How can agents sell the same flights cheaper than the airlines direct?

Fred Swanson

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Jwacqui

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Just a quickie.

I have noticed that using skyscanner, that some flights can be gotten from an agent a lot cheaper than booking the same flights from the airline via their own website. How is that possible?

An example, Turkish quoted me €300 for a IST-DUB return in August where as ebookers.ie could do the exact same flights for €270. Ebookers are hardly losing money here, so what is the deal?

I would imagine that they buy the flights in bulk and receive a discount? Or they get a lower rate as the airline will sell more if people can purchase the flights from two sources. Total guess though!

gypsy79

Try book the actual flights and they wont exist is what my experience was in general. This was a persistent problem with Emirates flights I was booking! They just get you on their site hoping you will book something else

endofrainbow

not necessarily in this case, but a lot of the online agents cobble together itineraries that are not on the one ticket therefore offering no protection to the passenger.

sometimes the baggage charges are not included in the final price and most online agents don't have access to live pricing, so what you are actually seeing may increase when you hit the *buy* button.

always best to buy direct from the airlines website.

Fred Swanson

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gypsy79

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Fair play, then take advantage

Some of the less reputable sites do use stale prices. I know this for a fact as I have been there and had the pain in trying get flights i wanted

Batgurl

Most full service airlines offer OTA's special wholesale rates. This is usually anywhere between 10%-20% cheaper than direct. Companies then choose what commission they add to this to make them most competitive. Occasionally you will get an agent who adds zero commission hence the steep discount.

Airlines do this as the volume sites like Expedia etc can generate for bookings is far greater then they would get themselves because their international audience reach is bigger.

keithclancy

In most cases I've seen its cheaper until you go to book and then there's a credit card fee or something on the end that bumps up the price.

Unless there's a huge difference I always book direct, if you need to change it the airline won't deal with you and you are at the mercy of the booking agent.

jaymcg91

There usually is a huge difference, particularly when I've booked Air Canada, AA or Delta flights. United.com seems to be cheaper for their own flights, as does Ryanair.com.

SalEB1990

I was just about to book through Skyscanner - TravelGenio but random options started coming up so I said I would google to see what peoples' general experiences were with these websites? And it appears not good!

So question is, how to you go about it? Do you go to each airline and make the booking separate?

For example, I want to get from Queenstown to Dubai so the flight options are:

- JetStar - Queenstown to Auckland
- Emirates - Auckland to Dubai

Should I just make each booking separately?

Sorry I must sound so stupid but I've never done any long distance travelling so am new to booking connecting flights! Any advice would be much appreciated!

fits

SalEB1990 wrote: »

I was just about to book through Skyscanner - TravelGenio but random options started coming up so I said I would google to see what peoples' general experiences were with these websites? And it appears not good!

So question is, how to you go about it? Do you go to each airline and make the booking separate?

For example, I want to get from Queenstown to Dubai so the flight options are:

- JetStar - Queenstown to Auckland
- Emirates - Auckland to Dubai

Should I just make each booking separately?

Sorry I must sound so stupid but I've never done any long distance travelling so am new to booking connecting flights! Any advice would be much appreciated!

I fly a lot (short haul). And I was booking long haul flights last week. I looked at these booking sites, I looked at airlines own sites and I looked at trailfinders. Now since I fly a lot I know things can and do go wrong and to book a long haul trip on two separate tickets and no flexibility is extremely risky. At very least get the whole trip on one ticket cos if you miss a connection you are screwed.

I booked through trail finders in the end as their tickets are somewhat flexible.

endofrainbow

booking separate tickets is a recipe for disaster, if there are delays/cancellations , you are on your own and at the mercy of the online agents to inform you and rebook you if necessary.

Book on the airlines' website on one ticket that way you are covered.

SalEB1990

Thanks guys! Popped up to trailfinders and they couldn't have been more helpful :-)! All flights booked... bring on my NZ adventure!