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Purchase FareLock to hold your itinerary and fare for 72 hours or 7 days

Purchase FareLock to hold your itinerary and fare for 72 hours or 7 days

 
Old Dec 10, 2010, 4:40 pm
  #1  
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Purchase FareLock to hold your itinerary and fare for 72 hours or 7 days

I noticed this during the blue page that comes up while co.com is doing a search:

Code:
Purchase FareLock to hold your itinerary and fare for 72 hours or 7 days*

* Some restrictions apply. Not offered on all flights. All customers booking 
at continental.com have the opportunity to request a 100% refund within 24 
hours of ticketing. The FareLock fee, however, is non-refundable. Terms and 
Conditions apply.
I was using the preview site when I saw this, but I did not see any option to buy such a FareLock. I doesn't seem to always appear, but it helps to have a search that takes longer to produce results. I also see a reference on the 24hr booking policy page (normal CO site):

Code:
Any FareLock fees paid to hold a reservation will not be refunded.
New upcoming feature?
paranoiatx is offline  
Old Dec 10, 2010, 4:42 pm
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I can see it now, pay $49.99 and have a FareLock on your itinerary!
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 4:46 pm
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Interesting. A quick Google search revealed that they aren't the first to think of this:

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/ai...th-new-fa.html

My bet is the next "enhancement" will be that the 24 hr cancellation period will go away and be replaced with a FareLock option.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 4:53 pm
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Originally Posted by notquiteaff
My bet is the next "enhancement" will be that the 24 hr cancellation period will go away and be replaced with a FareLock option.

I doubt it. The regulators would have some fun with them if there were no free hold or free refund policy. They already threatened regulation which is why this came to be.

FareLock sounds interesting though. 7 days is a lot of time.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 4:55 pm
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The 24 hour cancellation policy will be "enhanced" as a customer friendly benefit into a paid 7 day cancellation period in no time at all. I guess if the extended warranty racket works for the big box stores, why not the airlines?
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 5:04 pm
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Originally Posted by channa
I doubt it. The regulators would have some fun with them if there were no free hold or free refund policy. They already threatened regulation which is why this came to be.
Hmm, as far as I know, Jetblue doesn't offer a 24 hr cancellation period. Do they offer a "hold" feature other than for Western Union purchases (I only know that thanks to Google; I'd never buy a ticket that way myself)
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 5:30 pm
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The 24 hour refund policy is super important when things go wrong with the booking engine online. I would be very upset if it were to disappear.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 6:11 pm
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B6 hold feature

Originally Posted by notquiteaff
Hmm, as far as I know, Jetblue doesn't offer a 24 hr cancellation period. Do they offer a "hold" feature other than for Western Union purchases (I only know that thanks to Google; I'd never buy a ticket that way myself)
I think they will refund your money if you call withing 2 or 4 hours of making the reservation. They do give you credit if your flight goes down in price (I have done this multiple times on 1 flight ) .
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 6:21 pm
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Originally Posted by bdraco
The 24 hour refund policy is super important when things go wrong with the booking engine online. I would be very upset if it were to disappear.
I wouldn't know about booking engine errors -- is that a CO.com feature? -- but it certainly is useful when putting together a complex trip with multiple independent flight and hotel bookings, to mimic something like "two phase commit" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-phase_commit_protocol).

If they offered an extension of a 24 hold/refund option that extended it to a longer period for a fee, that would be fine.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 7:02 pm
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I hope UA does not decide to adapt this FareLock. I suppose if it does, I hope GreaseMonkey will continue to function
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 7:28 pm
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I can't see them getting rid of the 24 hour hold.

The thing is Travel agents always can do this -- our corp travel agent often just "reserves" flights for us, and we have 24 hours before we have to ticket it.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 7:35 pm
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United already mostly eliminated 24 hour holds awhile ago (you can still technically get one by causing your credit card to be declined, be very convincing with a phone rep (no phone charges should apply), or using a GreaseMonkey script which tricks .bomb to trigger the hold.

24 hour refund policy is a regulation; US Airways recently implemented it due to it. UA holds however do not hold prices; if the fare bucket goes while the ticket is held, the PNR goes poof.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 9:50 pm
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Originally Posted by NCommander
24 hour refund policy is a regulation
Got a link?
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 10:02 pm
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Asked Alex about this (just type in "fare lock").

Her reply:

Alex: FareLock allows you to hold your reservation and fare for 72 hours or seven days, for a fee, and is available on Continental-operated flights only. If offered, you can purchase FareLock after you have selected your flights.

(No link offered)

This coming from the CO site (not preview, the official site).

I guess it's something in progress? I'm okay with it, as long as they keep the 24-hour cancellation period.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 11:17 pm
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Originally Posted by NCommander
United already mostly eliminated 24 hour holds awhile ago (you can still technically get one by causing your credit card to be declined, be very convincing with a phone rep (no phone charges should apply), or using a GreaseMonkey script which tricks .bomb to trigger the hold.
Incorrect. United holds are officially allowed for 1Ks by phone and for reservations to be ticketed in person for anyone.


24 hour refund policy is a regulation;
Incorrect. It was suggested to the airlines that they offer a way for customers to comparison shop, but not a regulation.


US Airways recently implemented it due to it.
Incorrect. There is no such regulation.


UA holds however do not hold prices;
Incorrect, they hold prices.


if the fare bucket goes while the ticket is held, the PNR goes poof.
Incorrect. You hold the bucket and the fare, and the PNR still stands. You may not be able to modify the PNR if availability or fares have changed, but you still have on hold what you had.
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