I really don't understand why searching thru Kayak I get prices that are $50 less than USAIR.com. It doesn't make any sense to me. I would really prefer to use the us site but $$ talk.
Anyone used this site? Any downside to booking thru them?

I use Kayak frequently as a comparison tool. I usually end up booking with the official airline site(s).

One of the reasons that you will sometimes obtain different (lower) pricing through kayak.com is that Kayak uses third-party ticketers (often consolidators) such as airfare.com and 1800CheapSeats.com and onetravel.com, in addition to the official airline sites like usairways.com, united.com, etc. You can certainly use the third-party bookers if you like, but beware of restrictions that sometimes accompany these fares, such as limited availability of frequent flyer miles.

Thank you for your reply. Yes, the fare was thru onetravel.com
Have you found that you do not get credited your ff miles when using them?
Thanks

I've found that kayak seems to point you to 1800cheapseats for US flights. Not sure what buckets, but I've rarely been able to duplicate on US site.

I believe you lose the 500 mile bonus when you don't purchase your ticket on the usairways website. That's worth something.

Thank you for your reply. Yes, the fare was thru onetravel.com
Have you found that you do not get credited your ff miles when using them?
Thanks


I can't say I've ever used onetravel.com, but you may find the following items helpful:

1. From the onetravel.com website, under "Frequently Asked Questions": Will I earn Frequent Flier miles for purchases on the site?

You may be eligible for Frequent Flier miles directly from your airline; however, eligibility is contingent upon the airline's rules. Frequent flier miles may not be available for some deeply discounted fares. In order to verify eligibility, present your account information at the check-in counter prior to the departure of your flight.

2. From the usairways.com website, under Dividend Miles Terms & Conditions, Rules for Earning Miles, paragraph 3:

US Airways and/or any Dividend Miles airline partner, at its/their discretion, may also exclude certain types of paid tickets from credit eligibility. These include, but are not limited to: unused tickets, travel industry discounts, tickets purchased at websites like priceline.com and hotwire.com, charters, back-to-back tickets, tickets obtained or used in a fraudulent manner and any other fares/tickets that may later be specified by Dividend Miles, with or without notice. Miles accrued for any of these reasons may be subsequently deducted from the account.

These clauses are both much too cryptic and uncertain for my tastes.

That said, I've never ultimately had to resort to a source other than the airline website. Where there have been significant fare discrepancies in the beginning, I've always been able to get a competitive fare at the airline sooner or later.

In my experience a major downside of booking through a 3rd party is when a change needs to be made or an problem occurs. US is much less helpful and often unable to do anything about fixing/changing when booked through these discounters (cancelled flights, changes in times, equipment, etc). I find the $50 not worth it in general. I'd rather have the confidence that US will try to make things right if there's a problem.

I think you might be right about that. Even using Orbitz for my upcoming trip I have had six changes with United and have ended up with horrendous layovers. They have been unable to help much. Agreed it is Easter, but I have found them not too concerned.

Thank you for your reply. Yes, the fare was thru onetravel.com
Have you found that you do not get credited your ff miles when using them?
Thanks

I used onetravel.com a couple years ago for a Delta Flight since it was less expensive then purchasing through Delta and had the worst customer service I have had with any agent / airline in 20+ years of flying. Numerous attempts to contact their customer service were either ignored completely or I was told to just live with it. I do not remember the specifics exactly, but it had something to do with a double booking on a ticket due to thier website error. I agree with some of the other posters here for $50 I would rather get the service from the airline directly who at least cares some about my business.

On the question of "Can you earn miles?", I will throw in my $.02 that I booked a US flight through StudentUniverse.com, a similar site, about a year ago (back when I was eligible) that was a major savings over the going rates elsewhere--easily $100 off the lowest competitive fares, which is far better than most StudentUniverse "discounts"--and I still received miles, even though SU seemed to suggest that the fare was likely ineligible.

Some airlines are more aggressive about this rule than others, especially international airlines--Virgin, for example, routinely offers zero mile accrual on even its own in-house fare sales, and BA is very stingy about miles on discount fares. US, thus far, has not seemed to be as concerned.