CIDFLYER From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 1990 posts, RR: 3 Posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 2434 times:
I was price checking a flight on AA from CID-PNS in Febraury and it gave me the "lowest" price of $1442. Travelocity has the same flights on AA for $374. What gives?? Could the AA website be incorrect? I have never seen an outrageous price like that for a domestic route.
I was price checking a flight on AA from CID-PNS in Febraury and it gave me the "lowest" price of $1442. Travelocity has the same flights on AA for $374. What gives?? Could the AA website be incorrect? I have never seen an outrageous price like that for a domestic route.
Nothing new here ... and you may even find a cheaper fare if you were to lookup a "last minute deals" which could even include a car rental! I am tempted at one trip in the next couple of weeks, one that does air/car for at least $200 less than airfare alone!
Jetdeltamsy From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 2984 posts, RR: 8 Reply 2, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2324 times:
Quoting CIDFLYER (Thread starter): Travelocity has the same flights on AA for $374. What gives?? Could the AA website be incorrect?
AA guarantees the lowest fares are available on their web site. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but you find something cheaper on a site other than AA.COM, you let them know..they match the price and give you $50 (i think) either off the fare or in a check.
Not sure of the specifics, but look up their guarantee on their website.
Worked for too many airlines to list. Banktupcy after bankruptcy after bankruptcy.
DTWAGENT From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 1283 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2304 times:
For me. I can beat all the travel web sites on airfares. I can find them lower on the carriers web site or I can go to Worldspan. But that is only because I'm a travel agent.
I don't use Orbitz, travelocity, or any other web site like these. Remember using these web sites they are going to charge you anywhere from $6.00 to $15.00 each way for a ticket and they don't tell you that until you PAY for you ticket. Yes I charge a fee but, I still come in beating their prices everytime.
DL787932ER From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 597 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 2294 times:
The way the "online travel agents" like Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. work is that they get access to the most discounted published prices for travel segments and resell/repackage them on the fly as customers search for seats. They can combine segments on different airlines for the cheapest total combination, which is why you could look for a round trip from, say, JAX-CLT and get a routing like JAX-ORD on AA, ORD-CLT on UA, CLT-MEM on US, MEM-ATL on NW, and ATL-JAX on DL - that just happens to be the cheapest combination of segments they found that will complete your trip.
It's possible (though unlikely if you're looking to book five months out) that AA has sold all its lower fare buckets on the complete flights you want to fly and only has Y/B/M fares left, but Travelocity still has access to segments on those same flights that it can resell cheaply. That could explain the discrepancy, although because of their "lowest fare guarantee" you should be able to contact them and they can "reassign" an open seat to a lower fare bucket for you that would match or beat Travelocity's price. Be sure you're looking at the exact same flight numbers, times, and dates on all legs, though.
727LOVER From United States of America, joined Oct 2001, 5720 posts, RR: 20 Reply 5, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 2267 times:
Quoting DTWAGENT (Reply 3): For me. I can beat all the travel web sites on airfares. I can find them lower on the carriers web site or I can go to Worldspan. But that is only because I'm a travel agent.
Isn't Worldspan the booking agent on A.net? It didn't show Airtran's $49 fare between MCO & DTW. It's lowest was $128.
Pensacolaguy From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 535 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 15 hours ago) and read 2095 times:
AAs website always lists outrageous fares..
Quoting Jetdeltamsy (Reply 2): Not sure of the specifics, but look up their guarantee on their website.
I normally check one of the larger booking sites like Orbitz and then go to the airline website of the cheapest fare listed and normally it's a few dollars cheaper. I don't think yours is an accurate statement.
Gregarious119 From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 523 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 2082 times:
It seems as if Travelocity/Orbitz have a more robust searching engine than the individual sites do. So.....here's usually how I shop.
Search using Travelocity, find the city pairing and times that have the best prices. Then, once I know which flights are the cheap ones, go to the airlines site, search specifically for those segments and book it.
It typically will save you at least $5/10 in the service fee and you still get the lowest costs.
DLD9S From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 247 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 2072 times:
There are a couple loop holes in most airline's low fare guarantee. AA notes that the "Lowest Fare Guarantee does not apply to unpublished fares" and that the other fare must have the "same fare rules and restrictions". Any fares that must be sold in conjunction like a hotel or car, or all the negotiated rates do not qualify.
ZschocheImages From United States of America, joined Sep 2006, 138 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 2052 times:
Lots of times the flights are listed on Orbitz but aren't available. I tried to get tickets from MLI to SAV over New Years. I found some great deals on Orbitz for just over $200, but everytime I tried to select the flights I got a message that said they were no longer available. This went on for a few days. On the DL website they were about $100 more expensive. I ended up just using miles and booking on the DL website. Somehow I got a free upgrade both ways. Sometimes it pays to just use the airlines website.
TeamAmerica From United States of America, joined Sep 2006, 1761 posts, RR: 23 Reply 11, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 1998 times:
Quoting Willyj (Reply 7): I normally check one of the larger booking sites like Orbitz and then go to the airline website of the cheapest fare listed and normally it's a few dollars cheaper. I don't think yours is an accurate statement.
Ditto. I use Travelocity or whatever to search multiple airlines and (most important) to search date ranges to find the cheapest flights. Then I do the booking on that airline's own website. Once I know the exact date and flight number, I've never had trouble getting the best fare. IMHO AA has one of the better airline sites for bookings.
BDL2DCA From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 313 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 1983 times:
Did you go all the way to the point of pricing the itinerary with Orbitz? I've seen a number of times when you view the fares, they are low. Then, when you click on the item and try to purchase it, a red message shows up and says "we found a different price for your itinerary."
Jetdeltamsy From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 2984 posts, RR: 8 Reply 13, posted (6 years 7 months 2 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 1978 times:
Quoting Willyj (Reply 7): I normally check one of the larger booking sites like Orbitz and then go to the airline website of the cheapest fare listed and normally it's a few dollars cheaper
I think he meant outrageously cheap fares. And that has been my experience as well.
[Edited 2006-10-11 04:48:13]
Worked for too many airlines to list. Banktupcy after bankruptcy after bankruptcy.
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