asaptickets.com?
Jul 19, 2009, 7:25 pm
#46
Join Date: May 2008
Location: New Jersey
Programs: UA GS 1.7MM, Hyatt Lifetime Glob, Marriott Titanium/Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 1,272
I have written this story before and it is too complicated to revisit again. The level of screw-up was monumental. Think about this: you are 12 hours from departure, traveling EWR-LAX-NRT-PEK and, all of a sudden, you have NO confirmed reservation. That's ASAP tickets.
Last edited by CopperSteve; Jul 19, 2009 at 7:26 pm Reason: typo in airport code
Jul 19, 2009, 7:31 pm
#47
Join Date: May 2008
Location: New Jersey
Programs: UA GS 1.7MM, Hyatt Lifetime Glob, Marriott Titanium/Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 1,272
A consolidator buys multiple tickets on popular routes, very far in advance, at a discounted rate. He then resells them (legally), at a profit (but still below the airline's list price). So, you get a cheap ticket, and the consolidator makes a profit, and the airline fills its seats. Typically, this system works best with front-cabin seats.
Think about this (I will use CO as an example): CO guarantees the lowest price for their flights at CO.com. If you find a (much) cheaper seat somewhere else, how do you suppose that is possible?
(Anyone, feel free to correct/embelish this definition.)
Think about this (I will use CO as an example): CO guarantees the lowest price for their flights at CO.com. If you find a (much) cheaper seat somewhere else, how do you suppose that is possible?
(Anyone, feel free to correct/embelish this definition.)
Jul 19, 2009, 8:33 pm
#48
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: North Palm Beach, FL
Posts: 4
My search with TravelZoo
I just did a check on TravelZoo for the flight that I want for the best time for me to go, which is the day after Christmas and returning to get back to work by the 4th. I did see that ConeTravel promises the lowest fare and did indeed give me the lowest fare, along with Cheapoair, and ATIflights, at $1,404. The highest were Priceline, Jetcombo and Northwest at $2,110 through $2,136.
I also noted that when doing a search with Travelocity, I got lower fares than when I did it with asaptickets, even with their bogus prices. They gave me their phone price of $1,015, where I found it for $815 on ConeTravel (which I believe is the one that CopperSteve was referring to) or Cheapoair. So I would have to use one of those two for next my flight.
I also noted that when doing a search with Travelocity, I got lower fares than when I did it with asaptickets, even with their bogus prices. They gave me their phone price of $1,015, where I found it for $815 on ConeTravel (which I believe is the one that CopperSteve was referring to) or Cheapoair. So I would have to use one of those two for next my flight.
Feb 10, 2010, 4:57 pm
#49
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: usa
Posts: 5
asaptickets are not real, a friend of mine saw there AD, he called, prices was over 2000$ than what they got in their web. still he was booking a ticket which show 1200$ as service fee on a document thing they sent to him to fill out....and when he asked what it is , the agent ( sounds like Russian but said they are in USA- just a lie, lately agent said they are in Moldova) agents said its taxes. he called airlines and it showed up to be they are selling ticket with 1200$ extra than real price the airlines itself got,, they simply put profits and hide it in the price !! regarding the AD, they say it is all taxes fees included which is not real 100% i tried it myself, i called several times and i never ever got the price.. instead i got agents trying to take all my information for some very weird reason!!
Last edited by johnsmith1234; Feb 10, 2010 at 5:01 pm Reason: adding info
Feb 10, 2010, 5:20 pm
#50
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: usa
Posts: 5
replay to [QUOTE=rkm99;7356000
Dude! i feel you work there and trying to make it look nice but its not!
very clear sentence: The fares displayed INCLUDE taxes and applicable surcharges.. if you can not see it just open the .. web.. maybe you will or you are just trying to hide stuff.... but its not working since you made it clear that its just a dirty way in doing AD
asaptickets.com[/url]
How can you explain that except making illegal things in legal way to Ad ? in top of the page it say INCLUDE and in the end of it..says DO NOT .. !!
iam following up with those people since a while, i did contact different agents there whom all got American names but non of them sound like American , it is just a call center for a non professional people.
guys it doesn't take long time to get this, check the Top and the end of the web page you will see it tell totally opposite thing, best way simply call and say you want this fare, no matter what date, no matter where, just pick to fly for a week from now till may and say you want the AD price for any destination and iam 100% sure you will never get it since i tried that over the 7 times already.
please note that you will be talking Indians, chines, .. so you may have problem in understanding their English, with my full respect to all those people and nationalities , simply because they are not in usa, though they got an office in CA
very clear sentence: The fares displayed INCLUDE taxes and applicable surcharges.. if you can not see it just open the .. web.. maybe you will or you are just trying to hide stuff.... but its not working since you made it clear that its just a dirty way in doing AD
asaptickets.com[/url]
How can you explain that except making illegal things in legal way to Ad ? in top of the page it say INCLUDE and in the end of it..says DO NOT .. !!
