adamj023

I noticed through online booking you have lots of search engines and aggregators which help you find fares and the best times to buy them.

However in the realm of online consolidators which are online booking, they all have notorious complaints yet fares for last minute travel and on some routes come to much cheaper through their booking engines.

Is there one online consolidator which is highly reliable to get the best consolidator fares especially on international flights?

OneTravel, Vayama and Cheapoair and many others which I have checked online have very negative reviews coming from the BBB.

I wish the airlines would allow direct access into these consolidator fares via online booking sites.

A last minute ticket to one location was coming in with Consolidators at more than 50% off all other prices.

ZMakarov

Hi,
Online booking is becoming more advanced these days and yes you are right, there are many search engines that provide these listings. However, it is a difficult task booking online as there are lots of options to choose from and all of them seem competitive. I have to agree with you on some of the negative reviews.

lo2e

Welcome to FT, both of you!

adamj023, you mentioned Vayama has a negative rating with the BBB, but if you look here, the BBB's website says it's A+... could you clarify?

adamj023

OneTravel had a C-. Others I saw had loads of complaints.

Not sure if I saw a bad BBB rating on Vayama or not and I apologize if it doesn't. The problem with Vayama for me is that it does not list the airlines or the routing untill after you purchase.

I will not buy tickets under that senario. I need to know precisely the equipment and routes.

A website which aggreggated from the real consolidator agent websites which sell only to agents and then gave consumer pricing would be ideal if it had access to the whole lot of consolidator fares and carriers.

fti

Not sure of such a site, especially if the consolidator only deals with agencies. Each agency might be able to mark up the consolidator fare differently so the "consumer pricing" part would not really be possible. But I know that the best fares I have received for international travel have been through a travel agent that deals with consolidators. And in talking with the agent, they deal with consolidator that sell only to agents and not to the general public. That way, the consolidator is basically an order taker, can keep costs low and make their money on volume. The "figuring out what the passenger wants" is left to the passenger and agent.

LuvAirFrance

What sorts of things can happen to a person who goes for a cheap fare without knowing equipment or routes. It could be useful caution to avoid that method, I'm just seeking more information. I know a guy at work who usually tries Priceline.

TeaEarleGreyHot

LuvAirFrance: Knowing equipment and routes could be important for a number of reasons. Perhaps a person has a medical condition that requires they not have a flight in excess of 2 hr. Perhaps a person of size cannot fit in certain aircraft. Perhaps someone is confined to a wheelchair and cannot gain access easily to certain aircraft. Perhaps a person just won't tolerate changing planes (and terminals) in the monstrosity known as Chicago O'Hare. Perhaps a person is excluded from the State of New Jersey because of a legal issue or police warrant, and would be arrested if they attempt to change planes there (or the country of Switzerland, where, we have learned, they will extradite a person to the USA who's wanted for crimes over 20 years ago). It's hard to imagine all the possibilities, but certainly I can understand a person wanting to know exactly the type of plane they're paying to fly on, and exactly where they might be required to spend a night if connections are missed.

LuvAirFrance

All good points. So a person does well to consider what, if any, special needs they have and only try for cheapest fares if there are none of these. Of course, one more thing I can think of that may not matter for others. There are some airlines with checkered pasts I'd like to avoid. So maybe I'll avoid those consolidator bargains, too.

adamj023

The way I look at it is, you don't know if you have to change airports or get a small regional commuter plane on the route. Vayama also won't do last minute airfares and requires booking further out in advance which is not what the consumer wants. You want to book later because consolidators often open up seats last minute if they want to clear out remaining seats.

Vayama's method of purchasing tickets is not one I would be using. Also yes I like to select planes based on safety records as well. Newer equipment with safer quality airlines and I want to know what type of plane it is.

If any reseller hides this, then there is no sale from me as a consumer since it is all public information. And in fact Ive seen plenty of consolidators who do not hide it.

I just wish more publically available consolidator fare search engines existed which met all the guidelines and criteria I am looking for including a top BBB record.

As far as an agent, I wouldn't mind a virtual agent website whereby one can get direct access to the consolidator pricing and the agent would get the commission and the like.

I guess I could try calling the largest consolidators to see if they will resell, but I wish there was a list of websites and a ratings guide.

LuvAirFrance

I don't feel I ever have to get a regional connector. No one ever has to cover that x00 miles on a plane. I never would. The air, thankfully, does not monopolize the transportation business.

fti

Unfortunately it doesn't work that way and maybe for people like me, who don't mind using a phone once in a while, it is actually fortunately. I get some of the bargains that others miss out on since they will only deal online . Often the airlines prohibit the consolidators from advertising their prices and/or airline name on a public website.


There is a loose air consolidator association and they need to pass certain hurdles to be a part of it. Not sure if all of them work only with travel agencies or also with the public.

adamj023

Some consolidator sites online post the actual information, others post the route and flight number and alliance partner only and using this information you can find out the plane equipment and the actual airline based on this information.

fti

That is what I said

LuvAirFrance

I can see why that makes perfect business sense. I mean, who wants two passengers to find out that A paid $700 and B paid $100 to fill the last empty seat? It can happen with talkative passengers. But no sense in putting it on the Web for all to see.

adamj023

Using the web and all the legitimate consolidators come up. Unfortunately the ones like OneTravel are not.

I prefer to deal with a consolidator in the NYC Metro region that I can get to quickly should the need arise.

For one way JFK to TLV, the cheapest reliable in NYC Ive seen through a website was through a reputable consolidator in Manhattan for a price under $600 for a connection flight using British Airways which is a one world alliance partner.

Weekly roundtrips through El Al are $999 Round Trip through their own website but you can't choose the actual dates you want other than choosing weekly fares they already have.

I assume with consolidator fares you would still quality for FF miles since you could just add your FF # to the system? Or am I incorrect on this matter?

On some routes, cheap tickets will never open up because the routes are overcrowded and oversold. Till July, the JFK runway will remain shut down which forced airlines to scale back operations but after it is back, I presume air carriers will start increasing routes again.

On a plane, with over 100+ PAX, 2 people rarely pay the same price for all seats. On Virgin America and Jetblue and low fare airlines like that, prices are prolly on par with each other for coach seating.

On International however, prices vary widely. And going through the airline itself at the airport last minute I assume in all instances even if seats were available ticket prices would be full retail price and be rediculously high.

However if one had a local consolidator, they could use etickets or pick up the tickets before you travelled last minute and save a rather large amount on the fare.

Airports are generally packed and constantly used and planes are utilized and flown in the air.

Its sad to see aggregation sites use low rated consolidators in their searches. Sites like Orbitz, Farecompare, Kayak, Bing Travel, Expedia and Travelocity pretty much just book from regular airlines and may help you figure out when published fares are cheaper. But on last minute bookings or to get lower than published fare prices especially when planes are less full, consolidators seem to be coming in at much lower prices sans an extraordinary fare sale by a carrier or a fare mistake especially on international. And there are literally oodles of them under various names.

I saw one called exploretrip.com which had really low prices coming in on one of the engines. But a BBB search and Manta search and a Dun And Bradstreet search turned up nothing and it made me wonder how firms like this are getting sponsored by legitimate aggregation sites when legitimate firms will be part of the company databases. I would never do business with a firm like Exploretrip.com. In fact I just thought to do a business search through California itself to see if the LLC was valid and in fact it isn't even in that database as well.

I wonder if most users who use those aggregation sites actually bother to check the validity and the legitimacy of the firms it brings up as well as the ratings of the BBB and if its listed or not.