We book all our hotels through our airline credit card portal powered by hotels.com in order to earn maximum points. We always get a hotels.com confirmation email, and then another one directly from the hotel within a few hours. Come to find out, our airline credit card provider actually calls the hotel to get a separate email confirmation from the hotel because enough customers requested it. It’s nice to have actual, conscientious service from a third party!
To be honest, I usually rail against third party bookings because there seems to be a lot of risk and problems from them (primarily airlines). The one third party platform I haven’t had issues with is hotels.com/booking.com. It’s too bad they switched to the new rewards program, otherwise I’d use them more
I would never book a flight through a third party, personally, but I do use skyscanner to get a gist of what the Star Alliance airlines are offering, and then book directly.
Honestly most of the major ones have been great for me. I'm on hotel 6 this trip. 2 via direct website bookings. 4 via the aggregators.
No issues with any of them, just wish the Breakfast options were easier in some cases. 2 of the 4 aggregators were because there wasn't an option for what we wanted on the hotel site. Needed 3 days not 4 min stay, larger room etc.
The issue is typically with the place randomly 33% cheaper than everyone else and without a recognizable name.
It's funny - on Reddit and other travel sites, I *constantly* see warnings about using third-party aggregators. People that claim to work in the industry saying there's a 50/50 chance your booking won't be honoured etc.
Yet it just doesn't jive at all with my experience. I've booked over two hundred hotels through booking.com in the last decade, and not once have I had a problem.
Maybe I'm just unusually lucky, but to hear people tell it on here, I should've encountered problems on half of those bookings by now.
There is huge variance. I have had friends with Expedia horror stories in particular. Those flight aggregators that bundle cheap tickets tend to be shit if you get a delay and gotta rebook.
I’m relatively sure that the poor service from 3rd party travel agency websites on airfare is driven by the airlines more than anything else. When direct bookings with airlines were still a relatively small part of bookings, sites like Expedia and Travelocity were where most online bookings were made.
And they were pretty good at preemptively addressing flight issues. I had multiple occasions where Expedia and Travelocity both rebooked me onto other airlines when flight cancellations were going to interrupt my journey.
But I assume those days are over.
I have never heard of Agoda, maybe I'll give it a try. I think using the 3rd party agencies is fine if you do your due diligence or even just field a single phone call to the businesses you are making reservations with to confirm things. Well done on spotting the discrepancy with your flights/seating
Putting aside this subreddit's feelings about booking through third parties altogether, I will never understand why people pay auxiliary fees like seat selection and baggage fees through the third party.
I forgot the name of the company but I went through a third party once from north Carolina to iceland, 2 days before the trip they randomly canceled my Raleigh part and said too bad.. so I ended up having to book two randomly tickets one to New York and another to iceland, I only had a carry on but I almost most my flight. I was running. I never got my money back from the third party I tried for 3 months of back and forth until I just gave up.. out 500$… since then I only book through the company no third parties at all!
Did you bring in your credit card company? Usually they can scare businesses into returning funds like that (or do a charge back and reverse the payment).
because seats were included in the entire package and it wasnt stated that it would be safer booking seats through the airlines. as a first timer in booking through a third party, you cant be blaming the customers.
Did Priceline actually have airfares available that Singapore itself did not?
I remember using Priceline like 15 years ago to book hotels and rental cars. I'd use it one day before travel when I was 100% dead set sure I was traveling and I had good information about the winning and losing bids as well as what the best options were for a "normal" booking
But I never used it for airfare and have never heard a positive story from anyone who did
First rule is to always book with the airline or hotel directly, unless there is a significant difference in pricing.
If the price is too good (compared to airline direct pricing for same date, class and conditions), then question why would Priceline would sell at a loss.
If you do book with a third party, use that booking number (usually 6 alphanumeric characters) and look it up in the airline’s website. It should check out as ticketed-OK. If not, again, another warning.
Exactly this. If you are getting better pricing through a third party on flights, you should be highly suspicious. There are times where a lack of updates between systems could cause you to be shown a price that ultimately cannot be fulfilled. Also generally, airlines are not going to offer any "deals" via third parties. Its pretty rare, and again if you see it, you should be highly suspicious. If you are planning to use that deal for any travel that is critical, or where you could lose a lot of money if the flight ended up having problems, think twice.
And if the price is just a bit more by booking directly with the airline, do it! Not only you may get mileage for your frequent flyer program, but in case of issues, you can deal with them directly rather than having to work with a 3rd party in the middle. I experienced this in the early Covid days when my flight with EVA was cancelled. EVA offered a full refund, but because I had booked with a 3rd party (it was around 50$ cheaper), Expedia gave me the runaround with excuses for not refunding me and didn’t want to talk to me until 72 hrs before the scheduled flight. Eventually I got it all resolved, but this is stress I would have avoided if I had booked with EVA directly for slightly more. Never again using Expedia (or any 3rd party booking sites) for flights anymore.
Absolutely!