iam following up with those people since a while, i did contact different agents there whom all got American names but non of them sound like American , it is just a call center for a non professional people.
guys it doesn't take long time to get this, check the Top and the end of the web page you will see it tell totally opposite thing, best way simply call and say you want this fare, no matter what date, no matter where, just pick to fly for a week from now till may and say you want the AD price for any destination and iam 100% sure you will never get it since i tried that over the 7 times already.
please note that you will be talking Indians, chines, .. so you may have problem in understanding their English, with my full respect to all those people and nationalities , simply because they are not in usa, though they got an office in CA
Dave is correct, the final price will be much more than the websites' quote. Prices DO NOT include tax and other surcharges. Prices are also calculated on Monday - Thursday travel. Below are their terms.
The fares displayed do not include taxes and applicable surcharges. Prices are based on weekday travel (Monday through Thursday). Purchase of fares is subject to availability of seats on that corresponding fare. All fares and their governing rules are subject to change without prior notice. Fares shown are for one adult.
The fares displayed do not include:
US Passenger Facility Charges: Starting at USD 3.00 up to USD 18.00, this fee may apply depending upon your chosen itinerary.
US Flight Segment Tax: A federal segment fee of USD 3.00 applies per flight segment, defined as a takeoff and landing.
September 11th Security Fee: A September 11 Security Fee of USD 2.50 for each flight segment originating at a U.S. airport is applicable on all tickets issued on both foreign and US Carriers.
Fuel surcharge: fuel surcahrge of up to $150 each way may apply depending on the airline and itinerary.
Additional taxes/fees: Additional taxes and fees may apply to International itineraries. Charges of up to USD 96.00 may apply depending on the itinerary chosen.
Restricted Air Fares: Discounted airfare tickets offered for a proposed itinerary are restricted. Tickets are non-transferable, non-refundable, non-re-routable and non-endorsable. Date changes prior to and after commencement of travel are allowed, but are subject to availability of seats and other applicable penalties.
Payment Guidelines: Fares are only guaranteed once the payment has been made in full. We accept cash, bankers checks, wire transfers and all major credit cards.
Visas and Passports: ITN CORP is not responsible for acquiring any documentation required for traveling to a foreign country.
Once confirmed and ticketed, all tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE and NON-EXCHANGABLE.
The fares displayed do not include taxes and applicable surcharges. Prices are based on weekday travel (Monday through Thursday). Purchase of fares is subject to availability of seats on that corresponding fare. All fares and their governing rules are subject to change without prior notice. Fares shown are for one adult.
The fares displayed do not include:
US Passenger Facility Charges: Starting at USD 3.00 up to USD 18.00, this fee may apply depending upon your chosen itinerary.
US Flight Segment Tax: A federal segment fee of USD 3.00 applies per flight segment, defined as a takeoff and landing.
September 11th Security Fee: A September 11 Security Fee of USD 2.50 for each flight segment originating at a U.S. airport is applicable on all tickets issued on both foreign and US Carriers.
Fuel surcharge: fuel surcahrge of up to $150 each way may apply depending on the airline and itinerary.
Additional taxes/fees: Additional taxes and fees may apply to International itineraries. Charges of up to USD 96.00 may apply depending on the itinerary chosen.
Restricted Air Fares: Discounted airfare tickets offered for a proposed itinerary are restricted. Tickets are non-transferable, non-refundable, non-re-routable and non-endorsable. Date changes prior to and after commencement of travel are allowed, but are subject to availability of seats and other applicable penalties.
Payment Guidelines: Fares are only guaranteed once the payment has been made in full. We accept cash, bankers checks, wire transfers and all major credit cards.
Visas and Passports: ITN CORP is not responsible for acquiring any documentation required for traveling to a foreign country.
Once confirmed and ticketed, all tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE and NON-EXCHANGABLE.
Last edited by johnsmith1234; Apr 12, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Feb 10, 2010, 5:31 pm
#51
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: usa
Posts: 5
www.asaptickets.com
Hey there
i was about to buy ticket to Spain, Business class then i figured out what next..
this is regarding asaptickets:
1- located India or Moldova ( guys are Indians or Russian,..)
2-the AD price is just to fake you to call, simply call and see...
3- you will never find the price which is advertised if you call
4- on top of the web its said price include---taxes and fees, down the page it says it do not include it. simply playing with words
4-even if you are able to move your travel plane 3-4 month around you will still
never get the advertised price no matter from where you fly or when you fly
5-if it happened and you called be sure that you will always get a discount if you ask for it. if not then ask the agent to call you if he can lower the price, Waite couple of hours and he will be calling you back. i tried it myself just to make sure they play with prices though the tickets they sell are real
6- your flight might be canceled , your card can be charged several times, and may not professional stuff happen.
