Skyscanner issues

Chelon

Just really confused by Skyscanner, especially as several people I know rave about it. The issues are mainly:-

The "lowest fare" they show is frequently higher than what you can see on airlines' own websites.

If you select "Fly to anywhere" many times it just gives you a top pick then the other destinations say "Get prices" so you spend ages checking them all.

Again if you do this many times the prices shown are higher than what you can get elsewhere. There are also cheaper destinations out there that Skyscanner doesn't tell you about.

So what I'm really after is an accurate flight search engine that will show the true lowest price available and also especially for the "Fly anywhere" option show you all that's available for given dates. I believe Google flights etc doesn't have the "Fly anywhere" option?

endofrainbow

Skyscanner is a search engine which directs you to ota who do not have live pricing. The only websites to have live pricing is the airlines themselves.

Google flights is good but ITA Matrix has a lot more options - always but direct from the airline.

Credit Checker Moose

Don’t exclude OTA’s altogether as they are often far cheaper or have stock not being made available directly by airlines.

This! I have nearly always got deals from OTA's which were much cheaper than going direct. In fact sometimes 50% cheaper.

Chelon

So OTA = Expedia, etc?

Judging from these helpful replies there isn't really anything that will give you the cheapest "fly anywhere" option, you just have to look around.

Again mystified by those who swear by Skyscanner as it doesn't seem to work as intended.

Tenzor07

Skyscanner is great as a general search engine, I find it easier and more clear than Google Flights...

Though i'd never book a flight through the links, usually Expedia who show out of date and or inaccurate prices, I just go to the Airlines website, which for most all European flights is usually Ryanair anyways..

Tenzor07

Mr.S wrote: »

A lot of the long-haul bargains (like on Secret Flying / Jack's Flight Club) are usually all discounted prices on OTA's.

Yea, for sure, Long haul's may have some deals to be found...

For any EU travel then Ryanair or the budgets have it all covered, Norwegian used to have the Dub-US routes covered...

Layne

Has anybody had any experiences, positive or negative, with any OTA??
Was looking at long haul flights and the savings are significant but nervous using the OTA offering the price. Is the refund always guaranteed in the event of a cancellation??
Also, are the star ratings each OTA has worth considering when choosing who to fly with e.g. Etravel have good rating with Vayama and Travelgenio not so good??
Any advice appreciated.

Credit Checker Moose

The killer with some OTAs is that they will charge you upwards of 30 euro as a credit card fee. So that cheap flight is now no longer cheap.

I tend to stick to reliable OTAs like Expedia or Tripair.

I have never had the OTA cancel a booking a few days later. It must be the more dodgy ones that do that.

JohnCleary

Can you usually book exit row / legroom seats with OTA? They'd hardly have a live seat map?

clever user name

JohnCleary wrote: »

Can you usually book exit row / legroom seats with OTA? They'd hardly have a live seat map?

Usually you'll need to do that on the actual airline website via 'manage your booking'. In most cases you can use your e-ticket number to log in, which the OTA will send you. Though some airlines ask for 'airline booking reference number' (or something along those lines).

As an example, I flew home for christmas (Beijing -> Helsinki -> Dublin). Booked the flight with an OTA (Travelgo). Wanted to buy wifi so I could do some work on the flight, so went to the Finn Air website a few days before departure. It asked for airline booking reference number in order to manage my booking. I didn't have that so got in touch with Travelgo (online chat) and they sent it straight away. Logged in and booked seat + paid for Wifi.

Previously I have been able to just use e-ticket number, and I vaguely remember being able to choose my seat via OTA website on one occasion, but this has no been the norm (for me anyway).

cee_jay

Layne wrote: »

Has anybody had any experiences, positive or negative, with any OTA??
Was looking at long haul flights and the savings are significant but nervous using the OTA offering the price. Is the refund always guaranteed in the event of a cancellation??
Also, are the star ratings each OTA has worth considering when choosing who to fly with e.g. Etravel have good rating with Vayama and Travelgenio not so good??
Any advice appreciated.

I've used e-travel quite a few times, and have found them very good.