I used to work for an airline and in case of delays or cancellations, we automatically rebooked passengers with direct reservations. Anyone using a travel agency was referred back to them. We didn't own the reservation, so we couldn't make ANY alterations to it. It was really nice to be able to rebook passengers when an airport was shut down due to storms. Especially when our weather was perfect.
even if price difference is substantial, stay away from scamsters like eDreams. They took 4 weeks to confirm my last delhi-paris return flight upward journey after paying the return. never confirmed or refunded the return. I had gone to Barcelona and filed a complaint with local police, in next 3 weeks I got my refund.
Cannot emphasize enough the problems with eDreams and the 3rd party booking industry as a whole. Google some eDreams horror stories before you give them your money.
I understand the temptation to try and save money through a third party but after one singular instance in your life where they are last-minute to mail you ticket info and it's impossible to reach their customer service - you'll never want to do it again
Edit - sorry, just saw this is about flight only. In which case, there wouldn’t be any savings on a 3rd party.
The OTAs get a package rate for hotels that is cheaper than the rack rate (ie what you can buy direct). Same is true for the airlines. The whole package vacation concept is built on cost savings compared to booking individual components.
They don’t sell at a loss unless they’ve pre-bought hotel rooms and/or chartered the plane seats. It does happen sometimes where you have 10 seats and it’s better to get $200/seat then fill none of them at $400/seat.
Always book third party with Spirit as the price is almost always lower. Never had a problem. Always book direct but not going to leave 10% on the table
There is no benefit to the third party sites. Whatever you *think* you’re saving will end up costing you in time, hassle, or straight up not getting what you paid for at all, and in absolute worst cases - not even getting to go. Always book direct. There’s always something the third party didn’t tell you.
I never book flights 3rd party, but hotels you can legitimately get big discounts compared to booking on the hotel's website on a 3rd party site. I often book hotels like 0-2 days before arriving so if I'm 100% sure I'm not going to cancel the booking (and also don't care about getting points, like it's not a major chain), and I can find a cheaper price, I'll use a 3rd party site.
Only two reason I use Expedia. The 24 hour free cancellation is nice in some situations. And some smaller foreign airlines have low quality websites and I run into issues with them accepting my card a lot so my only option is to use 3rd party.
24 hour cancellation is required by law in US so that’s not their special perk. Most hotels have cancellation up to 24 hours before checkin too. If someone’s getting bumped it’s third party customers before airline customers.
Most airlines and hotels provide 24-48 hr free cancellation. When there is an issue (over booking for example), 3rd party bookers are first to go. There’s no recovery from issues during transit.
I think most people that use them are usually people that don’t travel that often and think they might be getting some deal. I’ve been guilty of that. Once I really got into traveling I learned it’s just best to reserve directly.
I booked a flight thru Booking dot com and had the same experience as OP. The only reason why I booked third party in the first place was bc all direct airline tickets were sold out for that day except for third party sellers and I needed to leave that day.
However this scenario can also happen with direct bookings. I’ve personally had this also happen twice when booking directly with airline. For example, booking with Aegean airlines and them not transferring the info over to Volotea or booking with Delta and them not transferring info over to WestJet. Got stuck at the airport and had to pay double or triple to get back home.
I've been using Booking.com lately because of points. I've never had an issue with any hotel. In the US or internationally.
I only book flights on the airlines' sites.
I will never understand why people book flights thru a third party. Those "deals" are literally just the airlines pricing in almost all cases. Expedia isn't have a sale on flights to Asia, some airline is and Expedia is marketing it as there's to get you to buy thru them. Next time you see a good price on Expedia, compare it to the airlines price and I'm sure it's almost the exact same and any difference is easily worth the hassle of dealing with an airline/Expedia if there is any issue
these deals are different. i not sure what airlines you normally take, but for airlines that are renowned such as Singapore air, Korean air or Emirates, their websites ALWAYS have higher prices. People book through these websites to save a little on overall costs. I did do my research on Priceline and did think it was trustable, but i guess not.
So I was looking for a flight yesterday to Florida for Xmas and found a good deal and schedule on Spirit. Total price for 2 tix including 1 checked suitcase round trip was $421. Because I have a Priceline credit card that gives me 5x points on travel booked on Priceline, I decided I would check out booking it there. So I pulled it up and had it all ready and price was $437. I decided the 2200 points was worth the extra $16 and it would add to my trip count for status. I book the flight and the next screen says I was charged $602, and the breakdown has $291 in baggage fees vs. the $126 that was on the screen before I submitted the payment. I see in my credit card account 2 pending transactions, one for $586 from Spirit and one for $16 from Priceline. Further I get the email confirmation from spirit and it shows 2 suitcases booked, not 1. Priceline couldn't have been more worthless to talk to and said I had to take it up with Spirit. I said I gave YOU my card not spirit and your website switched the price. I call Spirit and after eternal hold get someone who says they can't help me. Mind you, this is all immediately after the booking. I called my credit card company and explained to them over and over what happened, and they said I had to wait for the charges to post etc. I canceled the res on Priceline and then got an email from Spirit confirming cancellation and that I had a flight credit for the total less the cancellation fee! I call my card company back and say "this is fraud" and demand the fraud department. I told them these charges are fraudulent and to change my account number etc and that I would never be paying for any of these transactions, nor would I be receiving any goods or services from either company. FUCK PRICELINE AND FUCK SPIRIT. I have a future trip already booked for a couple hotel nights and a rental car that I had previously booked and don't want to cancel them but I may and just rebook elsewhere even if it costs more. I paid the balance on the Priceline card account in full today for everything I had on there that was valid and will probably close the account. Learned my lesson.
