ScruttonStreet

Hi all

I am having trouble pricing up an itinerary on BA.com that I would like to book, even though it is available if I price it up through Google Flights or Kayak, which then send me through to the BA site.

Essentially I am looking at an ex-EU to central America. Booking directly through BA.com only gives me a couple of options for the way out, all with a shortish, (three-hour) stopover. In an ideal world I'd like to make this about eight hours, so I can do a quick meeting while I am in London.

If I go through Google flights, or Kayak, I can indeed get this longer stopover at the same price as the shorter one. It sends me through to the BA site with the relevant flights there and the price I want. However when i do it directly on BA.com, or try to use the multi-sector tool (or even AA.com), it won't price this up - it either won't work at all, or doubles the price.

Given that booking through both Kayak and Google send me to the BA site if I use them, and offer the longer stop over I want I'm inclined to do that, but I worry that somehow this means I will get less protection/sympathy from BA if anything goes wrong at the time of flying. That they'll just send me back to Google or Kayak to sort any problems.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Matt_P

If it's sending you through to BA.com to make the booking - you're booking direct with BA and not with either Google or Kayak - they're just sending the right flight details into BA to make it price for you

ratypus

Agree - no issue here - your booking would then be direct with BA. It's just that the BA website will typically give you the "best" default options and it can be hard within the BA site to then change those (without, say, making it technically a 'multi-city' itinerary)

go for it

john205

Gogole flights doesn't always price up correctly. I recently tried to book some Vueling flights that would price up differently when clicking through to the link. It was about �6 more each afterwards. Booking through Expedia brought the cost back almost inline with what Google was saying though.

Tafflyer

ba.com is really buggy. I get this all the time and Google flights is useful in passing an itinerary to BA for pricing and ticketing. Be sure to check that ba.com has priced up exactly the same flights though, as the bugs are in no way restricted to any one part of the system.

ScruttonStreet

Thanks all, that's great. I am aware that booking with a TA like Expedia can present difficulties, but wasn't sure about the likes of Kayak. The flights/price seem right, its just BA.com and AA.com don't throw up enough options.

SteveF

I would have thgought the same TA related issues would affect Kayak bookings if anything should go wrong, especially when part way through a trip.

ScruttonStreet

If I book with Expedia, for example, I complete the booking through them, while on Kayak it merely directs me to the BA site with the flights I want at the price I'd like. SO I wondered whether they were different, or whether the likes of Google/Kayak had the same issues of Expedia.

SteveF

I've never used Kayak and (perhaps wrongly) assumed it was a TA like Expedia. If you're actually booking with BA then I don't see any downside, although I'd rely on someone with actual experience rather than my random opinion.

IMH

This is the important point: regardless of where you search, if you end up booking on ba.com you'll be fine. But some Kayak search results lead to Priceline or other non-BA booking sites, in which case all the things OP is worried about become real concerns. The same applies to Google Flights, except that it is easier to see in advance where a click will lead you.

fransknorge

I use Kayak.
Kayak is a not an OTA, you can not book through them. Like Google Flights, it is a search engine for flights (and more than that, but let's concentrate on the flight options). For every search results, there will be one or more links displayed with each a price. Clicking on those links will open a new page on the targeted website (Ba.com, Lufthansa.com, eDreams.com, etc ...) in the booking stage with the same flights selected and just needed to click "Book". As the site name is clearly displayed, the concern expressed by IMH that "it is easier to see in advance where a click will lead you" is not valid.


So for the 20:00-20:45 LH flight to LHR I can click on the Lufthansa link and I will get there and they will ask 165 Euros, 187 Euros for eDreams.
Now Kayak has a link to Kayak. Because they are also an OTA now, but where not initially. They started to add this for hotel bookings and now also for flights. They are usually not the cheaper option and are still better used as a search engine.

IMH

fransknorge confirms that it can all be a bit confusing:



I'd disagree and say that a little more effort is necessary. The drop-down list shown in your screenshot is fine, but some users will simply click on the orange button rather than activating that list. If the text above that button just says 'KAYAK" you don't know in advance where you'll end up.

I tested this just now and ended up on a booking page that invited me to start entering passenger details etc.. A note and logo at the bottom of that page made it clear that I would be booking through Priceline, but that wasn't obvious in advance.

fransknorge

Ha I never tried to See offer orange button, so I did not know what it did. I agree with you then.
I do use Kayak sometimes, mainly for weird tickets that no airline sites can do. I remember that the list of possible links was not in a drop down menu but clearly displayed.
It is clear that they redesigned the website to add confusion and push people towards their booking engine.

IntVic

I have found Kayak very useful in finding reasonably priced premium economy tickets ex DUB & INV, with return to LHR on BA metal on AA codeshare and booked via the AA website e.g. �690 DUB-ATL-LHR end of November

Randomness

I've used both Google Flights and Kayak on occasion to find a specific itinerary with the characteristics I want. In particular, I try to force long layovers. I've done this to make bookings on a number of different carriers, including some low-fare airlines. The key point is to make sure you choose the option on Google Flights or Kayak which sends you directly to the airline site. In that case my experience has been that there is no difference between the booking made via pass-through from Google Flights/Kayak and one starting from the airline site itself. Well, except that you can actually book the flight you want.

What I have to conclude is that airline sites generally optimize for shorter layovers and other "usual" preferences. As ratypus said, it can be hard to get the airline's site to show other flight options.

And to quote IMH, "regardless of where you search, if you end up booking on ba.com you'll be fine."

Best of luck.