7- if something goes wrong you will never be able to talk to manager
i was about to buy ticket to Spain, Business class then i figured out what next..
this is regarding asaptickets:
1- located India or Moldova ( guys are Indians or Russian,..)
2-the AD price is just to fake you to call, simply call and see...
3- you will never find the price which is advertised if you call
4- on top of the web its said price include---taxes and fees, down the page it says it do not include it. simply playing with words
4-even if you are able to move your travel plane 3-4 month around you will still
never get the advertised price no matter from where you fly or when you fly
5-if it happened and you called be sure that you will always get a discount if you ask for it. if not then ask the agent to call you if he can lower the price, Waite couple of hours and he will be calling you back. i tried it myself just to make sure they play with prices though the tickets they sell are real
6- your flight might be canceled , your card can be charged several times, and may not professional stuff happen.
7- if something goes wrong you will never be able to talk to manager
Feb 10, 2010, 7:04 pm
#52
Moderator: Budget Travel forum & Credit Card Programs, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: YYJ/YVR and back on Van Isle ....... for now
Programs: UA lifetime MM / *A Gold
Posts: 14,428
Welcome to FlyerTalk johnsmith1234 !
Now that you got that off your chest, why don't you tell us how you really feel
Don't know if you bothered to read the entire thread, but if you read it, you should get a pretty good idea of what's going on.
Having said that, there's a tradition of skepticism here at FT with regard to members who just joined and appear to have an ax to grind or a site to endorse (see some of latter in this very thread in earlier posts).
Anyways, stick around, add to the conversation, and learn new things.
EmailKid
Now that you got that off your chest, why don't you tell us how you really feel
Don't know if you bothered to read the entire thread, but if you read it, you should get a pretty good idea of what's going on.
Having said that, there's a tradition of skepticism here at FT with regard to members who just joined and appear to have an ax to grind or a site to endorse (see some of latter in this very thread in earlier posts).
Anyways, stick around, add to the conversation, and learn new things.
EmailKid
Feb 11, 2010, 3:42 pm
#53
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: usa
Posts: 5
just to add some info here
if in FT since 2002 it doesnt mean you can tell much, not looking for advice about a fact of some ticket booking webs that i got a clear idea about... save your time since you may need it in looking for something else
Enjoy..
just to add some info here:
many booking places do not hold any tickets, instead they check the available seats online under passenger request: where, when to fly or use the ship cruise.
second step they get the seats under discount, then they give the price little lower than market rates.
Enjoy..
just to add some info here:
many booking places do not hold any tickets, instead they check the available seats online under passenger request: where, when to fly or use the ship cruise.
second step they get the seats under discount, then they give the price little lower than market rates.
A consolidator buys multiple tickets on popular routes, very far in advance, at a discounted rate. He then resells them (legally), at a profit (but still below the airline's list price). So, you get a cheap ticket, and the consolidator makes a profit, and the airline fills its seats. Typically, this system works best with front-cabin seats.
Think about this (I will use CO as an example): CO guarantees the lowest price for their flights at CO.com. If you find a (much) cheaper seat somewhere else, how do you suppose that is possible?
(Anyone, feel free to correct/embelish this definition.)
Think about this (I will use CO as an example): CO guarantees the lowest price for their flights at CO.com. If you find a (much) cheaper seat somewhere else, how do you suppose that is possible?
(Anyone, feel free to correct/embelish this definition.)
Last edited by EmailKid; Feb 11, 2010 at 5:20 pm Reason: To keep thread clean
Feb 17, 2010, 9:03 pm
#54
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 2
Regarding asapticket.com
Hello everyone.
First of all I need to mention that I am a travel agent from International Travel Network, based in San Bruno, CA and not in India or Russia as some people did mention before, with a shade of racial intolerance.
I registered here today because I had a client who pointed me out this place and told me he read a lot of negative reviews about the agency and he has doubts about purchasing his tickets with us, even though the price is considerably lower than any market price. In my experience working for ITN, over 2 years now, I am used to hear all kinds of accusations and being pointed out different forums where people write a lot of bad reviews. This is obviously natural, since we live in a society where pleasing every single client is simply impossible even though the tendency is such.
I want to go through some main points mentioned here, and especially the negative ones, hoping I will clarify the situation a little bit for some people and help understand how the company works.