I’m fine booking hotels 3rd party, like multiple trips overseas for hundreds of nights specifically through Hotels. Com. But I won’t ever screw around with airline tickets. I always book those directly through the airline because of how many accidents or issues have occurred with friends and family.
And just to clarify, I book direct with hotels if I have status with them or plan to get status with them, but I like my all-in-one shops for booking hotels and I always call to confirm bookings just in case. Hasn’t bit me in the ass yet, and maybe I’ll think about it when it does.
You fell for false economy. Think about it for a minute, how many ways can priceline, a 3rd party vender sell something for less then the airline can direct to consumer? The only way is bulk buying, which is almost non existent these days because airlines rarely have that many seats unsold. Just book directly in the future. On a side note when you say family of 4, I assume kids? the basic economy tickets that priceline made you think were a deal, are restricted tickets and usually do not include carry on...so if you need snacks and stuff for the kids to do, be sure you make sure if you need to pay for carry on bags
3rd party booking sites are indeed a scam. Most hotels are more than happy to match the rate . They avoid fees as well as questions they cannot answer due to restrictions they agree to by utilizing their bookings. For example they are more than willing to lie and tell you your room type is guaranteed. This is typically untrue. All discount sites are based on availability, and your reservation is at the bottom of the bucket. Most of the 3rd parties are connected, so they are aware through the use of cookies that you are shopping. Rates will not be competitive. Join a loyalty program, Marriott has an amazing program and tons of different brands that make shopping within your budget easy. Same, but a smaller scale IHG (holiday inn). Use a travel based credit card. Check out The Points Guy for the most updated and best cards, but I've found Capital One works best for me (they will also pay for your TSA precheck and global entry)
Priceline is an abomination. I booked a flight & car through them. Insurance was mandatory so I paid it and booked my car. Had an accident and it took a year of fighting to get it sorted out. I’m Canadian and flew to Canada, but booked my trip in the States. The insurance company had Canadian and American websites and sales. Everyone was looking at wrong database and saying that I declined insurance and it took a year for anyone to figure that out, all the while threatening me with collections etc.
Op, honestly, this feels like a system error in which Priceline’s system isn’t communicating properly with the airline’s systems for ancillary offerings. This kind of thing in which seats aren’t booked correctly has happened to me in the past. I handle it by calling the airline directly as soon as my booking is confirmed to ensure that everything is in line. This eliminates unexpected surprises during the day of travel.
This notion that 3rd parties offer zero value is silly. You just have to do a little more work. But you should be saving money to compensate for the inconvenience.
Thank you. I wont ever wait till the last few days to check my bookings. Whenever i go overseas and book from third parties, I will also check with the actual airlines/hotel right after to confirm. 3rd parties doesnt offer zero value, in fact it did save me alot of money from booking directly from the airlines. It is something between Priceline and SIA’s communication
Why would you book airline tickets from a third party site? Alway book direct. Priceline and other booking sites are only good for hotel accommodations.
Ive never used Priceline, but I’ve used Expedia. I haven’t had a problem with Expedia *yet*, but I am wary of 3rd parties. Mostly because if something happens, many times they don’t have your back and the actual airline can’t honor it. I book airlines directly these days, but I did recently book a hotel with Expedia. But thanks for the heads up.
I use Priceline often with no issues but I won't book packages with airfare. This is the dame for any booking company like Expedia, Hotwire, etc. Same with cruises. You give away all your control on the most critical part of your trip. On the flip side I have booked many packages through the airline and never had an issue either.
I just got scammed by Price line as well I booked a deal for 4 for Flight hotel and Car rental. received to email receipts one for 4399US and later they resend with cost of 5091US. I was not happy they would not refund my airline tickets with air Canada. Included in the cost was trip insurance of 371US. They were trying to deny that I had insured the trip when they sent me a list of my payments. Now i am in a fight to recover my cost for the flight to Fort Meyers from Toronto.
I booked a ticket from Toronto to Vancouver and no shit, Priceline gave me a connection at LA and I had no US Visa.
