RedChili

It's always possible to get cheaper tickets by booking through OTAs that you can find through e.g. Kayak. But those cheap bookings come at a price. Those OTAs often charge fees for all kinds of things, like paying with a credit card, and they frequently don't even have a phone number that you can call, so in the case of IRROPS, when you will need to talk to the OTA to reschedule your flight, you're in real trouble.

headingwest

Well if they charge for using credit cards, I don't book with them...simples!

In 34 flights I've had a few issues, but nothing that an e-mail here and there won't resolve. Admittedly the reply time is longer but it gets sorted in the end. Regarding IRROPS, wouldn't Aegean have to resolve that anyway, as it would be under airport control. For bookings far ahead the agent rebooks without issue. Once, when A3 cancelled flights, I even contacted Aegean on an agent booked ticket and they rebooked me onto Turkish Airlines, so it's not so difficult. Yes you need to prod the agents sometimes, but for 300 EUR it's worth it, that's a longhaul flight to Asia!

RedChili

It's good that it's worked out for you. I booked through one of those cheap OTAs once, and I regretted it. A few days before the flight, my SQ booking was suddenly cancelled for no reason at all. I had to spend a lot of time and energy trying to contact the agency. In the end, they managed to reinstate the booking. But I've since read several reviews of people with similar or even worse experiences, so I'm basically trying to avoid such bookings nowadays even if it's a few bucks cheaper.

In my view, booking through one of these super cheap OTAs is like traveling without an insurance. It will usually work out cheaper to travel without a travel insurance, but when I finally need one, I'll can lose a lot by not having the insurance.

Xandrios

Yet I have flown over 500 flights, many of which (half?) booked through OTA's, and never had a problem that couldnt be resolved. That doesnt mean problems never happen (and your example is pretty much the worst one - a few days before departure), but for me, it has worked out well. All rebooking issues have been taken care of by the OTAs and in case of IRROPS you always go to the operating airline anyway.

But I do have a tactic. I don't book through an OTA if I expect that the flight may need to be changed. Also I don't use OTA's if I want to be sure that I'm able to upgrade. And, I always use them only for European flights where, in case there were to be a problem, I would be able to find an alternative fairly easily. And in practice that means that a few times I have had to throw away unused flights because the change fees through the OTA would be higher than their value. Thats part of the game.

So I guess I would agree with your insurance analogy. Generally I don't go for insurance either After all, insurance companies only exist because the chance of not needing them is higher than the chance of needing them. As long as you are aware of your choices and the possible implications, you should be fine. But, as with everything in life..do your research first.

nk15

I am ok and often book with a top ten OTA, but beyond that it gets risky, I think. Although for a $20-30 difference, I am open...Some US credit cards include travel insurance, and some annual travel health insurance plans include travel disruptions for no extra cost..

headingwest

Same flights, cheaper prices. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't find cheaper with the online travel agents. I booked this trip for €119.46 and saved over €80 on Aegean's prices. Not bad for earning 3,982 status miles and 4,778 award miles (for Gold member).

Knobbgb

Which OLTA was it? I'm just interested so I can try in future. Unfortunately, the last couple I've tried that SEEMED to offer cheaper fares both added a credit card fee at the final stage. If that's not why it's cheaper then it's probably that Aegean's site really doesn't deal well with overnight connections (or any connection greater than 4hrs). It tends to just price them as two individual tickets, which means paying extra airport tax at ATH , which is quite high. You can see the taxes are 62 Euro on the outbound leg offered by A3, for example. I bet they're a lot less on the ticket you finally bought (having only paid 68 in total) - I can't believe the actual airline portion of the fare was only 6 Euro! Aegean really need to work on pricing their connections better.

I agree with your comments about earning lots of points to RAK. I'm going in November. If you're looking at voucher upgrades, you might be in luck - both mine cleared immediately.

headingwest

Hi Knobbgb, I used Skyscanner to look for flights and then linked through from their Austrian site to book with Tripair. They added a charge for bank cards, but it was only 1.36 EUR on the VIE-ATH-RAK booking and 93 cents on RAK-ATH-VIE. Therefore, a saving of 80.05 EUR on Aegean's website quote.

Interestingly, the OTA was offering cheaper fare buckets (P fares, instead of U and T on Aegean's website). That makes no difference to me, as I wasn't planning on upgrading anyway. This is just a cheap booking for February to boost my miles and get me away from the freezing weather for a few days! I hope Marrakech is worth visiting.

jerry_greece

This is very weird to me. it might have been that the OTA has "ghost" availability or not update their system based on A3. In the past, bookings have been cancelled because of this. Did you check on A3 website or elsewhere that your booking is indeed in P?

headingwest

Yes, all flights booked in P and e-tickets issued.

Xandrios

Tripair is a Greek TA (Part of altair/Petas.gr). Chances are that they got a special deal or fare with Aegean. I'm pretty sure I have been sold a seamans fare through such TA in the past (though I think that was the now defunct TravelPlanet24). You may/could also be on a group ticket or something similar.

Or...it may just be that they pre-purchased a bunch of seats in P while those fares where available, and sell these to you right now.

headingwest

I think this is more likely. As long as I get the miles I don't care.

Knobbgb

I take it the eticket is actually on Aegean 390 stock?

headingwest

390 stock, yes.