MilesBuzz! - Best travel site to buy tickets?

Buying tickets only - does anyone offer rewards, special benefits, or anything like that? I know that expedia has thankyou points but I don't plan on reserving hotel nights.

Thanks!

From what I seem to see on here, go to priceline.com first to find the best price, then book direct with the airline, especially if you have special privileges like EconomyPlus or upgrade possibilities.

DO NOT book airline tickets through Expedia! They rarely have the best price and the Thank You points offer is deceptive. You are not awarded any points for booking only airfare.

My suggestion is to find the airfare you want on Sidestep.com or Bookingbuddy.com and then book directly on the airline's website thereby avoiding the extra fees that sites like expedia and traveloticy charge.

Don't consider these extra "perks" while considering a booking site. Use www.kayak.com as a search engine. It'll usually connect you to the best fares/prices.

I just checked out Kayak - very nice! Love the charts with pricing history.

Yea, I know about all the fare-search sites (though I appreciate the suggestions and hopefully they'll be new to others like Enigma) - I was just trying to see if anyone gives "perks" for ticket-only purchases (like someone else mentioned, the expedia program doesn't mean much for me as they require hotel reservations to earn thankyou points).

As far as prices go, I often find that the price difference is negligible (5-15 dollars maybe) between brand sites (delta.com) and travel sites (expedia.com), so I was willing to consider it if there were any extra perks. Based on the insight here it seems the best option remains to go with brand site booking.

Thanks for the tips - keep the thread alive if needed. :)

Just remember that an airline will treat you MUCH better if you book through them directly. People often have troubles with seat allocations, access to premium seating, and ability to upgrade when they book through 3rd party sites like Priceline.

The airlines also have price guarantees that include 3rd party sites - some guarantees are better than others.

If the difference is 5-15 dollars, definitely book with the airline basically, and if its not consider using the guarantee.

Also, not to be sniffed at - some airlines give you a points bonus for booking online - eg UA give you 1000 points for an international online booking. You also get to check your itinerary online and make changes if allowed by fare rules. You are more likely to be advised of schedule changes if you book through the airline's site. I'm sure there may be other good reasons to use the airline's own site.

I'm sure there may be other good reasons to use the airline's own site.

Delta had a Double MQM (elite qual. miles) promotion earlier this year that was only valid with fares booked via Delta.com. Unless the fare is drastic lower on the online agencies (Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, Cheaptickets, etc), I stay with the direct airline/hotel.

Also, buying from the airline itself or reserving with the hotel itself is likely to work much better if something goes seriously wrong. It's no fun to be standing in front of an airline or hotel desk and to be told "you'll have to take that up with Travelocity/Expedia/Priceline", while on the phone to them who tell you you have to take it up with the airline/hotel. Buying direct greatly reduced the ability for them to redirect you endlessly to the other party (booking party vs delivery party).

For the same reason avoid buying tickets on airlines that have nothing to do with each other (some of those third-party booking sites thrive on giving you goofy itenararies like AA connecting to DL one direction, UA conecting to Frontier in the other direction!). Each airline will view their respondibility only to get you to the halfway point, since they won't "see" your connection to another ailrine (they'll only "see" their portion of the ticket). Miss your connection, and how will Orbitz/Hotwire/Cheaptickets help you??? (You may still eventually get to where you were going, but it may be a lot less smooth handling than if you had stayed with one airline and its partners for the whole trip.)

On the other hand, sites like Expedia can allow the construction of multi-flight/airline itineraries that are either:

NOT available at all on any single airline site,

OR - hugely more $$$ if actually constructed on those sites..

Yes, there are disadvantages.. but they are to some extent balanced by certain advantages....

A few simple precautions help... Avoiding tight connections... building in longer (overnight preferably) connections when moving between alliances etc etc..

Works for me.. but yes, I would advise caution... AND not buying until plans are set in concrete!!:D I HAVE dealt with XP's MNL call centre succesfully to make changes... but I don't want to make a habit of it!!!

Haven't HAD any problems (see precautions above..;)..that includes an XP booked itin that ran - TG to NH to OZ to AC)... and as they give you the individual airlines booking references you can go to the airline(s) site and print out the itin there (as almost all my flights are selected to be *A carriers the "interoperability" is quite decent... and more than one flight/carrier routinely show up on those itins...)

