Orbitz

[coiran]

Has anyone ever used Orbitz to book air flights? If so, what were your experiences with them?

Ron

[parody]

Orbitz, as you may know, is essentially on online TA where one can purchase airline tickets, among other things, with an extra fee or handling charge that gets added to the base price of whatever you are buying. As a general rule, agencies like Orbitz can be used to search for flights, but it is usually recommended that the actual purchase be made at the website of the airline in question. This avoids the handling fee and, of course, the extra middleman. That said, I have used Orbitz once to book a flight that I otherwise could not locate on the airline's website. (This probably would not occur today, however.) I would say that everything went ok except that (at least 3 years ago) they felt the need to FedEx to me the hard copies of the tickets for this international flight that was 2 months away and then add on an additional charge of $25!

 

In independent tests, others have shown that search engines such as Kayak.com do better in locating lower fares. And, while they do not include Southwest Airlines, like most search sites, they do include jetBlue Airlines, which Orbitz does not.

[coiran]

Orbitz, as you may know, is essentially on online TA where one can purchase airline tickets, among other things, with an extra fee or handling charge that gets added to the base price of whatever you are buying. As a general rule, agencies like Orbitz can be used to search for flights, but it is usually recommended that the actual purchase be made at the website of the airline in question. This avoids the handling fee and, of course, the extra middleman. That said, I have used Orbitz once to book a flight that I otherwise could not locate on the airline's website. (This probably would not occur today, however.) I would say that everything went ok except that (at least 3 years ago) they felt the need to FedEx to me the hard copies of the tickets for this international flight that was 2 months away and then add on an additional charge of $25!

 

In independent tests, others have shown that search engines such as Kayak.com do better in locating lower fares. And, while they do not include Southwest Airlines, like most search sites, they do include jetBlue Airlines, which Orbitz does not.

 

Yeh - that's what I thought - however - I am looking at air to So. America and am comning up cheaper through Orbitz than I can directly through American Airlines - doesn't make any sense?

Ron

[parody]

doesn't make any sense?

 

Yes, it is odd that some airline websites are not very user-friendly. In which case, you may have discovered one of the reasons to use an online TA. Thus, the best strategy is to do a search with the popular sites such as Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, etc. and select the one that is the most advantageous.

 

BTW, it is useful to keep in mind one other point. A search on an airline's website is conducted with real-time data, which is not always the case with general search engines. Thus, it is possible to apparently find a lower fare with Orbitz, say, but when you go to book it (and then real-time data is used), you find that the fare in unavailable and you are back to the same fare found on AA.

[vivian02]

I have used Orbiz twice last year. Good experience. Got a flight PHX to MUC for a very low price of $602. Somehow there was a glitch and we got Business seats on Air France, that flight was in late May. Second flight was from ABQ to ANC very reasonable $465 traveling in July. I would check directly with the Airlines before booking with Orbiz just assure you are getting the lowest price. Good Luck. Tim

[Kylie]

I have use Orbitz several times and have had very good luck with them. One time when our flight times were changed I called and they gave us a better flight at no extra charge. I have actually found their prices cheaper than booking with the airlines some time but not as often lately.