BudgetAir.ie

madmoe

Hi all,
Got a really good deal on a flight to Seattle from San Francisco using Skyscanner and when I clicked on it I was then brought to www.BudgetAir.ie, has anyone ever heard of these crowd? They have an Irish contact number listed and I am on hold for the last half an hour with them but have me doubts!! Anyone any experiences positive or negative?

Thanks,
M

Todd Gack

I had the same thoughts about them myself but went ahead and booked KLM/Air France flights with them recently which were a good bit cheaper than the airline's website.

I haven't travelled yet but got my e-ticket within an hour or 2 from BudgetAir, the flight details were then available on the KLM and Air France websites.

Had an issue with a flight being re-scheduled (nothing to do with BudgetAir) and was able to deal directly with KLM to sort it out so would have no worries that all is in order.

Rascasse

Never heard of them. A quick snoop suggests they part of this crowd from the Netherlands. http://www.travix-international.com/ who in turn are owned by these: http://www.bcd-nv.com/en/about-bcd/

Looks somewhat kosher, though maybe contact the parent company to check.

They should really format the phone number properly (and a Dublin number is only local in, er, Dublin). Stuff like that makes it look shifty.

Would be good to get some more competition beyond the usual expedia/lastminute etc

madmoe

Todd Gack wrote: »

I had the same thoughts about them myself but went ahead and booked KLM/Air France flights with them recently which were a good bit cheaper than the airline's website.

I haven't travelled yet but got my e-ticket within an hour or 2 from BudgetAir, the flight details were then available on the KLM and Air France websites.

Had an issue with a flight being re-scheduled (nothing to do with BudgetAir) and was able to deal directly with KLM to sort it out so would have no worries that all is in order.

OK mate, that is great to hear! Did you need to call them at any stage? If so were you able to get through to someone and were not put on hold forever??

Thanks,
M

Todd Gack

madmoe wrote: »

OK mate, that is great to hear! Did you need to call them at any stage? If so were you able to get through to someone and were not put on hold forever??

Thanks,
M

No, I never had to call them direct, only KLM themselves. I had a look at reviews on tripadvisor etc. and looked at the parent company and they seemed ok so I said i'd chance it seeing as they were a good €150 cheaper than booking direct.

madmoe

Todd Gack wrote: »

No, I never had to call them direct, only KLM themselves. I had a look at reviews on tripadvisor etc. and looked at the parent company and they seemed ok so I said i'd chance it seeing as they were a good €150 cheaper than booking direct.

Great stuff! I know it may not be the appropriate place to ask but would you have any recommendations about cheap but good places to stay in Seattle?

All the best,
Mark

okidoki987

If you have any suspicions about a company when booking, always use your Credit Card.
At least if it goes bellly up, the CC company will refund you.

cruhoortwunk

madmoe wrote: »

Great stuff! I know it may not be the appropriate place to ask but would you have any recommendations about cheap but good places to stay in Seattle?

All the best,
Mark

Hotwire all the way for US hotels

madmoe

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

madmoe wrote: »

Great stuff! I know it may not be the appropriate place to ask but would you have any recommendations about cheap but good places to stay in Seattle?

All the best,
Mark

Hotwire all the way for US hotels

Will give them a look dude ;-)

Stinicker

They don't have the best of reputations

http://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/budgetair.co.uk

Although some people have no problems with them so ymmv, best thing is if you do book is to ring whatever airline to confirm the reservation so you will know they have it actually booked for you. They are cheap yes but just be careful and definitely use a credit card and not a laser/debit card.

madmoe

Stinicker wrote: »

They don't have the best of reputations

http://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/budgetair.co.uk

Although some people have no problems with them so ymmv, best thing is if you do book is to ring whatever airline to confirm the reservation so you will know they have it actually booked for you. They are cheap yes but just be careful and definitely use a credit card and not a laser/debit card.

Cheers for that mate....was literally about to go ahead and book the flight now....will wait and see if I can actually get through to them on the phone!

Thanks,
M

Update: Just tried to book and got an error at the last part :-( Now onto the bank to see if the credit card was charged....I have a nasty nasty feeling it was!!

vicwatson

madmoe wrote: »

Hi all,
Got a really good deal on a flight to Seattle from San Francisco using Skyscanner and when I clicked on it I was then brought to www.BudgetAir.ie, has anyone ever heard of these crowd? They have an Irish contact number listed and I am on hold for the last half an hour with them but have me doubts!! Anyone any experiences positive or negative?

Thanks,
M

Let me guess, you're gonna tell us about the bargain alert any minute now:rolleyes:

madmoe

vicwatson wrote: »

Let me guess, you're gonna tell us about the bargain alert any minute now:rolleyes:

Yeah.....flights to all over the place are much cheaper on budgetair.ie

Have just booked, even though I got an error all went OK and nothing to worry about. I have the booking reference with American Airlines and have checked it's valid on aa.com and it most certainly is!