Easy, check everywhere and buy where it's the cheapest.

All the same price? Use the airline's site.

You can get Mypoints for booking through Travelocity and Orbitz.

You can get Mypoints for booking through Travelocity and Orbitz.
Thanks - I'll check that out! Also to the other folks - obviously booking through airline sites provides intagible benefits in terms of better service, fewer problems, etc. I was just curious if any of these travel sites gave some sort of tangible bonus (apparently travelocity and orbitz do).

As you mentioned, the alternate (as you might see from my other posts around the board) is to find airlines (skyteam for me) which give booking bonuses - they look kinda scarce right now (delta has 1k bonus, nwa and co don't seem to have anything worth mentioning).

Thanks for all the info! ^^ :)

I am looking to buy the family tickets to Hawaii next spring and noticed Orbitz' fare guarantee that appears better than any other guarantee (airline or consolidator). With volatile fuel costs, airfare prices next spring could be significantly higher or lower. Anyone have experience (positive and negative) of locking in an airfare early on Orbitz, effectively hedging against a price increase but potentially reaping lower prices that came later?

Use FatWallet as an entry point and you can earn 2.4% as a cash rebate when you book through Expedia.

I am looking to buy the family tickets to Hawaii next spring and noticed Orbitz' fare guarantee that appears better than any other guarantee (airline or consolidator). With volatile fuel costs, airfare prices next spring could be significantly higher or lower. Anyone have experience (positive and negative) of locking in an airfare early on Orbitz, effectively hedging against a price increase but potentially reaping lower prices that came later?

Check in the Online Travel Forum but I think the Orbitz thing only applies if the fare drops AND someone else books the exact same itin with them....

if flying more then 1 Carrier is OK check out orbitz.com

1 of the headers is 'multiple carriers', which means they found say a cheaper AA JFK-LAX but for the date you want to return DL is much cheaper so they put both of them together and it would be less $$ then if you flew just 1 Carrier both ways. However its not always the case

Use FatWallet as an entry point and you can earn 2.4% as a cash rebate when you book through Expedia.

YES AWESOME - well done - this just FELL out of my head the last time I booked on expedia, and I kicked myself for forgetting it (THANK YOU for reminding me). With a rewards card plus 2.4% you can't really lose. :)

I'll second this. I've had nothing but problems when I've used Expedia.


DO NOT book airline tickets through Expedia! They rarely have the best price and the Thank You points offer is deceptive. You are not awarded any points for booking only airfare.

My suggestion is to find the airfare you want on Sidestep.com or Bookingbuddy.com and then book directly on the airline's website thereby avoiding the extra fees that sites like expedia and traveloticy charge.

Example of Priceline.com beeing super low price.

I fly LAX - CUN in October with Mexicana.

Priceline.com offers a price 48$ bellow any other site, never mind the airlines own expensive web site.
Example prices:
Priceline.com: 353 $
Orbitz.com: 401 $
Basically most web sites: 401 $
Mexicana web site: approx 500 $ lowest.

How on earth can priceline.com be so much cheaper, approx 12%?
More people seen such exceptional price differences?

Received this in the mail 8/28. Don't know if it adds anything material:

http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2008/08/04/AR2008080401467.html?wpisrc=newsletter

I think the article delivers less than it promises, but it just might help someone.

:)

ebates.com also gives cash rebates for various sites (expedia, priceline, hotwire), various hotels (holiday inn, marriott), and various rental car companies(avis, dollar, enterprise) along with a lot other types of stores.

ebates.com also gives cash rebates for various sites (expedia, priceline, hotwire), various hotels (holiday inn, marriott), and various rental car companies(avis, dollar, enterprise) along with a lot other types of stores.

It would be nice if they MADE IT CLEAR on their front page that the $10 gift card they offer for new sign ups is only available after purchasing through them by a minimum amount within the first month. It would be considered "bait advertising" in Australia, and is illegal.

I noticed a few users recommended Kayak. It's a great tool, but remember that it does not list fares from American Airlines (aa.com) or Southwest Airlines (southwest.com). Check out their own websites to get those fares. Happy searching!