How cool!!! I just used Travelocity.com for the first time (all my business travel is done through an in-house travel agency - all of my personal travel had been done on the phone) - what a great experience!!!! Got to pick my seats and everything. What does everyone else have to say about this service? How does it do in terms of getting you the best fares???

The million dol;ar question (and this may have been answered before can you earn FF miles booking through Travelocity?

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CATMAN

no frequent flyer miles (for doing the booking that is) at travelocity but it does have good service. Not always the best prices either, especially for international travel. Good place to look though. I prefer Easysabre (same company) as you can easily see all the fare classes that are available for each flight.

[This message has been edited by BlondeBomber (edited 03-04-99).]

EMD:

Generally Travelocity works reasonably well, but every once in a while it goes nuts. Sometimes it will tell you and itinerary is "not available" or it will overlook a cheap fare, and give you a really expensive one.

My strategy is to use Travelocity (SABRE) and then double check with www.itn.net (APOLLO). Then check with a couple of different airlines. Takes some time, but it often pays off.

Another strategy is to use the "Fare Listing" on travelocity to figure out the lowest possible price for a route, and then go hunting for that fare. This usually only works on really simple routings, though.

Good Luck - Ken

I, too, tried Travelocity after a recommendation from a friend. I thought it was cool until I tried TheTrip.COM reservation service. With it, can get up to 15 sample fares each way from all available airlines on that route. Pick the one I like or investigate a particular airline's incredibly low fare by selecting to view that airline only (or combination of airlines) for all their fares or flights on a given day.

When I tried Travelocity it only gave me three fares, so I've been using the TheTrip.COM since for fare review on a route I may take.

Catman:

You'll be happy to note I recieved this e-mail this morning:

"Book your next trip on Travelocity.com and earn 1,500 extra
award miles when you purchase a car rental or hotel stay with
your air ticket on the same itinerary. See details and
participating airlines at
http://www2.travelocity.com/promos/bonus/bonusmiles.html"

You'll be happy to note that UA is one of the participants. Only TW and USAir do not participate (of the domestic carriers).

That does make me happy, Buck. I alwasy wondered why many of the on-line booking reservation services do not let you earn miles on the tickets? (Is it because the tickets are supposedly cheaper than the airlines and other bigger services?)

If I don't use the airline web sites directly, I go though reservations at BizTraveler.com. And they ALLOW folks to earn FF miles (and hotel points, etc... in fact they ask you to include your FF and hotel #'s on your profile.)



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CATMAN

Since I only fly airlines on which I can upgrade I always doublecheck fares on Travelcity with the airlines' fares. Its a good double check.

Thetrip.com has its own program to earn miles. You get 1 mile for every dollar spent on an airline ticket. The miles transfer 1-to-1 to AA, CO, TWA, and NW (I think). Last month they had a triple mile promo so it was 3 miles per dollar. Decent service too.

Thanks for all the comments/suggestions. I would have preferred to use one airline's on-line service, but since I'm flying to a destination not served by the airlines at my local airport, I knew I would have to combine airlines. I am afraid to do this - but I am going to check the trip.com and see if I got the best deal.

Yea!!!!!!!! It appears that I did as well as possible!!! I would have been so bummed if I found a lower fare after I already bought the tickets.

I think maybe folks are talking past each other a bit.

Of course you earn ff miles on tickets purchased on Travelocity, as with any CRS-based web site that sells published fare tix. What you don't get by booking through web sites (at least consistently) are the bonus miles that the airlines give you as an incentive to book directly through their own web sites.

Charlie

I just discovered TheTrip.Com package also provides FF awards for people who purchase tickets for multiple people. For example, if you purchase 10 tickets on-line for 10 different people, then you will receive the FF mileage credit for the total amount of the tickets. 1 for 1 for each dollar spent (as MileKing says above). Spend $3,000 on those 10 tickets, you'll receive 3,000 miles plus those who travel receive their standard mileage bonus for the flight.

This is different since I believe each airline web site will only credit the person flying on the ticket... not the purchaser (even if you purchase 10 tickets for 10 different people).

See the fine print at www.thetrip.com. Transfer in 500 mile increments a selection of various programs.

Chazas: The Travelocity bonus will net you an additional 500 miles over booking on an airline's web site. That's what I was pointing out. You get the standard flight mileage plus a 1,500 mile kicker (versus the airline which gives you typically a 1,000 mile kicker).

A little bit off-topic but there is a great site based in Europe that you US people may not be aware of : www.tiss.com

I find it's great for booking travel that originates in Europe. It may(?) be better to use this than trying to book intra-European travel through any of the US based sites.

You're sure it's tiss and not TASS...! ;-)

(Isn't the Cold War supposed to be over?)