I had to book a flight, and I used Travelocity to check for the best deal. I was just about to reserve the Delta flight ($161), when I remembered that if you book on DL's site, you get extrabonus miles. When I booked the SAME flight (same flights, dates, etc.), the charge was $159.

It's not a big deal, of course, one way or the other. I just wonder why there was a difference. Is Travelocity skimming off the top?

This raises a more general question, of whether it's better to reserve with the car/hotel/airline directly, or with an online "travel agent" such as Travelocity, Expedia, etc.

Since Travelocity uses Sabre and Delta has Worldspan, it could be a "tack-on" fee from
Travelocity to make the rez on another rez system. It also could be that one or the other slipped on adding a $2 landing fee or tax. I'd guess this one would be difficult to figure out. So, I will just "Go Figure".

NO, that's because Delta imposed a $2 fee on on ticket not purchased on Delta's OWN website. i.e. if you buy a ticket from a regular travel agent, any other internet travel agent, or even Delta's 1-800 # they impose an extra $2 charge.

See:

http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/990114/penalizing_1.html

for more details. It's the first time a airline has actually penalized non-web sales and.

Think about it. I can't believe it. Why not go after the 'paper tickets' if anything at all. I'm sure United, American etc..will be following this trend.

Mike





[This message has been edited by MIKE MAHONEY (edited 01-17-99).]

mritchie, You came to the right place to get your answers. megamiles and Mike Mahoney got it right out of the chute.

Actually, Mike Mahoney, Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air just went after the paper tickets by imposing a $10 charge on paper tickets issued by them. However this charge doesn't apply if you buy a ticket from a travel agent (only if you buy it from them and request a paper ticket rather than electronic). They said the move was to cut cost related to overnight courier delivery of tickets. For the wire news, look at:

http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/990114/alaska_air_2.html

I've seen the reverse, where Expedia is slightly ($20 on a $400 int'l round trip) cheaper than UA or a travel agent on the phone.

I have seen the same differential pricing today. Booking the same itinerary from BOS-MCO (Orlando, FL) on 3 different web sites yield the following:

Delta - $188
ITN - $190
Expedia - $240

I ended up booking with Delta by phone because of an additional PGA golf discount of 10%, which cannot be processed via the web.

expedia.com is sometimes cheaper on international routes because occasionally it doesn't charge taxes properly. I bought a Toronto-London ticket and the base fare was $400 and the taxes on expedia was only $22 while the taxes by any other means was $70. Anyone who flies internationally knows that taxes on a $400 international ticket has to be greater than $22 - I thought I might be asked at the gate to make up the difference (they had not charged me the British security charge etc. etc.) but nobody noticed.

In regards to 'paper tickets' I would have no problem with Delta or whoever charging a minimal surcharge as a motivator for people to use "electronic ticketing". Thus this would keep the fares down. I heard once it cost $8.00 TO $10.00 to process a paper ticket. Most everbody has a phone. So ordering e-tickets over this medium would not be a problemunlike a computer. I have used electronic tickets for years here in the U.S. I have never had a problem(knock wood) with them. I know about the pitfalls of cancelled flights with the use of E-tickets. But it is apparent some of the airlines are making an attempt to deal with this issue. Bottom line the positives of e-ticketing outweigh the negatives.
Mike

[This message has been edited by MIKE MAHONEY (edited 01-17-99).]

I had an interesting thing happen here in TPA. Occasionally, I will route through MIA to get to ORD. On those flights, one uses Continental Connection/Gulfstream, but with a UA flight number (but miles are a problem...that's another story). Although theoretically you can fly on Gulfstream with a paperless UA ticket, the ticket agents at TPA always give me a paper ticket--saves them from having to convert tickets after the fact. I'd be frustrated if I had to pay extra for this!