Originally Posted by
jsloan
Nor did I -- I think this is the first time I've ever seen it used, actually, considering that I don't routinely look up the fare rules for my flights for work.
Mozila: Thanks for the lesson. :-)
I think this pretty clearly explains the meaning of the "Travel Agent Only" language in Google Flights. Google / ITA has elected to publish negotiated fares that aren't available via the carrier websites. Whether or not that constitutes a service to the traveler is an open question.
OP: In the event you need to make another trip, I'd ask around to see what your friends / coworkers in China use. The only website I've seen mentioned myself is ctrip, but I don't have any personal experience using them. I took a quick look, and I don't see a way to mix classes on the outbound and return, but I may just be missing it. I do see the CNY14,334 roundtrip business class fare, though, so it stands to reason that ctrip may be one of the "specific agents" that can book these negotiated fares.
Best of luck!
wow thank you. i feel like the mystery is almost solved. i do use ctrip but never thought to use it for this. had i known that, i woudl ahve bought either the K or P fare round trip. both were better prices than what i paid (i didn't buy, then the price went down and i did buy). so now the 'travel agent only' explanation makes sense. i wish we had a list of agents we could use. i'm going to try ctrip next time i have this problem on google flights.
does anyone know if this would count as a "bulk" fare?
edit: holy **&&^** i can buy the ticket on ctrip now cheaper than i paid. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. it must be that same K fare that i so desperately wanted. oh well, i used a cert so i'll tell myself not to worry about the extra $100 or whatever the difference was. wow wow wow. learn something new! i am interested though to know if this will be "bulk" or not. for such a cheap ticket, bulk might actually earn more RDM's.