asaptickets.com?

You get a quote on the internet, then have to call a number to work out the details...

No way would I ever trust such a funky and disaster-prone arrangement.

Never heard of them and I read about travel and follow the industry a lot. I am reluctant to buy from anyone except the airline itself as I have read horror story after horror story about people having a problem with the tickets purchased through 3rd parties. I'd rather pay a premium than have an international flight problem.

Kayak is showing Air Canada flights between Kansas City and Dublin next September at $843 to $921 RT. That is through Vayama. Then they show asap as a choice in the menu bar; click on that and they show a teaser price ( good today only) of $608, but you cannot book it online. You have to enter your email address to get a "free quote."

I would never trust an outfit like that.

Here's more. If you read the fine print, it says the low fare shown "may not be for the dates you requested" ( it can be for the lowest fare possible during the year). And in the fine print at the bottom, they explain that the "ASAP Special Fare" which they prominently display is a low-season fare only available for travel in February and March. So not for the September dates I entered.

That is not how a legitimate company does business.

I see a red flag the size of a football field.

Me too. Jane, I wouldn't touch it.

Kathy, I don't plan to. I was mostly just curious, since I had never heard this outfit mentioned on the Forum. I think I'll email a link to this thread to my friend. She does visit the Forum from time to time.

I was hoping to hear from some Forum folks who had experience with asaptickets before I sent the link, though.

If she has already bought the tickets, you might not want to cause her the angst. Not much she can do about it now.

True. If the deal is already done, it's water over the dam so I wouldn't throw her a load of anxiety. It's possible things will be fine but if not, she'll have learned not to book with a random 3rd party next time?

Yes, Lola and Kathy, I have thought about that. On the other hand, if it really is a bum outfit, she could still cancel her credit card payment, maybe. I got the impression this was a very recent purchase.

And maybe it'll work out for her. At least one of the reviews I read (maybe only one) was positive.

She’d lose a charge back because she couldn’t prove a company didn’t provide a service. So far, they’ve provided a service. She should call the airline to see if the ticket has indeed been booked. If not, then she might have a case. If the airline confirms the reservation and issued a ticket receipt, she’s good.

2013 was a while ago. The company is still operating under the same name, so someone must have been happy with it.

Call-in pricing might be because the travel agency has access to old school bulk/consolidator fares and their contract with the airline does not allow them to fully 'publish' those prices. Those tickets are legit, though they come with the usual disadvantages you get when not booking directly with those airlines and you may not ear full frequent flyer miles on the ticket.

Be very wary if the 'no name' travel agency says you cannot get any frequent flyer miles at all on a ticket, even if you don't play the frequent flyer game. No miles from a ticket is a yellow to red flag because it can mean the travel agency is buying frequent flyer miles from people that don't need or want them and then effectively reselling an award ticket to you, which is against the airline's terms of service. The airlines reserve the right to cancel what they consider to be fraudulent award tickets at any time, even if that would leave you stranded in a foreign country midway through the ticket.

A good warning, Selkie. In this case, however, none of the complaints I have seen involve getting stranded at the airport because the ticket was a bartered miles ticket. Most of the complaints are about dodgy pricing, add-ones such as mandatory insurance, poor customer service, and lousy refund policy. See, for example, post #188 in this long discussion:

http://ats.eccmp.com/ats/barcode.ashx?bc=Q989475865420&e=5&h=20&w=146

It is always amusing to read through complain threads like this, with all the one-post wonders defending the company, others shouting Scam!, and a few detailing a legitimate complInt.