dbyyz

I want to go to Orlando, from Ottawa, later this month.

Partly, because of my desire to earn status miles with Aeroplan, and partly for scheduling reasons, the best options are to fly with US Air.

The best fare (in Canadian dollars, including all taxes) is about $445, through Expedia.ca; the best fare that the airline itself could give me was about $200 more than that.

I have never booked a flight through a travel web site - I wonder why such a discrepancy. Would the expedia.ca booked flights, also earn status miles, or are they at a fare, that would almost be considered like a consolidator fare, which would not earn status miles.

Thanks.

PS-This is FlyerGoldII from the transborder MLL lounge, in YYZ. I am using the MLL computer. I do not know how this post took place, under someone else's name, and I do not understand why the FT did not ask me for my userid or password???

B1

Expedia is a travel agency and they book normal fares and charge a fee. You should also check Destina.ca, Travelocity, and Sidestep. I have had no problems with Expedia. Their office is in Ottawa. Since US Air is part of Star Alliance, other SA carriers can also book the ticket. Destina gives AP mile bonuses for booking with them and their fee is the same as Expedia's, or less for AC.

Fermat

because dbyyz forgot to log themselves out of MyFlyertalk after using the computer in the MLL... as funny as it is to see the MLL PC's being used for FT, don't forget to log out!

cedric

You may want to visit USAirways.com. I picked random dates in June and recieved a fare of US$318 including taxes.

Search by price, rather than by date. For YOW-MCO, the lowest fare which is available is US$226+ taxes. It looks like a one week advance purchase fare, no Sat. night stay required, valid any day of the week. Select your dates from the calendar and you're laughing - you won't even have to pay the expedia surcharge.

privatejet

I recently (3 weeks ago) purchased a YYZ-SFO ticket on USAirways.com, after completing the purchase, the site said that paper ticket will be issued and mailed. I called reservations and asked them to issue an electronic ticket and they indicated that they couldnt`t and to just wait for the paper ticket. Of course, the paper ticket never showed. The check-in agents at YYZ seem to know of the glitch in the website and I had no problems boarding though it did take 20 minutes to check-in.

FlyerGoldII

Just checking expedia - there is availability on dates I am interested in - still at $445. No availability (at any price) on US Air web site. I will check destina web site.

tcook052

I know you have to be careful with some websites which only quote from tariffs without actually checking to see if seats in the specific category are indeed available on the flights you've selected. And IIRC, Expedia is one of those sites, which would explain the discrepancy. This is what I've heard from several clients, BTW, not personal experience. Most mentioned they were attracted by the low price but then after inputting name, adress, etc. it gave an error response and a higher price. Personally, that's why AC's improved website is more straighforward as it shows which fares are sold out and which are available right from the pricing/availability screen so there's no guessing if the seat is or isn't available. Thumbs up on AC on that front. ^

Andrew Yiu

That explains it... I was reading the post and then told myself that this can't be dbyyz, only 1 person on FT asks questions like an exam. Sure enough......

tracon

Just a comparison between travelocity and expedia.

36 hours from now I'll be flying from LHR. I looked at travelocity and expedia to compare fares and both were identical for the same flights. The difference, travelocity wanted to charge me a courier fee because they couldn't issue an electronic ticket. I'm leaving NA tomorrow early afternoon so that wasn't an option.
Expedia was able to issue an electronic ticket ^ ^ .