ginapeterb
20th May 2005, 21:12
Hi Guys, New Subject.
E Bookers.com Expedia.co.uk, and Flights4less.co.uk etc
Had a very nice chat today in Terminal 3 with one of the Ebookers.com customer advisors.
When you do a flight search on their websites, often fares come up, wich are fairly well discounted, one of the things the lady told me, is that, Ebookers.com and others, have a contract with the airlines, to sell a certain amount of seats, these seats are heavily discounted, for example.
Today I checked out a flight to Manila from London, on certain dates, when I checked the website this morning, the flight was listed at £510.00 including taxes, interestingly when I checked with the Airline direct at their own ticket desk, I found the same flight and seat was £220.00 more than that at Ebookers.
I then spoke to the airline reps who told me that seats at airports cannot be sold on heavily discounted rates, as this conflicts with their contractual obligations to Online Travel Agents, who take the seats at a discounted figure.
Then i found out, that certain Economy class seats, have certain fare categories, i.e. K Class, Y Class, these have certain restrictions..i.e. they are no refundable, instant fares, I did actually speak to Singapore Airlines also today, although they were not the airline I am talking about, the other airline was in fact Emirates.
Singapore Airlines, have their own special fares at present, I was told prior to today that Singapore Airlines special fares has ended at the end of April, however they are still doing the free onward return flight to Manila from Singapore.
However there are drawbacks, you cannot seem to get the dates you want, for example, the dates closest to the weekend, arriving back on a Sunday night never seems to be available, you always seem to have to fly, in the middle of the daytime, and arrive back, during the middle of the week.
For the sake of £20.00 its not worth taking dates you don't actually want, on this occasion I turned Singapore Airlines down, although I could have got an instant fare which was below £500.00 including taxes.
When I re-approached E Bookers..or Flight Bookers as they are also known, they have a booking plaza, near to the Heathrow Express Trains area, I confirmed exactly the same flight times, for example..I want to leave the UK preferably, on a Saturday evening, as the overnight flight, will get me a connection which will let me arrive on Sunday Evening, then an onward connection on PAL to my destination for Monday A.M. which is perfect.
Emirates were able to offer that too me, but could not sell me a ticket, as the price of that fare was £722.00 inc Taxes.
Then I took the Emirates print out, downstairs to E Bookers who happily gave me the same itinerary, for £507.00
A Saving of £215.00 nearly 30 per cent of the sheduled airline discounted fare.
Its a point worth noting, that the best fares, then therefore seem to be through Online travel agents, who have more clout, in the rates that can be offered, when I checked today, there were only 4 seats left in the K Class fare, Singapore Airlines also could offer me the dates I wanted, but only on a different class of Economy fare, that is £685.00 plus taxes, a total of £752.00.
Its just something to note for the future.
E Bookers.com Expedia.co.uk, and Flights4less.co.uk etc
Had a very nice chat today in Terminal 3 with one of the Ebookers.com customer advisors.
When you do a flight search on their websites, often fares come up, wich are fairly well discounted, one of the things the lady told me, is that, Ebookers.com and others, have a contract with the airlines, to sell a certain amount of seats, these seats are heavily discounted, for example.
Today I checked out a flight to Manila from London, on certain dates, when I checked the website this morning, the flight was listed at £510.00 including taxes, interestingly when I checked with the Airline direct at their own ticket desk, I found the same flight and seat was £220.00 more than that at Ebookers.
I then spoke to the airline reps who told me that seats at airports cannot be sold on heavily discounted rates, as this conflicts with their contractual obligations to Online Travel Agents, who take the seats at a discounted figure.
Then i found out, that certain Economy class seats, have certain fare categories, i.e. K Class, Y Class, these have certain restrictions..i.e. they are no refundable, instant fares, I did actually speak to Singapore Airlines also today, although they were not the airline I am talking about, the other airline was in fact Emirates.
Singapore Airlines, have their own special fares at present, I was told prior to today that Singapore Airlines special fares has ended at the end of April, however they are still doing the free onward return flight to Manila from Singapore.
However there are drawbacks, you cannot seem to get the dates you want, for example, the dates closest to the weekend, arriving back on a Sunday night never seems to be available, you always seem to have to fly, in the middle of the daytime, and arrive back, during the middle of the week.
For the sake of £20.00 its not worth taking dates you don't actually want, on this occasion I turned Singapore Airlines down, although I could have got an instant fare which was below £500.00 including taxes.
When I re-approached E Bookers..or Flight Bookers as they are also known, they have a booking plaza, near to the Heathrow Express Trains area, I confirmed exactly the same flight times, for example..I want to leave the UK preferably, on a Saturday evening, as the overnight flight, will get me a connection which will let me arrive on Sunday Evening, then an onward connection on PAL to my destination for Monday A.M. which is perfect.
Emirates were able to offer that too me, but could not sell me a ticket, as the price of that fare was £722.00 inc Taxes.
Then I took the Emirates print out, downstairs to E Bookers who happily gave me the same itinerary, for £507.00
A Saving of £215.00 nearly 30 per cent of the sheduled airline discounted fare.
Its a point worth noting, that the best fares, then therefore seem to be through Online travel agents, who have more clout, in the rates that can be offered, when I checked today, there were only 4 seats left in the K Class fare, Singapore Airlines also could offer me the dates I wanted, but only on a different class of Economy fare, that is £685.00 plus taxes, a total of £752.00.
Its just something to note for the future.