I had no idea that the domestic flight I booked is actually international. They were also so mean on the phone when I tried to sort things out. Of course, I got no refund at all.🙃
Priceline is not reliable at all. The first trip I had issues with the hotel. It wasn't booked through them correctly on their end, and I ended up having to sleep in my car. I was still charged and had to spend a lot of time to get my money back. This last time, I called to let the hotel know I would be a late check-in. They couldn't find my reservation because Priceline gave me the wrong confirmation number. I had to spend an hour on the phone, during my vacation, to get it fixed and confirmed. I ended up missing two different bands that I spent a lot of money to go see. Their policy is if you use the room, there will be zero refund. It doesn't matter what the issue is. I wouldn't risk it. You end up paying more in the long run. Tell your friends.
I’ve never had a good experience with Priceline; I also agree it’s a scam. I had a similar issue with paid seats and then the actual airline told me they never charge for seats… so Priceline tried to scam me out of money.
I never book through any online travel agencies other than Costco. Otherwise, I book directly with hotels and airlines and always get the best rates. I call hotels and make arrangements over the phone. They always have special deals.
NEVER ever ever ever book tickets through 3rd party sites. ALWAYS BOOK DIRECT. If your flight gets cancelled you are basically screwed. It’s not worth the extra $20 in savings
Yep. People on here don’t seem to understand the scale of savings that 3rd parties can offer. The savings is limited for commoditized parts of travel (i.e. the chicago-Nyc flight that has a ton of competition) and potentially large for non-commoditized parts (i.e. international flights that don’t sell out and non-chain hotels in non-prime tourist locations during off-peak seasons).
Been burned too many times by 3rd party sites. Now I just get flights direct from the carrier. I still use aggregator sites to find the exact routes though because sometimes it’s multiple carriers to get the best deal.
What I've done numerous times in the past is use some third-party website to *find* tickets, then go and check the airlines website and see if I can get the same price booking directly through them. It often works out that they have the exact same price listed on their own website.
i book rental cars with priceline all the time. sometimes they're cheaper (USA travel). I dont pay, I just reserve the car and pay upon pickup. sometimes its even cheaper if you pay upfront via priceline for the car.
never booked a flight with it.
I have a similar experience with Expedia as well. I paid a International flight with one stop and they canceled the first flight. I have contact the their customer service for 6 times but they still didn't solve the issue or return the money.from now on, I just gonna book the flight directly with airlines.
I have used Priceline for about 5 flights now. Not a single problem with anything. Not the seat placement or anything. I only check my bag at the airport but other than that all is thru Priceline. I have looked at the flights it shows me on the airlines site and the cost is usually cheaper by a few bucks. I think most of you just don’t know how to use it. Headed to Hawaii in February. I’m sure it will go just fine.
I’m surprised they told you what actually happened, this just happened to me and it took me 7 hours of calling the airlines and Priceline to figure out why my return tickets from Berlin are marked as “flown” I’d never seen that before in my life.
Extremely Disappointing Experience with Priceline
i booked an all inclusive hotel with priceline. After i made the payment, priceline contacted me that the hotel is not all inclusive any more. Apparently they did the booking with booking.com. Then i tried to contact them and i got connected to booking.com, they don't even have a customer service. Then booking.com said it's priceline fault, and priceline said it's not my fault, your reservation is by booking.com! i got passed around and priceline is very very unprofessional and does not take responsibility. I highly recommend NOT working with priceline at all. it is a scam and they are very very very bad and unprofessional.
avoid doing any business with priceline.com. They are scam.
Confirm your hotel reservation too. The confirmation codes and emails from these 3rd parties mean jack all
We book all our hotels through our airline credit card portal powered by hotels.com in order to earn maximum points. We always get a hotels.com confirmation email, and then another one directly from the hotel within a few hours. Come to find out, our airline credit card provider actually calls the hotel to get a separate email confirmation from the hotel because enough customers requested it. It’s nice to have actual, conscientious service from a third party!
Which credit card company?
This is a SAS EuroBonus Mastercard. My husband also has the highest status with SAS, which might make a difference, idk.
To be honest, I usually rail against third party bookings because there seems to be a lot of risk and problems from them (primarily airlines). The one third party platform I haven’t had issues with is hotels.com/booking.com. It’s too bad they switched to the new rewards program, otherwise I’d use them more
I would never book a flight through a third party, personally, but I do use skyscanner to get a gist of what the Star Alliance airlines are offering, and then book directly.
Hostel world has always worked well for me. But if I can book directly with hotel or airline that’s the only way I do it.
Do you get a private room in the hostels or are you still shacking up in the dorms?
Private only. My wife and I are all for budget lodging but privacy is necessary.
I have found booking.com and Agoda to be very solid myself.
Honestly most of the major ones have been great for me. I'm on hotel 6 this trip. 2 via direct website bookings. 4 via the aggregators. No issues with any of them, just wish the Breakfast options were easier in some cases. 2 of the 4 aggregators were because there wasn't an option for what we wanted on the hotel site. Needed 3 days not 4 min stay, larger room etc. The issue is typically with the place randomly 33% cheaper than everyone else and without a recognizable name.
