Booking flights on skiddoo

[Tara Jane]

HI all, I am having to book one way flights Melb to Tokyo and Victoria BC to Melb.    Has anyone used this company to book through?   Trip Advisor have 5 year old reviews which are not good but more recent reviews on a comsumer site are very good.

Am scared to press the button, but on the other hand paying by credit card does sort of give some security.

Advice please.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Tara Jane

[lyndarra]

The date you  saw was most likely the first post. Click the little down arrow above that and you will get the most recent, Aud 2018.

Here you go;

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k6501455-Skidoo-Air_Travel.html

[Tara Jane]

Thank you Lyndarra.  Not looking good.

[The_Big_M]

If you're not going to make mistakes in booking, and not need to change/cancel/amend your booking at all in future, they'll likely be fine.

 

Where people have issues is when changes need to be made for whatever reason, when the costs, and delays in slow service (which is how they can discount prices) comes up. That's why you get two opposite responses; if people make simple bookings without change they'll be happy as they got a good price and everything went as expected. But if changes are needed, they get annoyed as they get unexpected prices, and making changes often isn't as quick as with full service. 

Edited November 5, 2018 by The_Big_M

[Tara Jane]

Thank you

[Aus Traveller]

9 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

If you're not going to make mistakes in booking, and not need to change/cancel/amend your booking at all in future, they'll likely be fine.

 

Where people have issues is when changes need to be made for whatever reason, when the costs, and delays in slow service (which is how they can discount prices) comes up. That's why you get two opposite responses; if people make simple bookings without change they'll be happy as they got a good price and everything went as expected. But if changes are needed, they get annoyed as they get unexpected prices, and making changes often isn't as quick as with full service. 

I am not presently thinking of booking through Skiddoo, but your comments are very helpful. Thank you.

[NSWP]

Be safe and book direct with the relevant airline, we do.

[Tara Jane]

Yes, I know its the wise thing to do, just so tempting as we would save $500 each.   Guess a bargain isnt a bargain if I am left at the boarding gate.

[MicCanberra]

We have used a third party booking agent a few times, but got burnt once (cancellation fees) so not again.

[The_Big_M]

If you read through reviews I don't think I've seen anyone ever say they were left at the gate.

 

As said, it's just that it's not so simple if you need to change things, and wind up with more costs if you need to cancel/change.

[lizzy77]

I never book through 3rd party’s. It’s just a nightmare if you need to change or cancel. Dealing direct you have a greater chance of changes for less,  and not losing all for cancelation. 

[MicCanberra]

Agreed, if the flight is relatively soon, no worries but 11 months out leaves so many things for change or cancellation which is where you get stung.

[The_Big_M]

Each has different situations. However, many choose non-cancellable flights and hotel rates 11 months out as well, especially if they have to lock in leave, and wear the low chance of something happening in that rare circumstance.

 

Of course, others book multiple cancellable cruises, and regularly cancel things. In that case, they would be better off avoiding options that reduce flexibility like this.

[GUT2407]

2 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

Each has different situations. However, many choose non-cancellable flights and hotel rates 11 months out as well, especially if they have to lock in leave, and wear the low chance of something happening in that rare circumstance.

 

Of course, others book multiple cancellable cruises, and regularly cancel things. In that case, they would be better off avoiding options that reduce flexibility like this.

We had a hotel last year, non refunadable, had to cancel that cruise, so had a night in Sydney, but airfares could be a big problem, as with hotels more than just a couple of hour drive if you have to cancel the cruise.

[Tara Jane]

Letting you all know I have booked flights through the captain.  Don't feel my $$ are at risk and they price matched with webjet who were close to the skidoo price.    Interesting  is that one branch told me they couldnt price match and another branch were happy to do so.   We all saved about $500 pp on flights.   I am not worried about having to cancel as if that happens it will be an insurance claim so the amount isnt all that relevant.    Very happy with the excellent service from the TA who I am sure will have moved on when I next need to use him.    Generally I avoid the captain as have had very bad service in the past when thinking of using them but he was excellent.   Great price, friendly, professional and all with a smile.   It is easy money for them though, as I go in with a print out of the booking I require.  They never had to spend any time on me as I know exactly what I want.

