Travelgenio

.ak

Anybody here ever use Travelgenio to book flights? Trying to get to Reno and back for Burning Man in Aug/September and searching on Skyscanner the cheapest flights are with Travelgenio...

The site appears to be legit (if a bit cheap looking..) but I've never booked with them? It's quite a chunk of money so don't want to get stung!

Korat

I've never used Travelgenio but a couple of years ago I was booking a major trip for a group and discovered that the cheapest price quoted on flight search engines like Skyscanner isn't always actually the cheapest when it comes to paying. Each online travel agent seems to charge a different rate for credit card handling fees.

This is old information so it's worth comparing yourself but when I checked two years ago;

- Travelgenio charged 4.8%.
- ebookers was 2%.
- BudgetAir was 2%
- eflights.ie were the cheapest at 1.85%

Most have no charge for debit cards.

I ended up using ebookers, everything went perfectly, but I had researched E-travel Ireland (eflights.ie) too and they were ATOL registered with no horror stories prominent online anywhere unlike a few others I checked, like Bravofly apparently that's one to avoid. Defintely google the company before booking some of them have terrible reputations.

.ak

Korat wrote: »

I've never used Travelgenio but a couple of years ago I was booking a major trip for a group and discovered that the cheapest price quoted on flight search engines like Skyscanner isn't always actually the cheapest when it comes to paying. Each online travel agent seems to charge a different rate for credit card handling fees.

This is old information so it's worth comparing yourself but when I checked two years ago;

- Travelgenio charged 4.8%.
- ebookers was 2%.
- BudgetAir was 2%
- eflights.ie were the cheapest at 1.85%

Most have no charge for debit cards.

I ended up using ebookers, everything went perfectly, but I had researched E-travel Ireland (eflights.ie) too and they were ATOL registered with no horror stories prominent online anywhere unlike a few others I checked, like Bravofly apparently that's one to avoid. Defintely google the company before booking some of them have terrible reputations.

Cheers. Yeah googling Travelgenio doesn't pain a pretty picture... So I left it.

Looking for ebookers and etravel now. Cheers!

Coat22

Looking at booking a family trip to Orlando next summer. Have been watching prices for over a year now and with Sterling the way it is the option of flying via the UK is looking better and better.
AL fly direct and it would cost me c. 3500 for the 4 of us.
Using Skyscanner I found a deal with Travelgenio which is costing c. 2800 - 700 cheaper! This involves changing in Manchester at a 3hr stopover going and 90 minutes coming back - nothing too painful for 700.
I googled Travelgenio and the usual "don't use these they're scam artists" stuff came up but one would assume that a business the size of Skyscanner wouldn't link through to a scam.
Has anybody had any experience, good or bad with them? Am I missing a trick on the price?

VG31

Sites like Travelgenio are usually fine except when something goes wrong. Then their customer service can be nonexistent.

What airlines are you flying with? Sometimes these sites book you on connections with airlines that don't codeshare so you could have problems if you miss a connection.

Coat22

That's kinda what I was thinking but to be honest its airline tickets so if something does go wrong (change, cancellation etc) you're sort of up the creek anyway no matter who or how you book.
The airlines would be Aer Lingus to MAN and Virgin to Orlando

VG31

Coat22 wrote: »

That's kinda what I was thinking but to be honest its airline tickets so if something does go wrong (change, cancellation etc) you're sort of up the creek anyway no matter who or how you book.

Not if you book directly with the airline. Then if a flight is cancelled or if you miss a connection, they will book you on alternative flights.

VG31

You could try to book directly with Virgin Atlantic by calling their reservations centre (+44 344 209 7777)

Coat22

Looking at their website the Man-Orlando leg alone is costing almost as much as the entire trip (inc Dub-Man leg) with Travelgenio (and Travel2be - I think these are the same business under different brands) but good call - might give them a shout and see what they have to say

VG31

One other thing to bear in mind that is sometimes the fares on these sites aren't "live" so you may be charged a much higher price on payment.

Coat22 wrote: »

Looking at their website the Man-Orlando leg alone is costing almost as much as the entire trip (inc Dub-Man leg) with Travelgenio

It's not unusual for a short feeder flight as part of a larger booking to not cost much more.

I flew Nuremberg-Frankfurt-Dublin recently and it only cost about €15 more to flew from Nuremberh than from Frankfurt.

BuffyBot

VG31 wrote: »

It's not unusual for a short feeder flight as part of a larger booking to not cost much more.

I flew Nuremberg-Frankfurt-Dublin recently and it only cost about €15 more to flew from Nuremberh than from Frankfurt.

Indeed, sometimes it can even be less, when the airline is keen to attract traffic from a neighbouring competitor!

Coat22

So I rang Virgin direct as suggested. After an age I got a price for the same flights at 3200 - almost 400 more than Travelgenio and approaching the range where flying direct is worth the extra few quid.
Still wondering what could go wrong using Travelgenio etc. Would be amazed if Skyscanner / Momondo / Kayak are all directing to these sites if they're scams but enough scare artists out there on the interweb to give me doubts.

VG31

Coat22 wrote: »

Still wondering what could go wrong using Travelgenio etc. Would be amazed if Skyscanner / Momondo / Kayak are all directing to these sites if they're scams but enough scare artists out there on the interweb to give me doubts.

The sites aren't scams but they often have bad customer service. Make sure that you read their T&Cs very carefully as they can be very inflexible about things like name/date changes.

BuffyBot wrote: »

Indeed, sometimes it can even be less, when the airline is keen to attract traffic from a neighbouring competitor!

It's possible but being charged more is much more likely!

BuffyBot

Coat22 wrote: »

So I rang Virgin direct as suggested. After an age I got a price for the same flights at 3200 - almost 400 more than Travelgenio and approaching the range where flying direct is worth the extra few quid.
Still wondering what could go wrong using Travelgenio etc. Would be amazed if Skyscanner / Momondo / Kayak are all directing to these sites if they're scams but enough scare artists out there on the interweb to give me doubts.

I don't think they are "scam artists", but just manage your expectations if something goes wrong and you need assistance. Personally, I tend to err on the side of paying more because I like the reassurance.

Value is subjective - whether or not the difference in price is a deciding factor is only something you can decide on.