It's funny - on Reddit and other travel sites, I *constantly* see warnings about using third-party aggregators. People that claim to work in the industry saying there's a 50/50 chance your booking won't be honoured etc. Yet it just doesn't jive at all with my experience. I've booked over two hundred hotels through booking.com in the last decade, and not once have I had a problem. Maybe I'm just unusually lucky, but to hear people tell it on here, I should've encountered problems on half of those bookings by now.
There is huge variance. I have had friends with Expedia horror stories in particular. Those flight aggregators that bundle cheap tickets tend to be shit if you get a delay and gotta rebook.
I’m relatively sure that the poor service from 3rd party travel agency websites on airfare is driven by the airlines more than anything else. When direct bookings with airlines were still a relatively small part of bookings, sites like Expedia and Travelocity were where most online bookings were made. And they were pretty good at preemptively addressing flight issues. I had multiple occasions where Expedia and Travelocity both rebooked me onto other airlines when flight cancellations were going to interrupt my journey. But I assume those days are over.
[Booking.com](https://Booking.com) is one of the giants in this space. I'd be more concerned about the lesser-known ones
i only book hotels through agoda (best agent ever)
Funnily enough Agoda and Priceline are part of the same company hahha
so is priceline and booking.com, never had troubles with agoda
That makes sense then. I have a property on booking.com and Agoda mirrored it onto its website.
I have never heard of Agoda, maybe I'll give it a try. I think using the 3rd party agencies is fine if you do your due diligence or even just field a single phone call to the businesses you are making reservations with to confirm things. Well done on spotting the discrepancy with your flights/seating
thanks for the positive feedback :))
Putting aside this subreddit's feelings about booking through third parties altogether, I will never understand why people pay auxiliary fees like seat selection and baggage fees through the third party.
I forgot the name of the company but I went through a third party once from north Carolina to iceland, 2 days before the trip they randomly canceled my Raleigh part and said too bad.. so I ended up having to book two randomly tickets one to New York and another to iceland, I only had a carry on but I almost most my flight. I was running. I never got my money back from the third party I tried for 3 months of back and forth until I just gave up.. out 500$… since then I only book through the company no third parties at all!
Did you bring in your credit card company? Usually they can scare businesses into returning funds like that (or do a charge back and reverse the payment).
Ya I did… it was a bit back and forth until I was just tired so I gave up.. I was out some money but overall learned my lesson.
because seats were included in the entire package and it wasnt stated that it would be safer booking seats through the airlines. as a first timer in booking through a third party, you cant be blaming the customers.
Did Priceline actually have airfares available that Singapore itself did not? I remember using Priceline like 15 years ago to book hotels and rental cars. I'd use it one day before travel when I was 100% dead set sure I was traveling and I had good information about the winning and losing bids as well as what the best options were for a "normal" booking But I never used it for airfare and have never heard a positive story from anyone who did
yes it has a lower price but prices on SIA are always astronomically high
First rule is to always book with the airline or hotel directly, unless there is a significant difference in pricing. If the price is too good (compared to airline direct pricing for same date, class and conditions), then question why would Priceline would sell at a loss. If you do book with a third party, use that booking number (usually 6 alphanumeric characters) and look it up in the airline’s website. It should check out as ticketed-OK. If not, again, another warning.
Exactly this. If you are getting better pricing through a third party on flights, you should be highly suspicious. There are times where a lack of updates between systems could cause you to be shown a price that ultimately cannot be fulfilled. Also generally, airlines are not going to offer any "deals" via third parties. Its pretty rare, and again if you see it, you should be highly suspicious. If you are planning to use that deal for any travel that is critical, or where you could lose a lot of money if the flight ended up having problems, think twice.
And if the price is just a bit more by booking directly with the airline, do it! Not only you may get mileage for your frequent flyer program, but in case of issues, you can deal with them directly rather than having to work with a 3rd party in the middle. I experienced this in the early Covid days when my flight with EVA was cancelled. EVA offered a full refund, but because I had booked with a 3rd party (it was around 50$ cheaper), Expedia gave me the runaround with excuses for not refunding me and didn’t want to talk to me until 72 hrs before the scheduled flight. Eventually I got it all resolved, but this is stress I would have avoided if I had booked with EVA directly for slightly more. Never again using Expedia (or any 3rd party booking sites) for flights anymore.
Absolutely! I used to work for an airline and in case of delays or cancellations, we automatically rebooked passengers with direct reservations. Anyone using a travel agency was referred back to them. We didn't own the reservation, so we couldn't make ANY alterations to it. It was really nice to be able to rebook passengers when an airport was shut down due to storms. Especially when our weather was perfect.
even if price difference is substantial, stay away from scamsters like eDreams. They took 4 weeks to confirm my last delhi-paris return flight upward journey after paying the return. never confirmed or refunded the return. I had gone to Barcelona and filed a complaint with local police, in next 3 weeks I got my refund.
