Re: UKNM: why buying transatlantic online seems a waste of time..

[tim moore]

Leslie Bunder wrote:


> Putting on my hat as a online consumer, I decided i wanted to book online

> for a flight I will be taking to Toronto in November... and all i want is

a

> good deal which i thought you could get online...but despite all the hype

of

> online travel agents, it really seems impossible to find deals...


Must agree. I recently tried to book flights for a couple of weeks in

Thailand -

c'mon, it's not that far off the beaten track.  Any way, like Leslie I tried

all

the usual suspects, including Kelkoo and Last Minute and the chaepest price

quoted was about a grand.


I thought, 'bugger me, this internet lark's not al it's cracked up to be'

and

went straignt to Trailfinders and got a flight for �450 inc a couple of

nights

in a hotel on Koh Samui.


I think the reason all of these on-line travel agents offer the same price

is

because they all use the CRS (central reservation system), which is the

'raw'

info for what flights are available.  The physical travel agents negotiate

bulk

discounts from the airlines, using their power to point you towards a

particular

airline, or sell packages (airline/hotel/car hire etc) as leverage.  These

are

called 'over-ride deals'.


To some extent, the clarity of choice, the internet offers, must play

against

the on-line retailers.  Interesting to see how this pans out in the future.


Tim


>

>

> Having been to every single major site such as ebookers, travelselect,

> travelstore, thomas cook, airline network... the price of my flight is the

> same with all of them...

>

> Pricing is one important element of booking online and it seems amazing

that

> all of these sites are charging exactly the same! - despite all of them

> claiming to offer "great deals"....

>

> I even tried using Kelkoo to see how good it's comparison service is for

> flights but alas that was pretty poor as it was slow and just gave me one

> page displaying travelselect... ('er I thought the whole point was to

> compare prices, but comparing seems rather odd...)

>

> Yes, it is good to book online and saves time on the phone to trailfinders

> or another agent, but really...when you are actually trying to book

> something online, deals can be hard to find...

>

> Leslie

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------

> Leslie Bunder, Content Partner Manager

> Entranet

>

Email: Leslie [dot] Bunderentranet [dot] co [dot] uk

> Tel:    07799 710831

> Web:    www.entranet.co.uk



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