We are making our first trip to Italy in October 2023 after canceling in 2020. My plan was to book directly with the airline, but Expedia is beating the price by $1000. That's a lot of pizza and gelato. What's the general consensus on using Expedia vs booking directly?
We are flying into Marco Polo (Venice) and our of Milan back to the northern Virginia.
Thanks!
Betty
Betty, the responses to your question will be all over the map. Some people always use third party booking sites, others always deal directly with the airline, and still others do some of each. Our thoughts are: $1,000. better price seems too good to be true, but that may in fact be the case. If so, why so much cheaper? Multiple connections, short connections, or something else? In addition, if there is a snag of some sort, will you be better off dealing directly with the airline or a third party? Don't mean to sound like Debbie Downer, just offering food for thought.
I book with the airline when I want to gather frequent flyer points, which is most of the time. I then use those points on flat bed seats to Europe, which helps with jet lag. (Avoid Condor Air; most of their flat bed seats are broken)
Does the quote from Expedia include luggage, seat choice, cancellation? Those are pretty important. I have made several bookings through Expedia that were not fully flexible, and they could not be changed on line. I had to call them. This involved their call center in the Philippines (I asked because I could hear roosters crowing) and the agent was very courteous but couldn't answer any of my questions without first consulting their supervisor. It took hours. So now, on Expedia, I go for fully flexible fares.
I really like Expedia. We were scheduled to fly out of Venice a few years ago and many flights were suddenly cancelled due to a strike. I received a text notice about it that morning from Expedia, so we were prepared for the news when we arrived at the airport. I saw huge lines of people trying to rebook their flight. Then I received another text, saying they'd already re-booked us, leaving later in the day. We were able to check our bags and then return for a few more glorious hours in Venice without any worries or line waits.
I like using Expedia for hotels, as all the reservations are on one website. Otherwise, I tend to forget and book myself into two places at once, LOL. I gather Expedia points this way as well.
Have fun! You are going at a perfect time for weather and have a lovely itinerary planned.
Are you comparing the same flights on both platforms? I would go with Expedia and save the $1000 if so. They are a reputable company. There are others that you should run from as fast as you can!
If there are any issues, you have to go through third party. If anything goes awry “talk to the 3rd party”
In other words, if all goes well it’s fine. If there are problems it can be a HUGE PITA that you may no longer feel was worth the savings.
I'm going to go into a bit more detail about "problems." A schedule change that happens more than 24 hours from your original flight departure would be handled through Expedia. A schedule change that happens within 24 hours of the flight is usually handled through the airline itself. In general, the airline controls your ticket at about a day out, or the time when you could generally check in online.
An example: I flew on a ticket purchased through Alaska airlines with frequent flier miles last fall. The airline was British Airways. There were a few schedule changes in advance that Alaska airlines notified me about and Alaska took care of confirming with me. Alaska managed the reservation for the period of months in advance. Then, right when I went to British Airways App to check in for the flight, I discovered it had been cancelled. I used the "chat" feature on their App and was able to reschedule my flight directly with the airline. I did not have to go back through the booking site (Alaska) at that time.
The challenge is that some airlines will "argue" about who is controlling the ticket at what time. If you end up with one of those airlines, it could be pretty frustrating. On the other hand, people can tell you that contacting the airline during irregular operations can almost be impossible as well.
If you are looking at the exact same flights, I don't think that the risk of dealing with irregular operations would outweigh the savings for me.
There's got to be a reason for that huge price difference. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples.
I always book direct with the hotel or airline. Once a long time ago I booked a hotel room through Expedia, and there was no heat in the annex where they stuck us. Turns out the hotel puts the Expedia people in their worse rooms, and the reception desk refused to move us even though it was snowing outside.
As far as the airlines, think about what would happen if somehow your flight got delayed or cancelled. Who would you rather deal with -- the airline people at the airport, or some faceless person working at a call center who could care less.
Be mindful that Expedia typically displays the no-frills economy price first, usually with only a carry- on, no seat selection, no cancellation. So be sure to drill down to the detail level to ensure you're comparing the same fare basis to what you're seeing on the airline's site.
There is a difference booking a codeshare flight--say Alaska for BA-- than a flight with Expedia.
If you book with Alaska for a B A flight, you could start working with BA from the start. All you need is the BA record locater. Alaska is actin.g like an old school travel agent. You are buying your ticket directly from thecairlibe.
Booking with Expedia is different. Expedia buys the ticket and then resells it to you. Any refunds, changes, etc has to go through Expedia.
In all cases, airlines have to make refunds to the purchaser of the ticket and not necessarily to the passenger. If you buy directly from an airline, and your flight is cancelled, you get the refund. If you buy from Expedia, they get the refund and then you have to get it from Expedia. They will hold your money as long as possible.
One bad experience a number of years ago with a third party site, so now I always book directly with the airline.
We paid extra to fly through one airport rather than another. At some point the 3rd party vendor said our flight was cancelled, we were rebooked through the airport we wanted to avoid, and we didn’t get the extra fee returned. What’s worse was when we arrived at the airport the original flight we booked was scheduled and left on time. My guess is the airline overbooked the flight and those who booked via the 3rd party site were bumped first. We had to deal with the 3rd party vendor.
Thank you everyone! I love that everyone is so helpful with extra information that we might overlook. I was POSITIVE that I looked at the exact same flights, but I'm not finding that $1000 difference today....so probably had some wrong info. Today's work yielded a $100 difference, which makes me inclined to book with the airline directly.
I'm sure this will not be my last question on this forum as we re-plan this trip, but will try not to bug everyone too much!
Ciao,
Betty
You aren't bugging us. We love answering questions!
@acraven Hahaha! Thank goodness.
Betty