I would like to start from the experience of searching the flight you need, since a lot of complaints are about the difference between the advertised fare and the actual one being quoted by the travel agent you call. Now everyone will have to agree that advertising has the main role of selling the product and pinpointing the advantages of a product on the market. I will be honest and say:yes, the price that will be quoted to you will be higher than the one you obtain while completing a search, and I will not start explaining what exactly is added to the price in terms of taxes, fees and fuel surcharges but I will reach out for an example. There are 10 travel agencies, 9 of them will show extremely low prices in their advertising , the 10th will put up the prices exactly as they are. A potential customer is looking for a flight and sees those 9 companies that have low fares and sees the 10th that has prices a lot higher in comparison to the first 9. Tell me please what are the chances the ticket will be purchased at the 10th agency, since the customer will try calling the first 9, even though they will have same prices. This example illustrates the reality on the travel market and all the travel agencies have to play by the same rules. And though this advertising of the lowest fare existing might somehow mislead a "fist timer", an experienced traveler knows that he has all the web resources at his disposal to check prices, compare prices and purchase the best deal out-there. So there is no need to complain so much about the higher prices quoted from our agents since our mission, ultimately, is to sell you our product, to sell the flight that will meet your travel needs and will be the best offer on the market and if in the end it is not, there is nothing to lose besides 5 minutes of your time being on the phone with a travel agent.
Now what concerns people who complained about "unprofessional" travel agents that they encounter, it is absolutely natural that in a huge corporation there will be people that might not meet your requirements of an ideal travel agent even though they all passed highly qualified trainings and met all the requirements to get a job within our company. So if you didn't like a travel agent you got the chance to deal with, it is not a reason to say the company is a "scam" or the "customer service is the worst ever". I don't think if one day you are purchasing a camera at a Best Buy and the vendor will not smile at you, you tell that Best Buy has the worst service ever and you will never consider them for any of your next purchases, since individual cases can not be qualified as a general truth. The same works with prices, if we are not providing you the best price for a flight to Paris it doesn't mean that next time you are flying somewhere else, to Beijing for example, you don't have to try again. The market offers us, consumers, the ultimate choice and we have to use it. When I buy something I always research more than one places and if this time I bought a camera from Fry's next time I will still check Best Buy. So the choice is yours and dis-consideration for the simple fact that you had 1 experience with an agency that you qualify as unsuccessful might take away from you an opportunity.
Now lets talk about rules and restrictions and situations where you payed extra to exchange tickets or cancel your trip. The easiest way is to give an example of the most common situations. We provide Discounted Business Tickets, to all destinations and we are really competitive with that. I will not explain how consolidators work and why exactly they have better deals than the airline itself since someone mentioned earlier the whole process, but i will try to concentrate on the example of changing dates and paying penalties. First you are purchasing a discounted airfare, lets take a business class to Dubai, while on DELTA.com, it may cost up to 6000$ you are purchasing it for 4500$ from us, you definitely feel the savings on this one. And when people start complains about paying penalties for changing the flight dates the don't think about the fact that any discounted business ticket has restrictions, which by the way, are ALWAYS mentioned by the travel agent you are dealing with. At this point you have an alternative, if your dates are not set in stone, if you are not sure about the schedule you might either wait, and end up paying more for the flight due to seat availability or purchasing a PUBLISHED, exchangeable airfare from the official website of the carrier. You payed 6000$ but you can change the dates easily without penalties. The other case is when you have all your meetings set up, and you know with a very high degree of certainty the dates you must travel therefor why overpay if you can fly discounted and save big time, admitting the small risk that you might in the end need to switch to different dates and pay 250-1000 $ for an exchange (because fare rules vary greatly, I cannot quote a single penalty amount valid for all exchanges). That is why you must place yourself in one of these categories first and afterwords make the travel arrangements.
I will be glad to answer any other questions or engage in a conversation with anyone who wants to discuss some issues he/she had with our company. Also I am available 10AM-4PM Pacific time at our office 877 598 6599 or my cell 415 230 0046
A.J.
A.S.T.A American Society of Travel Agents
"Flight is the only truly new sensation that mankind achieved in modern history"
First of all I need to mention that I am a travel agent from International Travel Network, based in San Bruno, CA and not in India or Russia as some people did mention before, with a shade of racial intolerance.
I registered here today because I had a client who pointed me out this place and told me he read a lot of negative reviews about the agency and he has doubts about purchasing his tickets with us, even though the price is considerably lower than any market price. In my experience working for ITN, over 2 years now, I am used to hear all kinds of accusations and being pointed out different forums where people write a lot of bad reviews. This is obviously natural, since we live in a society where pleasing every single client is simply impossible even though the tendency is such.
I want to go through some main points mentioned here, and especially the negative ones, hoping I will clarify the situation a little bit for some people and help understand how the company works.
