Seat24.com - The Priceline for Europe? (Too good to be true)
Jun 10, 2012, 10:15 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: EU
Programs: My travel agent
Posts: 611
Seat24.com - The Priceline for Europe? (Too good to be true)
I often find on Kayak.de that the cheapest flights from Europe are provided by a little obscured site called Seat24.com. Unfortunately it's German/Swedish/Finnish/Norwegian/Danish only.
What was really strange that a flight offered by Norwegian - the low-cost airline - was provided cheaper on Seat24.com than on Norwegian's own site.
Is this site legit? What are your experiences with it?
I was told that I cannot always trust in a 3rd party booking site especially if it looks too good to be true so I'm a little bit confused:
What was really strange that a flight offered by Norwegian - the low-cost airline - was provided cheaper on Seat24.com than on Norwegian's own site.
Is this site legit? What are your experiences with it?
I was told that I cannot always trust in a 3rd party booking site especially if it looks too good to be true so I'm a little bit confused:
4. Even if you book through a good 3rd party site, you need to confirm with each carrier that you actually are ticketed on the specific flights the website says you are. A printed email from a third-parrty site won't get you a BP if it hasn't been properly ticketed.
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Remember, if a deal is too good to be true, it's too good to be true.
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Remember, if a deal is too good to be true, it's too good to be true.
Jun 10, 2012, 4:01 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Naples, Florida
Posts: 7,419
I have never used Seat24, but checked to day:
-4 star hotel in Frankfurt: found a good hotel, not expensive
-checkt flight FRA to LHR: price with BA was OK ... but not great!
I am going to try Seat24 very soon.
-4 star hotel in Frankfurt: found a good hotel, not expensive
-checkt flight FRA to LHR: price with BA was OK ... but not great!
I am going to try Seat24 very soon.
Jun 10, 2012, 4:52 pm
#3
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: AMS;SOF
Programs: Etihad Guest Silver, M&M FTL, Flying Blue Silver, Duna Club Silver
Posts: 207
I don't know if it is the same for Norwegian, but in general LCCs fares are not loaded in the GDS. What sites like these do is screen scrape the website of the airline and list the fares, which of course means that their price is not really "live". When you make a request to book such ticket a real person goes to the website of Norwegian and books it for you.
So in this case I assume seat24 had a price, which is cashed. How to they handle such situations I am not sure - there are stories about websites demanding more money from you, because the fare changed. In any case I will be very alert booking LCC ticket outside of their own website.
Again, this is in general, maybe Norwegian uploads its fares and availability to GDS, then it could be OK.
So in this case I assume seat24 had a price, which is cashed. How to they handle such situations I am not sure - there are stories about websites demanding more money from you, because the fare changed. In any case I will be very alert booking LCC ticket outside of their own website.
Again, this is in general, maybe Norwegian uploads its fares and availability to GDS, then it could be OK.
Jun 12, 2012, 5:44 am
#6
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 536
I have used Seat24 several times and in fact I have one reservation with them right now. I cannot comment on their customer service, since I've never needed it, but at least they provide a phone number and street address. Note that they have a credit card fee of 9 euros + 1% of the total price. And their website tries to sell you all kinds of unnecessary extra services that are covered with normal travel insurances or credit card terms. But that seems to be the same with every online travel agency. Just be sure to check 'no thanks' everywhere and double check the total amount before you pay.
Jun 12, 2012, 6:24 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: EU
Programs: My travel agent
Posts: 611
I have used Seat24 several times and in fact I have one reservation with them right now. I cannot comment on their customer service, since I've never needed it, but at least they provide a phone number and street address. Note that they have a credit card fee of 9 euros + 1% of the total price.
Last edited by Wayfahrer; Jun 12, 2012 at 6:34 am
Jun 14, 2012, 3:26 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: EU
Programs: My travel agent
Posts: 611
One other question: if I buy a connecting ticket on a 3rd party web site even if it's not on the airline's web site it's a normal connecting ticket always, right? Not separate legs daisy chained, correct?