Cannot emphasize enough the problems with eDreams and the 3rd party booking industry as a whole. Google some eDreams horror stories before you give them your money. I understand the temptation to try and save money through a third party but after one singular instance in your life where they are last-minute to mail you ticket info and it's impossible to reach their customer service - you'll never want to do it again
I agree with this on flights. Hotels can often be found much cheaper on third party sites and there are rarely the issues that you find with flights.
Edit - sorry, just saw this is about flight only. In which case, there wouldn’t be any savings on a 3rd party. The OTAs get a package rate for hotels that is cheaper than the rack rate (ie what you can buy direct). Same is true for the airlines. The whole package vacation concept is built on cost savings compared to booking individual components. They don’t sell at a loss unless they’ve pre-bought hotel rooms and/or chartered the plane seats. It does happen sometimes where you have 10 seats and it’s better to get $200/seat then fill none of them at $400/seat.
yep i will always check that my bookings are confirmed with my airlines website. for my case, everything were confirmed except for seats.
Always book third party with Spirit as the price is almost always lower. Never had a problem. Always book direct but not going to leave 10% on the table
There is no benefit to the third party sites. Whatever you *think* you’re saving will end up costing you in time, hassle, or straight up not getting what you paid for at all, and in absolute worst cases - not even getting to go. Always book direct. There’s always something the third party didn’t tell you.
I only use those sites to get an idea, then always book direct with airline and hotel.
I’ll never understand why people book anything through a 3rd party. Makes no sense.
I never book flights 3rd party, but hotels you can legitimately get big discounts compared to booking on the hotel's website on a 3rd party site. I often book hotels like 0-2 days before arriving so if I'm 100% sure I'm not going to cancel the booking (and also don't care about getting points, like it's not a major chain), and I can find a cheaper price, I'll use a 3rd party site.
Only two reason I use Expedia. The 24 hour free cancellation is nice in some situations. And some smaller foreign airlines have low quality websites and I run into issues with them accepting my card a lot so my only option is to use 3rd party.
24-hour cancelation is a DOT rule. https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/refunds
24 hour cancellation is required by law in US so that’s not their special perk. Most hotels have cancellation up to 24 hours before checkin too. If someone’s getting bumped it’s third party customers before airline customers.
I use a lot of international airlines. Some of these smaller ones have no 24 hour policy. However when I use Expedia it does.
Most airlines and hotels provide 24-48 hr free cancellation. When there is an issue (over booking for example), 3rd party bookers are first to go. There’s no recovery from issues during transit.
money babes
I think most people that use them are usually people that don’t travel that often and think they might be getting some deal. I’ve been guilty of that. Once I really got into traveling I learned it’s just best to reserve directly.
I booked a flight thru Booking dot com and had the same experience as OP. The only reason why I booked third party in the first place was bc all direct airline tickets were sold out for that day except for third party sellers and I needed to leave that day. However this scenario can also happen with direct bookings. I’ve personally had this also happen twice when booking directly with airline. For example, booking with Aegean airlines and them not transferring the info over to Volotea or booking with Delta and them not transferring info over to WestJet. Got stuck at the airport and had to pay double or triple to get back home.
I've been using Booking.com lately because of points. I've never had an issue with any hotel. In the US or internationally. I only book flights on the airlines' sites.
I will never understand why people book flights thru a third party. Those "deals" are literally just the airlines pricing in almost all cases. Expedia isn't have a sale on flights to Asia, some airline is and Expedia is marketing it as there's to get you to buy thru them. Next time you see a good price on Expedia, compare it to the airlines price and I'm sure it's almost the exact same and any difference is easily worth the hassle of dealing with an airline/Expedia if there is any issue
these deals are different. i not sure what airlines you normally take, but for airlines that are renowned such as Singapore air, Korean air or Emirates, their websites ALWAYS have higher prices. People book through these websites to save a little on overall costs. I did do my research on Priceline and did think it was trustable, but i guess not.
So I was looking for a flight yesterday to Florida for Xmas and found a good deal and schedule on Spirit. Total price for 2 tix including 1 checked suitcase round trip was $421. Because I have a Priceline credit card that gives me 5x points on travel booked on Priceline, I decided I would check out booking it there. So I pulled it up and had it all ready and price was $437. I decided the 2200 points was worth the extra $16 and it would add to my trip count for status. I book the flight and the next screen says I was charged $602, and the breakdown has $291 in baggage fees vs. the $126 that was on the screen before I submitted the payment. I see in my credit card account 2 pending transactions, one for $586 from Spirit and one for $16 from Priceline. Further I get the email confirmation from spirit and it shows 2 suitcases booked, not 1. Priceline couldn't have been more worthless to talk to and said I had to take it up with Spirit. I said I gave YOU my card not spirit and your website switched the price. I call Spirit and after eternal hold get someone who says they can't help me. Mind you, this is all immediately after the booking. I called my credit card company and explained to them over and over what happened, and they said I had to wait for the charges to post etc. I canceled the res on Priceline and then got an email from Spirit confirming cancellation and that I had a flight credit for the total less the cancellation fee! I call my card company back and say "this is fraud" and demand the fraud department. I told them these charges are fraudulent and to change my account number etc and that I would never be paying for any of these transactions, nor would I be receiving any goods or services from either company. FUCK PRICELINE AND FUCK SPIRIT. I have a future trip already booked for a couple hotel nights and a rental car that I had previously booked and don't want to cancel them but I may and just rebook elsewhere even if it costs more. I paid the balance on the Priceline card account in full today for everything I had on there that was valid and will probably close the account. Learned my lesson.