Cheers,
M

PS: Mods feel free to move as necessary!

cruhoortwunk

Budgetair seem to be always cheaper than the rest on Skyscanner (for any of the airlines/routes they do). Looks like they have an agreement with skyscanner, so their prices are always lower than the competition

jakdublin

I used them before on flights to Bulgaria without any problems. Had the same fears as I'd never heard of them either and the flights were a fair bit cheaper but it was fine.

Catmologen

Great prices, by far the cheapest I've seen online. I booked flights with them recently and rang the airline afterwards to confirm, no problems whatsoever. You'll find good and bad reviews for every travel website online (and drive yourself mental weighing up the pros and cons in the process ). If the price is right then just book it.

Diziet

I booked and travelled with them in October without any problem.

madmoe

jakdublin wrote: »

I used them before on flights to Bulgaria without any problems. Had the same fears as I'd never heard of them either and the flights were a fair bit cheaper but it was fine.

Good to hear mate!

cruhoortwunk

I got return flights to Vancouver through them for €520, and it's over Easter, with KLM.

Galadriel

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

I got return flights to Vancouver through them for €520, and it's over Easter, with KLM.

I was gonna book this for the folks, they're going to Vancouver in May but what put me off was they only have 1 hour from the time they land in Amsterdam to catch the connecting flight, is yours the same?

madmoe

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

I got return flights to Vancouver through them for €520, and it's over Easter, with KLM.

Great price!

cruhoortwunk

Galadriel wrote: »

I was gonna book this for the folks, they're going to Vancouver in May but what put me off was they only have 1 hour from the time they land in Amsterdam to catch the connecting flight, is yours the same?

I have almost an hour and a half there, but because it's KLM all the way, I'm not concerned about missing it

cruhoortwunk

madmoe wrote: »

Great price!

Indeed it is, it seems they are gone back up to €720 with KLM now, I got lucky with my timing
My theory is that people don't start booking these trips til a few weeks after Christmas, due to cash flow issues. I got in there around the 10th of Jan, before most people decided on their Easter trips

aN.Droid

Booked shannon-heathrow-vancouver for 510 a few weeks ago. Great price and am flying next week

cruhoortwunk

Limericks wrote: »

Booked shannon-heathrow-vancouver for 510 a few weeks ago. Great price and am flying next week

Good price too. Is there much wait time at each stop? My journey via Amsterdam will take 12hrs including the stop.

aN.Droid

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

Good price too. Is there much wait time at each stop? My journey via Amsterdam will take 12hrs including the stop.

12:50 - 14:25 from shannon

16:55 - 18:55(local) from heathrow to vancouver.

So about the same travelling time as yourself but with British airways instead.

madmoe

cruhoortwunk wrote: »

I have almost an hour and a half there, but because it's KLM all the way, I'm not concerned about missing it

Once you are flying KLM both flights you should be fine, unless the plane is crazy late arriving from Dublin they will usually hold the second flight.

Cheers,
M

m.j.w

I booked dublin - heathrow - toronto one way for 279 with brittish airways last night. Dont know how they are getting it so cheap, if you try to book it on the brittish airways site its 1200 euro. They sent me my reference code today and logged in on the brittish airways site and the flights are there so they are grand!!

madmoe

m.j.w wrote: »

I booked dublin - heathrow - toronto one way for 279 with brittish airways last night. Dont know how they are getting it so cheap, if you try to book it on the brittish airways site its 1200 euro. They sent me my reference code today and logged in on the brittish airways site and the flights are there so they are grand!!

Sweet price!

jakdublin

madmoe wrote: »

Once you are flying KLM both flights you should be fine, unless the plane is crazy late arriving from Dublin they will usually hold the second flight.

Cheers,
M

You're right. I wouldn't worry about the connections really. I fly to Sofia fairly regularly and there's no direct flights so I always have a connection, but I always buy the one ticket. You're in trouble if you buy two separate flights but once the flights are bought on the one ticket the connection is part of the deal. Sometimes the connections are only 45 minutes apart but you will already have your boarding pass so they'll wait.

A relative was making the same trip last year and did miss the connection as they had never flown before, and couldn't figure out how to get from one terminal to the other, but they put them up in a hotel and got them on the next available flight the next morning.

marrm

Folks,

try momondo.com: I've used it before, never a problem, as they don't take your money but pass you on.

Compared it with budgetair.ie for a few flights I have coming up, momondo was cheaper each time. :)

Seems maybe the reason is that budgetair.ie checks airlines, takes your money and makes the booking.

momondo.com checks other websites (such as ebookers, lastminute, maybe even budgetair) and lists the offers from best to worst. Then you pick the one that suits you (and they get a commission?)