I’m never quite sure whether I’m getting the deal of the century or getting duped when it comes to booking through third party sites. I don’t have extensive experience and tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to paying for travel. However, this is in contrast to my scheming mindset where I normally think that the bottom line may not always be the bottom line.
Booking hotels, excursions, theatre tickets, and day trips often work out well if working through third party sites. I’ve saved hundreds of dollars on accommodation by booking through last minute deals. We’ve got tickets for West End and Broadway shows (often with dinner) for a fraction of their face value- which meant we ended up seeing shows which were not on our radar but were surprisingly brilliant). Groupon and Grabone vouchers allow us to try out local restaurants and attractions. When I’m planning for travel, I sign up for the emails for each of the locations we are visiting. If a voucher doesn’t get honoured somewhere, I can (usually) live with it as the financial outlay was not significant.
Flights are different for me. I will spend hours trying to find the best deals. Rome 2 Rio is my favourite travel search as it allows me to easily switch between modes of transport and departure and arrival destination. From here I can compare multiple airlines and with a simple click of a button book directly through the likes of Jetabroad or Travel Genie. But I don’t do it.
Why not? The lowest price may be a base fare and when additional costs are factored in (checked luggage is a biggie) they may not be that cheap. Also, I’ve heard terrible stories of flights changing and the third parties not passing on info in a timely manner.
So when do I use these sites and how do they work to my advantage? Mainly it is getting a ball park figure and researching to refine my options. Planning moving around and through multiple countries in a short space of time for our Scandinavia and North Africa trips was easy. If the search sent me to the official websites I booked through them (which was a fun challenge booking in and out of Tunis on Royal Air Maroc and Tunisian Air respectively).
I searched for flights when heading to a conference in the U.K. a few years ago on Airnz (my fave airline) and then compared these with flights on Skyscanner (I’d yet to discover Rome 2 Rio). I stumbled on an Airnz flight which was hundred of dollars cheaper than the one advertised on their website. But something stopped me from booking directly through Skyscanner. I was worried that there would be additional hidden charges which would reveal themselves afterward. And this is my conundrum. When booking for flights directly through the company, I have a sense of their cancellation policy and sufficient experience with them to feel that my biggest travel expense (and when you are departing NZ it is always flights) needs to be in safe hands. So instead, I called Airnz and enquired about their flight. Turns out it was a codeshare with Etihad so didn’t show up. I booked through the sales representative and felt secure with both the terms of the flight and knowing that I’d be clocking up more Airpoints as I flew.
I might be missing the deal of the century by avoiding booking directly through third parties but I’m still not ready to take that plunge! Please share positive experiences that you’ve had with third party sites to help me take the plunge.
The Peterson Odyssey 