I would like to start from the experience of searching the flight you need, since a lot of complaints are about the difference between the advertised fare and the actual one being quoted by the travel agent you call. Now everyone will have to agree that advertising has the main role of selling the product and pinpointing the advantages of a product on the market. I will be honest and say:yes, the price that will be quoted to you will be higher than the one you obtain while completing a search, and I will not start explaining what exactly is added to the price in terms of taxes, fees and fuel surcharges but I will reach out for an example. There are 10 travel agencies, 9 of them will show extremely low prices in their advertising , the 10th will put up the prices exactly as they are. A potential customer is looking for a flight and sees those 9 companies that have low fares and sees the 10th that has prices a lot higher in comparison to the first 9. Tell me please what are the chances the ticket will be purchased at the 10th agency, since the customer will try calling the first 9, even though they will have same prices. This example illustrates the reality on the travel market and all the travel agencies have to play by the same rules. And though this advertising of the lowest fare existing might somehow mislead a "fist timer", an experienced traveler knows that he has all the web resources at his disposal to check prices, compare prices and purchase the best deal out-there. So there is no need to complain so much about the higher prices quoted from our agents since our mission, ultimately, is to sell you our product, to sell the flight that will meet your travel needs and will be the best offer on the market and if in the end it is not, there is nothing to lose besides 5 minutes of your time being on the phone with a travel agent.
Now what concerns people who complained about "unprofessional" travel agents that they encounter, it is absolutely natural that in a huge corporation there will be people that might not meet your requirements of an ideal travel agent even though they all passed highly qualified trainings and met all the requirements to get a job within our company. So if you didn't like a travel agent you got the chance to deal with, it is not a reason to say the company is a "scam" or the "customer service is the worst ever". I don't think if one day you are purchasing a camera at a Best Buy and the vendor will not smile at you, you tell that Best Buy has the worst service ever and you will never consider them for any of your next purchases, since individual cases can not be qualified as a general truth. The same works with prices, if we are not providing you the best price for a flight to Paris it doesn't mean that next time you are flying somewhere else, to Beijing for example, you don't have to try again. The market offers us, consumers, the ultimate choice and we have to use it. When I buy something I always research more than one places and if this time I bought a camera from Fry's next time I will still check Best Buy. So the choice is yours and dis-consideration for the simple fact that you had 1 experience with an agency that you qualify as unsuccessful might take away from you an opportunity.
Now lets talk about rules and restrictions and situations where you payed extra to exchange tickets or cancel your trip. The easiest way is to give an example of the most common situations. We provide Discounted Business Tickets, to all destinations and we are really competitive with that. I will not explain how consolidators work and why exactly they have better deals than the airline itself since someone mentioned earlier the whole process, but i will try to concentrate on the example of changing dates and paying penalties. First you are purchasing a discounted airfare, lets take a business class to Dubai, while on DELTA.com, it may cost up to 6000$ you are purchasing it for 4500$ from us, you definitely feel the savings on this one. And when people start complains about paying penalties for changing the flight dates the don't think about the fact that any discounted business ticket has restrictions, which by the way, are ALWAYS mentioned by the travel agent you are dealing with. At this point you have an alternative, if your dates are not set in stone, if you are not sure about the schedule you might either wait, and end up paying more for the flight due to seat availability or purchasing a PUBLISHED, exchangeable airfare from the official website of the carrier. You payed 6000$ but you can change the dates easily without penalties. The other case is when you have all your meetings set up, and you know with a very high degree of certainty the dates you must travel therefor why overpay if you can fly discounted and save big time, admitting the small risk that you might in the end need to switch to different dates and pay 250-1000 $ for an exchange (because fare rules vary greatly, I cannot quote a single penalty amount valid for all exchanges). That is why you must place yourself in one of these categories first and afterwords make the travel arrangements.
I will be glad to answer any other questions or engage in a conversation with anyone who wants to discuss some issues he/she had with our company. Also I am available 10AM-4PM Pacific time at our office 877 598 6599 or my cell 415 230 0046
A.J.
A.S.T.A American Society of Travel Agents
"Flight is the only truly new sensation that mankind achieved in modern history"
Feb 18, 2010, 2:50 am
#55
Join Date: May 2007
Location: ORD, DEL
Programs: AA (Plt Pro; 1.5 MM)
Posts: 6,185
A.J: First, Welcome to FT!
While I appreciate your decision to present your perspective, the above reads more like a rant than good information. It also avoids the obvious points raised in the thread.
It may well be true that a TA may decide that competition demands that he too must advertise fares without taxes and surcharges. However, that does not mean that he can still claim that fares include all taxes and surcharges! That is the reported problem with your website---not the practice of quoting fares without taxes, which is common enough, but outright lying and dishonesty about what you are doing.
Such lying is not standard practice among good TA's. Most do tell us what they are doing. Just about every ad in the travel section of my Indian newspaper does that (sometimes there are as many asterisk as dollar signs). Or, look at the following well-respected agency for the Japan market: http://www.jtbusa.com/en/default.asp. The "special airfare chart" to the right uses expressions like "from $738" and not just "$738". For every single price. At the bottom there is a clear statement that "Fuel surcharge is included; Taxes and fees are not included".
