taupo

A friend recently told me about Vayama, she has booked a couple of flights in the past, most recent was a year or so ago. She did not have any issues at all.

Based on her advice, I looked at several prospective bookings and liked what I saw for options, price, user friendly website.

I would like to book a BKK-YVR-BKK within a couple of days and was hoping for some feedback on Vayama before making the booking. They have a C fare for $3,200+-, good itin all on *A which is what I want.

I frequently fly to AKL ex YVR, usually book through NZ.com. Vayama has the same flights, class of service for significantly less.

The cynic in me is saying it's too good to be true.

Feedback please.

Thank you.

vayamateam

In response to "taupo's" request for feedback on the use of vayama, I'd like to respond from a bit of a biased perspective, but providing a knowledgeable response as well.

I am the Customer Relations Manager for vayama.com. Although my role and responsibilities are wide in scope, one of the things I do is handle all major customer complaints if/when they occur. Given the total bookings vayama completes for customers on a monthly basis, the complaints are very low (well under 1% of total bookings completed). But if/when an issue comes up, I can tell you first hand, the issue is dealt with promptly with direct intervention and response from me.

I mention the above because as a consumer looking to make a major investment in travel, we all want to feel comfortable and confident in our buying decision. To that end, although vayama places no guarantee that we will ALWAYS have the lowest fare for the cities and dates of travel requested of our customers, we beat the competition more often than not. The best plan for getting the best price is to do your research then act when the price is right. Airline fares are very volatile and are based on supply and demand. As is the case with most products, the least expensive airfares sell out quickly.

Another general principal to keep in mind when purchasing airline tickets is, the lower the fare, the more restrictive the conditions of use. This includes the penalties for making changes should your trip plans change following purchase. I mention this because some times the “cheapest” isn’t always the best value.

With that said, read the Terms and Conditions carefully prior to purchase to make sure you understand what you're purchasing and the restrictions associated with the fare. I know it's easier to just brush all that fine print aside on the basis that it won't apply to you. But it really is in your best interest to make sure to read all that information. And if any of it is confusing.....ASK!

OK, so here's my final pitch for using vayama. For anyone reading this post, if you book through vayama and after the fact have any questions or concerns, send an email to [email protected]. Only myself and another Customer Service Manager will receive email to this account. As a result, I can promise you will get a prompt, educated, informative response from either one of us. And if there is an issue, we will do all we can to resolve the problem within the rules of the ticket(s) purchased. That's my guarantee to you!

Happy Travels!

Sincerely,
David
Vayama Customer Relations Manager

taupo

David,

I appreciate your reply to my post.

I bought a return ticket a couple of weeks ago that was to be used Feb 15th. It was BKK-YVR-BKK C fare on ANA stock. Plans changed, needed to change the outbound to the 16th, buy another ticket that would be linked to mine etc. I called the call centre, after a short hold time a friendly enough gentleman was unable to helo me at all. He said I could email a request for the date change, would have to buy my additional ticket online and no guarantee of two seats available. In the end I cancelled mine with him and bought two more online under the same booking reference. He said the refun would take up to 60 days but the $110 refund charge would be applied right away.

Not a bad experience, but not a great one. Your call centre staff need to be empowered to help people, even for a charge, but they need to be able to deal with stuff.

None of this will deter me from continuing to use Vayama.

vayamateam

Taupo - Thanks for using vayama for your BKK-YVR-BKK trip. Sorry to hear of your need to change AFTER the fact. But more importantly, I appreciate your honest and straight forward feedback on the CS experience. I will be discussing this with our Training Manager with the goal of emproving the service provided by our agents.....particularly focusing on NOT sending the caller back to the vayama site, but rather, take a proactive approach and assist during the call.

thanks again, and happy travels.

David
Vayama Customer Relations Manager

Travelomania

Assume you're a Kiwi ... with a name like that

Stumbled upon your Vayama.com question of 1/25 and have the same hesitation.

Would you mind sharing your booking experiences for YVR-AKL since I fly a similar route ex SFO or LAX frequently and try to determine what works best for least amount of $$$.
Sometimes I even fly into SYD or MEL and backtrack to NZ - if need be.

If possible PM me and we can share experiences - if you care ..

taupo

I include vayama in any intl travel search now, and use them without hesitation.

sirius6

When I did my flight search last year, I searched through vayama, but ended up going through orbitzs. I really like their interface, but so far it hasn't helped me in booking anything.

moonquake

A few weeks ago I've booked with them trip to Europe and everything went fine. Quickly got the confirmation codes for all the airlines that I will be flying with, and just went straight to the airlines' websites to chose my seats. In other words very smooth transaction.

Travelomania

And so I did .. following your advise.

Please confirm (and elaborate if possible on) the following response I received with regards to a question about a 24-cancellation policy:

Thanks !

Daawgon

I just booked with Vayama for SE Asia, but UA - no way Jose (I fly only quality carriers!!!)

vayamateam

Travelomania -
I'm not sure if you're asking for an elaboration on the vayama 24hr cancellation policy or if what you've already had communicated to you was understood. So.......send me an email at [email protected] Attnavid R and let me know what your specific questions are. Thanks! David
Vayama Customer Relations Manager

flyer9

Registered for my 2c:

It was the first time I tried vayama, because it is the cheapest on Kayak.

Booked an international flight yesterday. Six days until departure.

The first "booking confirmation" email said I will receive the "ticket confirmation" in 24 hours. The website says it may take them 48 hours to process.

23 hours had passed. No ticket confirmation yet.

Had tried to call. They have business hours like a bank.

They have put pending transaction on my card.

I know I should wait another 1 hour or 25 hours before posting this...

Five days until departure now...

Dawson

[QUOTE=vayamateam;13331141]With that said, read the Terms and Conditions carefully prior to purchase to make sure you understand what you're purchasing and the restrictions associated with the fare.

David, how can we make an educated purchase if the fare codes are not listed before you book? Most of us here travel for miles as much as to get where we're going, so to fly and not get the elite miles would be like paying for a sandwich and not getting the bread. Is there any way to see the fare codes before booking? My next big flight to Asia should put me into United Premier Exec for the year (and is my last flight for 2010), and Vayama has the best price on a Continental itinerary. United says every fare code except XIO should get me the miles on Continental. BUT after reading some of the experiences of people here where they were told that half their flight from Vayam was a negotiated fare like Priceline, has me hesitating about booking with Vayama. Is there any way to tell what farecode and conditions I'm purchasing ahead of time?

Thanks!

februaryfour

I can answer that--I'm looking at a fare search on Vayama right now. If you click on "Fare Details" under the suggested itinerary, you can see the fare code. For example, UA's is TLXR. (I have no idea what this means. )

NB: If you are not looking at a specific airline's offering, this may not appear.

vayamateam

Dawson -
Februaryfour nailed it! Following your search, click on "fare details" under any of the availability options. Within the dropdown (on the right) you will see the "fare basis" codes for each flight segment. The first letter of the "fare basis" code is the "BOOKING CLASS". Once you know the booking class, check with your airline FF program to determine if the booking class provided allows for mileage accumulation.

If you have any follow-up questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact me at [email protected] Attn David. I'll be happy to provide a prompt response.

Thanks to "Februaryfour" for the additional input!

Happy Travels!
David


Vayama Customer Relations Manager