I am traveling to Europe in September. I can fly from Boston to Dublin on American Airlines for $558. Kayak has tickets available for the same flight for approximately $350.
My question is whether using Kayak is a good idea. I'm leery that they could sell a ticket for so much less than booking directly with American. Are there any down sides or things I should look out for if I use Kayak?
Thanks very much for your help with this.
Kayak does not sell airline tickets. It displays offered tickets and sends you to the sellers website. Some of the sellers are the airlines. But others are third parties. When you book through a third party and you have any issues such as cancelled or delayed flight you likely have to work through that third party to get any resolution. The airline likely won't work with you directly. Also you may or may not be getting a comparable ticket. If you search the forum here for "third party airline" you will see many posts with their experience. Like this one.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/finding-flights-through-kayak
I had a nightmare with one of the big online third party sellers during the pandemic. I only buy thru the airlines any longer. Kayak is great for getting info on flights however.
If the airline makes changes, you get sick, you need a change, this is a nightmare waiting to happen. Kayak is not going to fix it for you, because Kayak is not permitted to negotiate a ticket that they did not sell. And imagine how hard it will be to get Kayak on the phone! You could end up have difficulty getting a seat assignment in advance, no way to tell.
Suppose that the return flight is changed to two days later without your request? What can you do about it?
Since we don't know your dates, we can't check to see which third party site is offering the much discounted tickets.
Is the price quoted round trip or one way?
It's kind of strange to see that big of a difference in fare. It's possible that the third party seller is offering tickets via bought up frequent flyer miles. If so, and the airline catches on, they not only cancel the tickets but you will not get a refund.
I fly a lot and I only book direct with the airlines.
Check out Aer Lingus. I see they have deals in September that are much less than AA. If you look on the American Airlines site, they will write "operated by" and list Aer Lingus, British Airways, etc, so a person might as well book directly.
If they send you directly to the airline, great! Do it! I have found some of our recent flights on Kayak and ended up booking via the airline, and it has worked out well for us.
Use Google Flights to check airline prices, set up alerts, track price history- for research. Then book directly with the airlines. Never use third party sites, for all the above reasons. Good luck!
