed our connection. Even though we booked via an agent, Delta had use rebooked before we landed in Amsterdam, gave us a phone card and meal vouchers. I have also had to change seating and meal preferences after making a booking with an agent and never had an issue. I have also always got my flyer miles.

That said I have never had domestic flight cost beaten by an agent so I always book with the airline. Some of the budget, no frill do not use agents, for example Alligiant.

IloveAlaska

So do I understand you right? You look up "cheap flights" through various companies Travelocity, Expedia etc, then when you find a cheap deal you then call the Airline direct and ask for the same price with them?

tonrob

I think she means that 3rd party vendors seldom offer better fares than the airlines. They can - if used carefully - be good all-round search tools (i.e. let you know which airline's sites you should be searching). I highly doubt you'd get any airline to price-match a 3rd party site.

Noorah101

No. I look up the sites that do a fare comparison, like the ones that show you the least expensive air fare in a comparison chart. Then I look online at that airline's website, and usually the price is the same, or not significantly higher, so I book it directly through the airline, not through the 3rd party.

Rene