These are your competitors, subject to the same market considerations as you are. I suggest you learn from and follow the best business standards instead of practicing and defending sleaze.
In your post above you write "In my experience working for ITN, over 2 years now, I am used to hear all kinds of accusations and being pointed out different forums where people write a lot of bad reviews. This is obviously natural, since...pleasing every single client is simply impossible..." That is absolute rubbish and it is far from "obviously natural" that businesses should get a lot of bad reviews just because they don't please every customer. Check out JTB's reviews and compare with yours. Or check vendor ratings at Amazon - you will see ratings from one star to five stars.
In any event, FT community is quite educated about and experienced with travel and your kind of fudging explanation will not wash here.
While I appreciate your decision to present your perspective, the above reads more like a rant than good information. It also avoids the obvious points raised in the thread.
It may well be true that a TA may decide that competition demands that he too must advertise fares without taxes and surcharges. However, that does not mean that he can still claim that fares include all taxes and surcharges! That is the reported problem with your website---not the practice of quoting fares without taxes, which is common enough, but outright lying and dishonesty about what you are doing.
Such lying is not standard practice among good TA's. Most do tell us what they are doing. Just about every ad in the travel section of my Indian newspaper does that (sometimes there are as many asterisk as dollar signs). Or, look at the following well-respected agency for the Japan market: http://www.jtbusa.com/en/default.asp. The "special airfare chart" to the right uses expressions like "from $738" and not just "$738". For every single price. At the bottom there is a clear statement that "Fuel surcharge is included; Taxes and fees are not included".
These are your competitors, subject to the same market considerations as you are. I suggest you learn from and follow the best business standards instead of practicing and defending sleaze.
In your post above you write "In my experience working for ITN, over 2 years now, I am used to hear all kinds of accusations and being pointed out different forums where people write a lot of bad reviews. This is obviously natural, since...pleasing every single client is simply impossible..." That is absolute rubbish and it is far from "obviously natural" that businesses should get a lot of bad reviews just because they don't please every customer. Check out JTB's reviews and compare with yours. Or check vendor ratings at Amazon - you will see ratings from one star to five stars.
In any event, FT community is quite educated about and experienced with travel and your kind of fudging explanation will not wash here.
Last edited by aktchi; Feb 18, 2010 at 3:15 am
Feb 18, 2010, 8:08 am
#56
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 2
Dear aktchi
Since you are trying to tell me that we are "practicing and defending sleaze. " did you go to the website and study the prices there, the 2 different sets of prices, one being on the front page and another set being after you do a search inputting your dates of travel ? How can you say that what we are doing is so wrong ? You mentioned specific regulations for TA's so you must know we all have to meet those regulation and we cannot mislead with the advertising, that's why the price disclaimers are there for, explaining why the price might not be available, what are the restrictions on it. If people don't look there it is not our fault. And you know what, i feel perfectly fine as long as I know for sure that I am offering my customer the lowest price on the market and I always explain why we were unable to get the 700$ advertised. And saying the the#from# remark before the price is better is a very misguided double standardization.
About making customers happy, i have told you something that is real and not from a managers handbook, so don't even try to give me the AMAZON example where vendors are being rated for delivering the GOODS people payed for. Why dont TA's get rated for ISSUING the tickets people payed for ? The final product that a travel agent offers is much more complex than a process happening at an online store, and has more steps and will definitely have more issues along with that. I never said I want to wash out here I wanted to make some moments more understandable.
Since you are trying to tell me that we are "practicing and defending sleaze. " did you go to the website and study the prices there, the 2 different sets of prices, one being on the front page and another set being after you do a search inputting your dates of travel ? How can you say that what we are doing is so wrong ? You mentioned specific regulations for TA's so you must know we all have to meet those regulation and we cannot mislead with the advertising, that's why the price disclaimers are there for, explaining why the price might not be available, what are the restrictions on it. If people don't look there it is not our fault. And you know what, i feel perfectly fine as long as I know for sure that I am offering my customer the lowest price on the market and I always explain why we were unable to get the 700$ advertised. And saying the the#from# remark before the price is better is a very misguided double standardization.
About making customers happy, i have told you something that is real and not from a managers handbook, so don't even try to give me the AMAZON example where vendors are being rated for delivering the GOODS people payed for. Why dont TA's get rated for ISSUING the tickets people payed for ? The final product that a travel agent offers is much more complex than a process happening at an online store, and has more steps and will definitely have more issues along with that. I never said I want to wash out here I wanted to make some moments more understandable.
