Travelling using skyscanner, Dublin -> Bahrain

lip gloss

Hows it goin!
Just wondering if any one has used Skyscanner to book flights.

Lima Golf

lip gloss wrote: »

Hows it goin!
Just wondering if any one has used Skyscanner to book flights.

You don't book your flights from skyscanner. It's a search engine that directs you to other websites. If you tell us the name of the site it directs you to someone might be able to advise you eg. Ebookers, expedia etc.

IHeartChemistry

As someone who just booked long haul flights yesterday, I discovered that Skyscanner isn't all it's cracked up to be. Have a look on Skyscanner for the flights but then go and book with the actual airline through their website. A lot of the websites on Skyscanner have a fee (Travel Genio was 52 euros per passenger!) for booking with them. I nearly got caught yesterday but then went looking for the same flights shown on Skyscanner on Singapore Airlines website and it ended up being cheaper as their is no extra fees.

As somebody said to me, Skyscanner is a free for all like Google. Use it as a guideline but it's safer in the long run to just book directly with the airlines.

Hope that helps!

househero

Skyscanner is safe. But the prices quoted are WAY off a lot of the time, they used to update more regularly.

You can find the best fares that the airlines/travel agents have access to by using the Google Airfare Matrix. If you want me to help you use it drop me a private message on where you are going, or do a google search for airport codes, ati routing codes and alliance matrix advanced fare options. Its easy to use after a bit of practice and you book direct with the airline. Which is always the safest option.

ScottSF

I've never heard of Skyscanner charging a fee or adding anything to the price. That would be against the entire purpose of their site. Kayak.com is the same kind of flight (and hotel) price meta-search and comparison site. They also just redirect you to book at what they think is the cheapest site, whether that is direct with the Airline or via an online travel agency. Kayak is more US focused and Skyscanner is better with the European budget airlines, especially when you want to combine flights on two different airlines (that require you to make multiple bookings). These sites make their money on advertising and referring traffic to their preferred booking sites. Again you are under no obligation to click through - you can always open up a different browser to search and book as you wish.

Now I do agree that Skyscanner airfares do not seem to be updating as often as they did in the past. I used to find them to be accurate almost all the time. Now I'm occasionally seeing prices that are no longer available when you click through to Ryanair or Aer Lingus for example. Usually it is accurate or close enough from my experience.

lip gloss

Thank you to all of you.
Im thinking of visiting a relative in Bahrain in Jan, and was thinking of booking my flights from Dublin to
bahrain with skyscanner. I just wanted to know what experiences people had with it.
It looks like Etihad has the best price and flight times that suit me, however the connection time in Abu Dhabi airport
is 1 hour 15 mins a bit short.
Thanks again for the replies.

Ed_Stephens

Don't worry about the short turnaround time, even if you have to change terminals it's quite quick and the walk will do your legs good.

lip gloss

Thanks ED,
Have you been to Abu Dhabi airport? It looks very big,but I think Eithad have
their own terminal there.

Ed_Stephens

I've been to Abu Dhabi several times, yes it's a big airport but if you're landing and taking off from the same terminal it's not a problem. Etihad pretty much run the whole operation, the only hassle will be landing in Terminal one and taking off in terminal 3 as you'll have to go through security but I've never been delayed as they're usually very quick getting passengers through. If anything your flight leaving Abu Dhabi may be a little delayed as the airport is at breaking point with regards to capacity. There's some nice shops in the duty free and plenty of seating. Etihad usually announce the gates for connecting flights when you're on approach to Abu Dhabi and they're also available on the in flight entertainment system when you're about an hour out from landing.

I'd have no qualms about using Etihad, great entertainment system and very reliable with a pretty good in flight service.

keithclancy

Abu Dhabi as an Airport is not great, Etihad planes land far away from the Terminal and you have to get a bus back and another bus out to your connecting flight.

The Planes and service on board are excellent though ! They also serve alcohol on the flights leaving Abu Dhabi, which I was surprised about

Ed_Stephens

The buses are due to a lack of gates in terminal one, if you land at terminal 3 it's a gangway job as usual. They have been upgrading it for quite some time, I think Eithad's success may have even caught them by surprise.

keithclancy

Ed_Stephens wrote: »

The buses are due to a lack of gates in terminal one, if you land at terminal 3 it's a gangway job as usual. They have been upgrading it for quite some time, I think Eithad's success may have even caught them by surprise.

That's true actually I was supposed to fly back with Air Serbia (on Etihad Metal) last weekend, but I managed to fall into a hole and banjax my leg.

As a result my Travel Insurance paid for a Business class flight back, which was nice.

First flight from Colombo to Abu Dhabi was with Etihad and then Air Berlin from Abu Dhabi to Dusseldorf.

The Etihad plane was a bus and Air Berlin was a gangway.

Nice lie flat bed also

lip gloss

Thanks to all for your comments.
I still have to admit that I am still a little concerned about making a connection with only
1 hour and 15 mins to spare!
Im still not sure if its best to book my flighst with skyscanner or directly with the airline.
Decisions, decisions! Thanks again.