AirportGyms

Seen some of these mentioned around here and so I started looking at cheapoair.com and it has, when you Google it, the most horrible reviews you can find. So, in continuing searching I find these 2 other site and the flights, costs, layout of the search engine and types of graphics were so similar, I started doing some betterwhois domain name snooping and pretty much confirmed these 3 are related. I sent an email to insanelycheapflights.com and they actually responded that they are "sister" sites to cheapoair.com.

Anyway... cheapoair.com's reviews are just so bad and so consistently bad, would we agree the other 2 cannot be trusted? You can find some so so comments about onetravel.com, but not much about insanelycheapflights.com - and they said "We are sister's company however, suggest you to experience our best services in order to have your own perception for our company", but I am super leery given the price of the tickets I need, their importance, and the fact they admit being related so not sure how they wouldn't have the same reported issues and tactics.

The 1 thing is, their prices - all 3 sites - are the same and consistently lower than anything else and even a few consolidators I have contacted that I have read about here.

thoughts?

AirportGyms

I might also add, cheaptickets.com is mentioned around here as well and it also gets just horrible reviews. Not a related company mind you BUT it does have same results, same prices and a similar search function and results display.

mikew99

Considering how leery you are about these sites and (as you state) the importance of the tickets you need, why would you even consider using these Web sites? If it sounds too good to be true, it often is.

No single resource is perfect, but I think you'll generally do well to stick to the resources on FT that have been tried and trusted by many members here.

AirportGyms

I guess I am looking to be corrected or confirmed about these places. I have seen some of these listed here by users as "resources" they use, but then when you research they are just so bad, it's hard to believe anyone has.

of course the tickets are important, but so are the costs.

WillTravel

Either you will get a booked ticket or you won`t, and the airline will know very quickly if you are. Determine whether that is successful as quickly as possible. If you don`t get a booked ticket, contact your credit card company.

I think the complaints I have read about such sites (not necessarily these ones) are of this nature: I booked for $800, but the site came back a day later and said the real price is $4000. Then, depending on the story, the user`s credit charge is charged for a larger amount or the user gets no tickets at all.

So if I really wanted a ticket from these sites, I would take careful note of the T&Cs, save copies of them, and figure out if I had time for Plan B if the ticket purchase failed, and be ready to challenge if charged for a larger amount.

AirportGyms

I have seen those and then also some like..

"I bought tickets, and then found out when I checked in or called to confirm a few days before the flight I had no tickets! And getting a refund took months and endless hassle."

That would be pretty scary.

WillTravel

Like I said, you shouldn't wait until a few days before the flight. The airline will know very quickly whether you are booked or not.

foodie1234

Personally i've been very disappointed with insanelycheapfights and their lack of customer service. According to them, the prices online are not always correct because the site may not have been updated, which defeats the purpose of being able to book online. The site seems to have a long delay in updates and can be glitchy. From my experience, the wait time to talk to a CS is very long and they were not really helpful in solving them.

Ganavk

I am trying to book 2 tickets from BLR to SEA via DBX(Dubai) on Emirates Airlines. For direct one stop ( Stop at Dubai) itinerary the prices shown in different website ( Expedia.com , emirates.com , onetravel.com etc) are more or less the same ( with 30-40 $ difference).
Questions
1) I am getting a ticket for around 1370$ for each person. Is this reasonable ? Economy travel , start on last week of Jul 13 and return on first week of Nov 13. Is this reasonable ?

2) Onetravel.com/cheapoair.com has horrible reviews and horrible ratings. Seems to be the same company. Onetravel.com is offering a 2 stop itinerary on the return journey ( SEA to LAX on Alaska and then LAX to BLR on Emirates) for around 200 $ less for each person. How reliable is this website ? will there be any issues ? has anyone used these sites for international travel. Interestingly this 2stop plan is not offered by expedia.com at all.!

: 2nd questions explains why I posted here in this thread

cestmoi123

$1300-1400 looks pretty reasonable, based on what I see on ITA. You certainly can go SEA-LAX-DXB-BLR, it's a ticketable route - I say go for it, and if they don't ticket it, you can always go with the $1300-1400 ticket.

kulflyer

$ host cheapoair.com
cheapoair.com has address 70.42.217.150
cheapoair.com mail is handled by 0 fareportal.com.s9a1.psmtp.com.
cheapoair.com mail is handled by 20 fareportal.com.s9b1.psmtp.com.
cheapoair.com mail is handled by 10 fareportal.com.s9a2.psmtp.com.
cheapoair.com mail is handled by 30 fareportal.com.s9b2.psmtp.com.

$ host insanelycheapflights.com
insanelycheapflights.com has address 54.243.140.73
insanelycheapflights.com mail is handled by 0 smtp.secureserver.net.
insanelycheapflights.com mail is handled by 10 mailstore1.secureserver.net.

$ host onetravel.com
onetravel.com has address 70.42.217.118
onetravel.com mail is handled by 30 fareportal.com.s9b2.psmtp.com.
onetravel.com mail is handled by 10 fareportal.com.s9a2.psmtp.com.
onetravel.com mail is handled by 20 fareportal.com.s9b1.psmtp.com.
onetravel.com mail is handled by 0 fareportal.com.s9a1.psmtp.com.

Looks like onetravel.com and cheapoair.com is owned by fareportal out of NYC. Onetravel.com hides their domain registrar though but their email servers line up with cheapoair.com.

Insanelycheapflights.com is registered in Ashburn, VA to Esteban Oliverez. So might be different company.

IAkH

Be veerry careful with fareportal. They have the worst cs and t&c of all the OTAs

TheLinguist

Back before I knew better I looked at cheapoair.com and ran a search. IIRC it was IAD-CGK-CGK-IAD. It returned a price that was well below what I found anywhere else but when I clicked on the buy button the price changed to something $800 higher. Ran the search again, same result.

Just the look of the site makes me leery too.

singhkushal

I always book the flight with reputed travel websites but my wife found this onetravel site offering lowerest cost tickets. I was happy that I was able to get the best possible
price for the ticket to India booking#21456467. My itinerary was as given below:

Chicago - Vienna (Austria) - New Delhi (India) - Austrian Airline
New Delhi - Frankfurt(Germany) - Dusseldof (Germany) - New Delhi(India) - Lufthansa


While everything went fine and my travel from US to India was uneventful.
The problem came when I went to airport for catching my return flight. At the checkin counter I got a shock as airline was not allowing me to fly as they informed me that
I need an intransit visa. As I live in Indianapolis I had made further travel plan from Chicago to Indianapolis like booking the hotel and car based on this return date.

Now I contacted onetravel and they were not ready to take any responsibility for not informing about this visa requirement at the time I was booking my flight. First I would not
expect to see any itinerary that involves a visa when my intention is not visit that country. If at all that was shown, I expect them to show clearly on the details of the flight that it would need a visa. Apart from the mental trauma that I gone through I suffered financially - I had to pay full cost of return ticket ranging in $800 and also I lost money in my hotel/taxi bookings.

I am sad to see the irresponsibleness of the company.

tom911

singhkushal-

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