Airline question

Yes the plane will be Lufthansa. If you have problems, you can contact either airline. In terms of the fare, anything is possible in the crazy world of airline pricing. But make sure both sites are quoting prices that include all of the fees and taxes. If Orbitz is indeed lower then go for it, even with tickets purchased through third party sites, you can still contact the airlines directly if you need assistance. One other thing to keep in mind, if you are a frequent flier you may not get as many mileage credits if you book with Orbitz versus the direct with the airline.

Hi Karen,
Exact same thing with our trip last year and this year. Last year we had United tickets (bought through www.travelocity.com with no problems) and the actual plane was Lufthansa. This year we booked directly through Lufthansa as their price was good and much cheaper than United's for the exact same flight on the same plane. Go figure.
The prices change all the time. I looked at travelocity, orbitz, lufthansa, etc. for a few weeks 2-3 months before we were planning to leave. FYI, we paid just under $600 each (I had seen it cheaper earlier but waited, unfortunately for our NY to Frankfurt and then Munich to NY flights.

Paul

Ditto on the "All Fees included" caveat. Many people see fares that do not include taxes and fees, not realizing that on trans-atlantic, that can roll up another $100 to $200 dollars. Also, on any site, a price is not a price until you are able to hit the "Buy" button. Many times I have seen a great fare, only to have it unavailable...but a somewhat slightly higher fare available...when I went through the steps to buy. Aside from that, yes, Orbitz may have locked in deals and may pass that on to you, whereas the airline adjusts prices frequently and wind up more expensive.

The prices will vary. Check carefully what is included and if you can cancel without penalty etc. Often by the time you take into account taxes and things the fare may be substantially more. How I wish for a fare of $638 to Europe.

The flight is a codeshare flight. This means that the flight is a Lufthansa flight on which United can direct sell tickets as if they were their own using their own fare basis. So all queries, complaints or changes must be done through UA. Both are part of Star Alliance and this is common policy among the Alliance members. Of course codeshare also goes on with many airlines both in and out of any of the global alliances. The 3 digit identification at the beginning of any ticket number is 016 for UA and 220 for Lufthansa. Even though the flight is on LH aircraft, with LH crew the ticket you hold will start 016.

The reasons why Orbitz is cheaper can be for many factors. Orbitz may be selling tickets heavilly discounted because they either bulk purchase or have been given discounted tickets as a reward for previous large sales volume. The big difference is that if you have problems that are not covered in the normal ticket terms and conditions you have to go through Orbitz.

Thanks for all the info!

I went through Travelocity as well and got ( what I thought)was an okay price In looking at the seating chart ( Seat Guru.com)I found that the reason for the low price was the location of the seat.. ( right next to the lavs) oh oh. 11 hrs of that didn't appeal.. I got on the phone and called United direct ( they handled all my questions even though it was a Lufthansa plane) and helped me find better seating at no additional cost... check your seats... that could be why the price is so low.

We booked a flight on Orbitz, and found that we could not fly out on an earlier flight.

We arrived earlier in Naples than expected, and found an earlier one to our next destination.

The AA agent told us that he could not change our flight since we had NOT booked thru AA.

So......we always try to book directly with the airline.

Orbitz( and other flight search engines) have a neat feature where they will automatically Email you if they find a price that matches an amount that you specify for a pre-determined flight. They will let you search up to a 30 day window. (i.e. if you are planning a 16 day trip in March they will display the prices for ANY 16 day window, or any other window you spec.)

For our June 2006 flight PDX to FRA I input $500, and sat back and waited a few months. I noticed that I kept getting notices for that particular flight on Sat mornings. Sure enough, one Sat morn $480 popped up, less than 2 months before our date. We booked it directly w/ Lufthansa!

I have been unsuccessful in changing tickets bought from a third party instead of the airline, and I know I was talking to someone in another country entirely.

Lufthansa, in my opinion, is a bit nicer that United in terms of service. And drinks are free on Lufthansa.

I get bonus miles for booking directly with United, so I have been using kayak.com, which redirects you to the fare site.

Karen- If you have a preference profile on United, Lufthansa is not going to have it. I found out the hard way last week on a flight home from Frankfurt. I have requested vegetarian meals on United. They didn't have that information on Lufthansa. They finally came up with vegetarian meals for me, but I will call ahead in the future.

Karen - not sure if someone mentioned this above - but the same flights will often have 2-3 different "ID codes" depending on who is partnering. You may have Luft, Swiss, and UA numbers for the same flight. They are also often diff prices! Id check with Lufthansa direct first if youre doing direct to Frankf/Munich etc.

Complaints should be voiced to the Airline in which you bought your ticket from. If you have a complaint with the sub-contract Airline, they will be notified by the Airline you purchased the ticket from. That is SUPPOSED to be the chain of command. But to be honest, having experience operating codeshare flights, chances are the complaint will never be directly addressed, in cases of employee misconduct.

The Airline you bought your ticket from will resolve any issues and provide compensation, if any. So complaining to both parties, hoping BOTH will compensate, is futile.