Credit Checker Moose

Once you have the eticket number and/or the passenger confirmation number you can make whatever changes you like direct with the airline.

sarahcol

I'm currently looking into booking flights through either etravel or expedia for July when I travel to America. I'm travelling from Ireland so one way with Aer Lingus is looking at minimum €500. I found multi-city return flights for around €600 which suits me more. Am I safe booking through expedia or etravel? A few people I know haven't had problems with them but I know problems arrive when something goes wrong.
When I went on my J1 about 2 years ago I'm sure Sayit books through a 3rd party search engine as we got Virgin Atlantic return flights for around €700 when they retail at around £1300 one way. We had no problems with these flights so I'm considering booking them.

Any advice at all about expedia/etravel would be great as these 2 seem to be most popular and seem to be most reliable!

Also before anyone says it, I know it's always better to go with the airline direct but I don't have the money to be spending €3000+ on flights!

endofrainbow

sarahcol wrote: »

When I went on my J1 about 2 years ago I'm sure Sayit books through a 3rd party search engine as we got Virgin Atlantic return flights for around €700 when they retail at around £1300 one way. We had no problems with these flights so I'm considering booking them.

one ways are always more expensive unless it's a LCC.

something to bear in mind is that you don't actually *own* the ticket - it's owned by the OTT so in case of delays or any other irrops, the airline won't assist.

Are you sure you're comparing like with like? For example, do the cheaper flights include baggage, seat selection, meals, drinks etc?

If you could post your proposed itinerary it would be of help for anyone to assist you .

Fireball81

Mr.S wrote: »

Why are you looking at booking one way flights? It's usually cheaper to book return flights for long-haul international.

Expedia is a legit company with decent support, no problem with using them. eTravel is a little less known but still fine.

E-travel.ie is based in Walkinstown, while not well known in the leisure market they do a lot of corporate work and are local should there be any issues.

Have used them before and am looking at some flights now on Skyscanner, will pay the extra €10pp its quoting for them over an unknown internet brand (am not talking about Expedia obviously).

nsa0bupkd3948x

endofrainbow wrote: »

something to bear in mind is that you don't actually *own* the ticket - it's owned by the OTT so in case of delays or any other irrops, the airline won't assist.

Not always true. I've had IRROPS with United, Turkish and Air India for bookings booked through OTA and they've all assisted. United have taken over the booking month in advance as well before to allow me to make changes without having to deal with budgetair.

Chelon

Just trying to book a flight to Cluj (Romania) and there is a low cost carrier, Blue Air, on their own website it's €228 return

Skyscanner €260

ITA Matrix €278 for the same flights

theguzman

I am an avid fan of Skyscanner but I must highly recommend Momondo as they recently saved me over €100 and brought up a flight combination I would have not thought to check. Check around and then always book via the airlines own website if possible.

theguzman

Fireball81 wrote: »

E-travel.ie is based in Walkinstown, while not well known in the leisure market they do a lot of corporate work and are local should there be any issues.

Have used them before and am looking at some flights now on Skyscanner, will pay the extra €10pp its quoting for them over an unknown internet brand (am not talking about Expedia obviously).

I used E-travel on different occasions without any problems, once even dropping the cash into their office in Dublin to pay for a flight a few years ago.

I always try to book with the airline directly but it isn't always possible especially on long-haul interline flights and have only ever used ebookers, lastminute.com and e-travel for my long-haul, interline multiple airline flights e.g. Aer Lingus & Malaysian, Aer Lingus and Cathay or Singapore etc.

I have never booked with the likes of Opodo, Vayama, Budget Air Ireland, GoToGate or TravelGenio and I don't think I will as I just don't like their design and they also seem intent to screw you on some extra or baggage.

It is extremely ridiculous to see the likes of BA, EI, KLM etc. charging for luggage on long haul now, reducing the baseline price to snare in custom but when you go to pay its far higher.

JohnCleary

Just saved almost €200 thanks to Skyscanner.

Ryanair was quoting approx €450 for return flights (including the trimmings).

SkyScanner picked up....
Outbound: AerLingus
Inbound: Vueling

By the time I added fast track / legroom seats etc. it was actually cheaper to book direct on each Airline website.

As I usually fly long-haul, you generally never book one-way (can often be as expensive as return!), however this doesn't apply with short-haul point-to-point ... happy days.

Fireball81

No doubt it's a good research tool, just wouldnt book with an unknown OTA to me.