Feb 18, 2010, 8:57 am
#57
Join Date: May 2007
Location: ORD, DEL
Programs: AA (Plt Pro; 1.5 MM)
Posts: 6,185
To be honest, I am not a consultant to your business and it is not my job to throughly study your website in order to improve it. Impressions are all I have to share---but then most mature businesses realize that, given the choices and competition, a fleeting opportunity to make a good impression is all anybody gets.
Your website announces very prominently that prices include all taxes and charges, but you just stated yourself that you can't afford to do that while quoting prices to customers because of competition. I am certainly more comfortable with JTB's approach and find it more transparent. Result? As a customer, I'll check JTB often, but feel reluctant to visit yours. Who wants all the confusion and arguments? I don't have to prove anything, it is just a feeling of discomfort.
You have received criticism for two years without learning from it, preferring to see it as a comment on the kind of "society" we live in. The Amazon example went over your head as well: the fact that different businesses delivering the same product do get rated differently. It is your right to feel that TA's are somehow different and above such mundane stuff, but then you seem dense to the fact that even here some TA's are widely respected and others not, and yours is in the latter group.
In the end, we have to trust Free Market. Do as you see fit, with or without listening to feedback. Customers will respond how they see fit. There will be consequences, good or bad.
Your website announces very prominently that prices include all taxes and charges, but you just stated yourself that you can't afford to do that while quoting prices to customers because of competition. I am certainly more comfortable with JTB's approach and find it more transparent. Result? As a customer, I'll check JTB often, but feel reluctant to visit yours. Who wants all the confusion and arguments? I don't have to prove anything, it is just a feeling of discomfort.
You have received criticism for two years without learning from it, preferring to see it as a comment on the kind of "society" we live in. The Amazon example went over your head as well: the fact that different businesses delivering the same product do get rated differently. It is your right to feel that TA's are somehow different and above such mundane stuff, but then you seem dense to the fact that even here some TA's are widely respected and others not, and yours is in the latter group.
In the end, we have to trust Free Market. Do as you see fit, with or without listening to feedback. Customers will respond how they see fit. There will be consequences, good or bad.
Last edited by aktchi; Feb 18, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Feb 19, 2010, 1:22 pm
#58
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: New Jersey, USA
Posts: 1
Have been looking for a reasonable business class fare from New York to Australia at Christmas and came across asap tickets.
With the average cost being $9,000 I was shocked to see them offering between $4,400 - $6,500. I called and was told they would get back to me having given both my home phone number and my email address.
While I was waiting I thought I would check them out online and came across this site. After reading the posts it has re-enforced the old adage .... if something appears too good to be true, it probably isn't.
As a regular international flyer I am glad to have found this forum and hope to participate regularly!!
Apr 12, 2010, 2:38 pm
#60
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: usa
Posts: 5
With Full respect...
MR aj
we are not talking about hidden stuff here, its a web you open and read..
---------------------------------------
.it says price include everything,
it says ***Last minute airfare deals for today, April 12, 2010. All below round trip specials are updated daily***
it says agent may find price cheaper than online price while searching
***********************************
**********************************
This never happened in the last tons of calls i made to asapticket.you will never get the price you see online, never ever.try it yourself please!
***********************************
**********************************
aj or whatever nick name you put hiding your real name... are you able to get 1 price the same or cheaper as it tells online ? never !! please everyone call and try to get same price you see online...
what do you want to discuss in that ?maybe you don't know good English because you are Russian ( I do respect Russian btw), any one who call you can see that from your voice, i did ask my wife to call your number a while back and it was very clear to me. you did a mistake putting your phone there since it just prove you are a Russian call center , this is example of call centers :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMt1ULYna4o
Glad i found the agent who will get me the flight which is on the AD of ASAP,
first, are you able to get me this price without any $ more??
i will ignore that you just said you are in the states, you are Russian and that's clear from your voice when i asked my friend to call you
how come all of you are Indians or Russian and in usa too?
your web the asap tickets shows
$1168.56 *
flight is
Alpena, MI [US]
Destination city: Bangkok [TH]
Departure Date: 09 Jun 2010
Return Date: 09 Aug 2010
i want this price $1168.56 * . if you can not get this price, then you should feel sorry for yourself.
just don't forget to give me the extra discount since it tells me to give you discount id as it helps you to get it cheaper + lowest fare is guaranteed
****Your Discount ID is
55-32-56-0 BBBOnline Reliability Program
Call Now to speak with Live Travel Agents:
(800) 677-2943
Many airlines provide us with special unpublished fares that may be lower than those above. Please consult our travel agents to learn about our daily updated specials to your destination, in addition to the above fares.
we are not talking about hidden stuff here, its a web you open and read..
