Originally Posted by
mc510
What's up with all of the shady-seeming sites that Google Flights offers as places to purchase your ticket, typically at a price lower than directly through the airline's own site? If I saw this occasionally on a just a few routings from just a couple of online travel agents, then I might think that they're operating on the old bucket shop model ... but I see it on every single routing, and there's always a dozen or so sites to choose from. Are they legit? How are they able to undercut prices directly from the airline?
My mother did this recently on an Allegiant flight. Apparently booking through the Allegiant link on Google brought the price up more than she expected with all their "bundles" that Allegiant tacked on without her realizing, so she booked on the cheapest option, eDreams (about $15 less than directly from Allegiant). She didn't get a confirmation from them and their customer support is garbage so we called Allegiant and confirmed that she did indeed have a reservation. Everything went off without a hitch. I'd assume that if there were any changes or irops, that's where these undercutting OTAs would be able to make up for their ow up front costs. It certainly wasn't a scam, but it isn't something I'd want to take the risk on to save a few bucks.