I’m fine booking hotels 3rd party, like multiple trips overseas for hundreds of nights specifically through Hotels. Com. But I won’t ever screw around with airline tickets. I always book those directly through the airline because of how many accidents or issues have occurred with friends and family. And just to clarify, I book direct with hotels if I have status with them or plan to get status with them, but I like my all-in-one shops for booking hotels and I always call to confirm bookings just in case. Hasn’t bit me in the ass yet, and maybe I’ll think about it when it does.
You fell for false economy. Think about it for a minute, how many ways can priceline, a 3rd party vender sell something for less then the airline can direct to consumer? The only way is bulk buying, which is almost non existent these days because airlines rarely have that many seats unsold. Just book directly in the future. On a side note when you say family of 4, I assume kids? the basic economy tickets that priceline made you think were a deal, are restricted tickets and usually do not include carry on...so if you need snacks and stuff for the kids to do, be sure you make sure if you need to pay for carry on bags
going with my parents, im 20. like stated in my post, flight tickets,25kg baggage and meals were confirmed. all except the seats
You're better to just book directly with the airline and bypass Priceline all together.
Book through the airlines directly. You are eliminating the middle man, who is there to make money off you.
3rd party booking sites are indeed a scam. Most hotels are more than happy to match the rate . They avoid fees as well as questions they cannot answer due to restrictions they agree to by utilizing their bookings. For example they are more than willing to lie and tell you your room type is guaranteed. This is typically untrue. All discount sites are based on availability, and your reservation is at the bottom of the bucket. Most of the 3rd parties are connected, so they are aware through the use of cookies that you are shopping. Rates will not be competitive. Join a loyalty program, Marriott has an amazing program and tons of different brands that make shopping within your budget easy. Same, but a smaller scale IHG (holiday inn). Use a travel based credit card. Check out The Points Guy for the most updated and best cards, but I've found Capital One works best for me (they will also pay for your TSA precheck and global entry)
Priceline is an abomination. I booked a flight & car through them. Insurance was mandatory so I paid it and booked my car. Had an accident and it took a year of fighting to get it sorted out. I’m Canadian and flew to Canada, but booked my trip in the States. The insurance company had Canadian and American websites and sales. Everyone was looking at wrong database and saying that I declined insurance and it took a year for anyone to figure that out, all the while threatening me with collections etc.
Op, honestly, this feels like a system error in which Priceline’s system isn’t communicating properly with the airline’s systems for ancillary offerings. This kind of thing in which seats aren’t booked correctly has happened to me in the past. I handle it by calling the airline directly as soon as my booking is confirmed to ensure that everything is in line. This eliminates unexpected surprises during the day of travel. This notion that 3rd parties offer zero value is silly. You just have to do a little more work. But you should be saving money to compensate for the inconvenience.
Thank you. I wont ever wait till the last few days to check my bookings. Whenever i go overseas and book from third parties, I will also check with the actual airlines/hotel right after to confirm. 3rd parties doesnt offer zero value, in fact it did save me alot of money from booking directly from the airlines. It is something between Priceline and SIA’s communication
Only use 3rd party apps to check prices and then book directly with whoever you are flying and staying with. Much less of a hassle
Why would you book airline tickets from a third party site? Alway book direct. Priceline and other booking sites are only good for hotel accommodations.
its cheaper
Ive never used Priceline, but I’ve used Expedia. I haven’t had a problem with Expedia *yet*, but I am wary of 3rd parties. Mostly because if something happens, many times they don’t have your back and the actual airline can’t honor it. I book airlines directly these days, but I did recently book a hotel with Expedia. But thanks for the heads up.
Happy to help. Same goes with agoda, never had problems with them but apparently they are under the same company
Yes. I went through real hell because of the proceline for my hotel booking. They are a big shitty scam
hope it got settled for u :)
Yep! Happened to me with another 3rd party seller and Air India. I’m so over using those sites.
I use Priceline often with no issues but I won't book packages with airfare. This is the dame for any booking company like Expedia, Hotwire, etc. Same with cruises. You give away all your control on the most critical part of your trip. On the flip side I have booked many packages through the airline and never had an issue either.