---------------------------------------
.it says price include everything,
it says ***Last minute airfare deals for today, April 12, 2010. All below round trip specials are updated daily***
it says agent may find price cheaper than online price while searching
***********************************
**********************************
This never happened in the last tons of calls i made to asapticket.you will never get the price you see online, never ever.try it yourself please!
***********************************
**********************************
aj or whatever nick name you put hiding your real name... are you able to get 1 price the same or cheaper as it tells online ? never !! please everyone call and try to get same price you see online...
what do you want to discuss in that ?maybe you don't know good English because you are Russian ( I do respect Russian btw), any one who call you can see that from your voice, i did ask my wife to call your number a while back and it was very clear to me. you did a mistake putting your phone there since it just prove you are a Russian call center , this is example of call centers :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMt1ULYna4o
Glad i found the agent who will get me the flight which is on the AD of ASAP,
first, are you able to get me this price without any $ more??
i will ignore that you just said you are in the states, you are Russian and that's clear from your voice when i asked my friend to call you
how come all of you are Indians or Russian and in usa too?
your web the asap tickets shows
$1168.56 *
flight is
Alpena, MI [US]
Destination city: Bangkok [TH]
Departure Date: 09 Jun 2010
Return Date: 09 Aug 2010
i want this price $1168.56 * . if you can not get this price, then you should feel sorry for yourself.
just don't forget to give me the extra discount since it tells me to give you discount id as it helps you to get it cheaper + lowest fare is guaranteed
****Your Discount ID is
55-32-56-0 BBBOnline Reliability Program
Call Now to speak with Live Travel Agents:
(800) 677-2943
Many airlines provide us with special unpublished fares that may be lower than those above. Please consult our travel agents to learn about our daily updated specials to your destination, in addition to the above fares.
A.J: First, Welcome to FT!
While I appreciate your decision to present your perspective, the above reads more like a rant than good information. It also avoids the obvious points raised in the thread.
It may well be true that a TA may decide that competition demands that he too must advertise fares without taxes and surcharges. However, that does not mean that he can still claim that fares include all taxes and surcharges! That is the reported problem with your website---not the practice of quoting fares without taxes, which is common enough, but outright lying and dishonesty about what you are doing.
Such lying is not standard practice among good TA's. Most do tell us what they are doing. Just about every ad in the travel section of my Indian newspaper does that (sometimes there are as many asterisk as dollar signs). Or, look at the following well-respected agency for the Japan market: http://www.jtbusa.com/en/default.asp. The "special airfare chart" to the right uses expressions like "from $738" and not just "$738". For every single price. At the bottom there is a clear statement that "Fuel surcharge is included; Taxes and fees are not included".
These are your competitors, subject to the same market considerations as you are. I suggest you learn from and follow the best business standards instead of practicing and defending sleaze.
In your post above you write "In my experience working for ITN, over 2 years now, I am used to hear all kinds of accusations and being pointed out different forums where people write a lot of bad reviews. This is obviously natural, since...pleasing every single client is simply impossible..." That is absolute rubbish and it is far from "obviously natural" that businesses should get a lot of bad reviews just because they don't please every customer. Check out JTB's reviews and compare with yours. Or check vendor ratings at Amazon - you will see ratings from one star to five stars.
In any event, FT community is quite educated about and experienced with travel and your kind of fudging explanation will not wash here.
While I appreciate your decision to present your perspective, the above reads more like a rant than good information. It also avoids the obvious points raised in the thread.
It may well be true that a TA may decide that competition demands that he too must advertise fares without taxes and surcharges. However, that does not mean that he can still claim that fares include all taxes and surcharges! That is the reported problem with your website---not the practice of quoting fares without taxes, which is common enough, but outright lying and dishonesty about what you are doing.
Such lying is not standard practice among good TA's. Most do tell us what they are doing. Just about every ad in the travel section of my Indian newspaper does that (sometimes there are as many asterisk as dollar signs). Or, look at the following well-respected agency for the Japan market: http://www.jtbusa.com/en/default.asp. The "special airfare chart" to the right uses expressions like "from $738" and not just "$738". For every single price. At the bottom there is a clear statement that "Fuel surcharge is included; Taxes and fees are not included".
These are your competitors, subject to the same market considerations as you are. I suggest you learn from and follow the best business standards instead of practicing and defending sleaze.
In your post above you write "In my experience working for ITN, over 2 years now, I am used to hear all kinds of accusations and being pointed out different forums where people write a lot of bad reviews. This is obviously natural, since...pleasing every single client is simply impossible..." That is absolute rubbish and it is far from "obviously natural" that businesses should get a lot of bad reviews just because they don't please every customer. Check out JTB's reviews and compare with yours. Or check vendor ratings at Amazon - you will see ratings from one star to five stars.
In any event, FT community is quite educated about and experienced with travel and your kind of fudging explanation will not wash here.