Now I can sit back and relax, cruise, flights, hotels all booked.   Just need to decide which insurance to go with as credit card will no longer cover me.  Thats my job for the next few days.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Tara Jane

[MMDown Under]

5 hours ago, Tara Jane said:

Letting you all know I have booked flights through the captain.  Don't feel my $$ are at risk and they price matched with webjet who were close to the skidoo price.    Interesting  is that one branch told me they couldnt price match and another branch were happy to do so.   We all saved about $500 pp on flights.   I am not worried about having to cancel as if that happens it will be an insurance claim so the amount isnt all that relevant.    Very happy with the excellent service from the TA who I am sure will have moved on when I next need to use him.    Generally I avoid the captain as have had very bad service in the past when thinking of using them but he was excellent.   Great price, friendly, professional and all with a smile.   It is easy money for them though, as I go in with a print out of the booking I require.  They never had to spend any time on me as I know exactly what I want.

Now I can sit back and relax, cruise, flights, hotels all booked.   Just need to decide which insurance to go with as credit card will no longer cover me.  Thats my job for the next few days.

Well Done!  Shows that it pays to shop around.  

Can you book your seats prior to flight?

Have you tried Insure and Go or Tick for quotes?

[Tara Jane]

Yes all seats booked except jetstar Honolulu to melb we will take what we are given.

One interesting thing is when putting multi city into the search it came out about 400 dollars more pp than putting in individual one way flights.

I have tick insurance for my upcoming nz cruise. 

RACV is just on $800 for 29 days. Cruising yokohama  to Vancouver plus flight time and 7 days land in Japan.   I'm a gold member too.  Insure and go less but I am still debating whether it's worth what's involved in appealing Zurich rejecting me.  They want 2 years medical records of course trying to wear me down.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Tara Jane

[vozzie]

My experience with Flight Centre has been bad.

I gave them a list of all my 12 flights (all Business Class)and they said they'd get back with a price.

Nothing ever heard from them....

Ended up booking myself,  through various online travel agencies.

Thought I'd be doing the right thing by giving an Australian company some considerable commission...but obviously they don't need it.

[Tara Jane]

Agreed. I ordered Japan rail passes from them and they arrived 2 correct and 2 in someone else's name. The wrong names were people we had cruised with a few years previously.  What got me was the agent saying it was no big deal.  It was to me as we had to wait another week lucky I allow lots of time for unexpected dramas.    I only gave them a go this time as they claimed to price beat and I didn't feel comfortable booking through skidoo webjet etc.

[NSWP]

32 minutes ago, Tara Jane said:

Yes all seats booked except jetstar Honolulu to melb we will take what we are given.

One interesting thing is when putting multi city into the search it came out about 400 dollars more pp than putting in individual one way flights.

I have tick insurance for my upcoming nz cruise. 

RACV is just on $800 for 29 days. Cruising yokohama  to Vancouver plus flight time and 7 days land in Japan.   I'm a gold member too.  Insure and go less but I am still debating whether it's worth what's involved in appealing Zurich rejecting me.  They want 2 years medical records of course trying to wear me down.

Re Jetstar Honolulu to Melbourne. We booked business class on Jetstar Dreamliner, Honolulu to Sydney in May, using Qantas FF points, booked through Qantas. However were able to secure seat allocation via JetStar site.

[The_Big_M]

2 hours ago, Tara Jane said:

Yes all seats booked except jetstar Honolulu to melb we will take what we are given.

One interesting thing is when putting multi city into the search it came out about 400 dollars more pp than putting in individual one way flights.

 

 

It could be due to class availability. For a multi-city flight it may be finding the cheapest available fare class that is the same across all sectors.

 

However, some sectors may have cheaper fare classes available, but get ruled out if booked on one ticket. If booked individually, that wouldn't be an issue.