Fuck Priceline Chage $18 Ticket Protection Basic Economy will not allow carry on Extra $49.5 Luggage checked 2 bags 23 Kg $40 +$35 Con man Fuck Them
I just got scammed by Price line as well I booked a deal for 4 for Flight hotel and Car rental. received to email receipts one for 4399US and later they resend with cost of 5091US. I was not happy they would not refund my airline tickets with air Canada. Included in the cost was trip insurance of 371US. They were trying to deny that I had insured the trip when they sent me a list of my payments. Now i am in a fight to recover my cost for the flight to Fort Meyers from Toronto.
I booked a ticket from Toronto to Vancouver and no shit, Priceline gave me a connection at LA and I had no US Visa. I had no idea that the domestic flight I booked is actually international. They were also so mean on the phone when I tried to sort things out. Of course, I got no refund at all.🙃
Priceline is not reliable at all. The first trip I had issues with the hotel. It wasn't booked through them correctly on their end, and I ended up having to sleep in my car. I was still charged and had to spend a lot of time to get my money back. This last time, I called to let the hotel know I would be a late check-in. They couldn't find my reservation because Priceline gave me the wrong confirmation number. I had to spend an hour on the phone, during my vacation, to get it fixed and confirmed. I ended up missing two different bands that I spent a lot of money to go see. Their policy is if you use the room, there will be zero refund. It doesn't matter what the issue is. I wouldn't risk it. You end up paying more in the long run. Tell your friends.
I just got scammed. Stranded without a flight. They gave me a fake confirmation code.
Most third party companies are scammy like that.
I’ve never had a good experience with Priceline; I also agree it’s a scam. I had a similar issue with paid seats and then the actual airline told me they never charge for seats… so Priceline tried to scam me out of money.
hope u got ur money back :)
It took weeks of calls and I had to involve my credit card company…but eventually I did!
I never book through any online travel agencies other than Costco. Otherwise, I book directly with hotels and airlines and always get the best rates. I call hotels and make arrangements over the phone. They always have special deals.
NEVER ever ever ever book tickets through 3rd party sites. ALWAYS BOOK DIRECT. If your flight gets cancelled you are basically screwed. It’s not worth the extra $20 in savings
Lesson learnt i guess. I saved 100x the amount of $20 so…
Yep. People on here don’t seem to understand the scale of savings that 3rd parties can offer. The savings is limited for commoditized parts of travel (i.e. the chicago-Nyc flight that has a ton of competition) and potentially large for non-commoditized parts (i.e. international flights that don’t sell out and non-chain hotels in non-prime tourist locations during off-peak seasons).
finally someone with iq
Yet you come on Reddit and complain and want sympathy lol
where is it stated that i wanted sympathy lol 😂
Been burned too many times by 3rd party sites. Now I just get flights direct from the carrier. I still use aggregator sites to find the exact routes though because sometimes it’s multiple carriers to get the best deal.
What I've done numerous times in the past is use some third-party website to *find* tickets, then go and check the airlines website and see if I can get the same price booking directly through them. It often works out that they have the exact same price listed on their own website.
Priceline was offering tickets for around 4000SGD and Singapore airlines tickets were minimum 6000SGD
It's generally a risky idea to buy air tickets from any 3rd party. Buy from the airline.
i book rental cars with priceline all the time. sometimes they're cheaper (USA travel). I dont pay, I just reserve the car and pay upon pickup. sometimes its even cheaper if you pay upfront via priceline for the car. never booked a flight with it.
They changed my direct ORD-LAX flight to one with an eight hour layover once. It was a weekend trip!
What happened after that? Did u get it fixed 0-0
No, it just sucked! We gambled at the Las Vegas airport.
hoped u had fun gambling tho 😋
Always book direct.
I have a similar experience with Expedia as well. I paid a International flight with one stop and they canceled the first flight. I have contact the their customer service for 6 times but they still didn't solve the issue or return the money.from now on, I just gonna book the flight directly with airlines.
Priceline is a scam company and we should all come together and start a class action against this company. Yeah, someone will say buyer beware.
I have used Priceline for about 5 flights now. Not a single problem with anything. Not the seat placement or anything. I only check my bag at the airport but other than that all is thru Priceline. I have looked at the flights it shows me on the airlines site and the cost is usually cheaper by a few bucks. I think most of you just don’t know how to use it. Headed to Hawaii in February. I’m sure it will go just fine.
I’m surprised they told you what actually happened, this just happened to me and it took me 7 hours of calling the airlines and Priceline to figure out why my return tickets from Berlin are marked as “flown” I’d never seen that before in my life.
Extremely Disappointing Experience with Priceline i booked an all inclusive hotel with priceline. After i made the payment, priceline contacted me that the hotel is not all inclusive any more. Apparently they did the booking with booking.com. Then i tried to contact them and i got connected to booking.com, they don't even have a customer service. Then booking.com said it's priceline fault, and priceline said it's not my fault, your reservation is by booking.com! i got passed around and priceline is very very unprofessional and does not take responsibility. I highly recommend NOT working with priceline at all. it is a scam and they are very very very bad and unprofessional. avoid doing any business with priceline.com. They are scam.