Is there any advantage in booking directly at United.com, instead of Orbitz.com?
Correct me if I am wrong, but when airfare for my trip is quoted same at Orbitz.com and United.com, am I not better off buying the ticket directly from the airlines, instead of going through a 3rd party like Orbitz or Expedia? I'd assume that booking through airlines directly should make it convenient to work with the airlines if there are any issues in the future?
I was not able to find any promotions or discount codes for Orbitz.com, except for a $1.75 cashback at Fatwallet.com. Considering my ticket was costing me $300, it hardly seemed worth it, so I booked directly at United.com. I did use Orbitz.com only to find out United was the lowest among all other airline offerings.
If the price is the same, I would prefer the United site because of the 24-hour cancel policy. With United, you cancel for free within 24 hours, but with Orbitz there's a small charge.
I have used Orbitz when the ticket price was cheaper than available through the airline site, and have saved hundreds of dollars by doing so.
In addition, usually much easier to deal with schedule changes when you book directly with the airlines...
Quote:
Originally Posted by WillTravel
If the price is the same, I would prefer the United site because of the 24-hour cancel policy. With United, you cancel for free within 24 hours, but with Orbitz there's a small charge.
I have used Orbitz when the ticket price was cheaper than available through the airline site, and have saved hundreds of dollars by doing so.
Read any Christopher Elliott column, and yes, book directly
"We booked our honeymoon to blah blah blah, and united at the ticket counter had no reservation. we called orbitz and they said it was united's fault. We went to united and they said it was orbitz's fault".
The only time I book third party is priceline name your own price for hotels, and I call the hotel reservation line afterwards to confirm they have the reservation!
Read any Christopher Elliott column, and yes, book directly
"We booked our honeymoon to blah blah blah, and united at the ticket counter had no reservation. we called orbitz and they said it was united's fault. We went to united and they said it was orbitz's fault".
The only time I book third party is priceline name your own price for hotels, and I call the hotel reservation line afterwards to confirm they have the reservation!
+1
I'd rather pay a few dollars more and deal directly with the airline than risk becoming a Christopher Elliott column.
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At least one airline (Delta) changes a bonus fee to make a voluntary change to a ticket booked through a third party agency ($50). Unless the change can be made online or via the same-day confirmed travel program, you get that $50 on top of any other applicable fees.
No thanks.
The only time I use an OTA is when I have to combine multiple airlines and there's no other way to do it.
Edit: Someone was mentioning in the United forum today that they have a similar $25 fee.
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Last edited by MDtR-Chicago; Aug 6, 12 at 1:32 pm..
I did have a 'booking disappeared' issue once (which was discovered before I arrived at the airport thankfully -when checking in online) but other than that, I often book with third party sites. If it's the same price I might choose the airline, but it's nice sometimes to try to keep all your bookings (with diff airlines etc) under the same roof. Plus some, like Expedia in the UK, give you some small bonuses (like nectar points) for booking there.
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On the hotel side, most of the hotel programs will not allow you to earn points with third-party reservations. As importantly, you'd be surprised how often the reservation simply "disappears".
A few years back, when I worked in a Hilton-brand hotel, we actually had a procedure to deal with the situation, it happened so often. The third party would book a "block" room with no name and fax (yes, fax!) the guest information to the hotel.
It's so easy to lose a fax...
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Just search for "XXX lost my booking" on FT and you will find the hundreds of horror stories about just how badly things can go wrong when you have not booked directly through the carrier.
It would have to be a very substantial savings and a very simple routing before I would even think about using anything other than the carrier or a reputable TA (not a website).
When things go right, it doesn't matter. When things go wrong, they go really wrong and you can sue evereybody in sight after the fact, but you will have that horrible view of an aircraft, your aircraft, pushing back from the gate while you're sitting at the gate.
If you are a united.com Club member, you will earn a $5 TravelBank credit for every ticket booked on united.com, including tickets purchased for others.
For Amex Platinum and Centurion members, the united.com Club $25 annual membership fee is credited if United is your selected airline for the $200 Airline Fee Credit.
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There are also situations during irrops when the airline may rightly or wrongly declare something to be your TA's fault and tell you to deal with them.
Granted this has not happened to me for several years, but you'd avoid even the remote possibility if the airline itself sold the ticket.
So yes, everything else being equal, I'd buy from the airline. If not equal, I'd weigh the choices. For example if Orbitz/Expedia/Travelocity were throwing in some discount or hotel/car-rental deal that I could actually use, that may change my calculation.
