Successful booking through flightsbird.com?

[chikinyellow]

You know what they say about something that is too good to be true....

 

Flights for our cruise were running $2200 for our family.  I did a ton of price comparison and found flightsbird.com that quoted $1300.  I received an email for a confirmation that I made a reservation request and today I actually received an email with my etickets confirmation number. 

 

I am am able to pull up our confirmed reservation with seat assignments online on aa.com.  Wondering if I am missing anything? How can they be $900 cheaper than the actual airline? 

 

:::waiting for the other show to drop:::

[Ashland]

3rd party pricing...beware. I'm assuming you read the reviews and experiences other's have had

with this company. No thanks...I'll stick with booking direct with the carrier. Best of luck to you.

[Globaliser]

7 hours ago, chikinyellow said:

... my etickets confirmation number.

 

If this is a 6-character code, then that relates only to your reservation. It does not itself indicate that you have tickets; you may only have a reservation.

 

What you are looking for (whether on the travel agent's website or the airline's website) is actual ticket numbers. These will be 13 digits long, probably starting 001. There will be a different number for each passenger, although the numbers may be sequential or nearly sequential.

 

If you have tickets, then you have a contract with the airline and a certain level of security.

 

If you do not have tickets, then you have paid money for a promise from the travel agent that it will get you tickets. Will it fulfil that promise, and if so, when? Or will it later try to deliver you something else instead, citing one excuse or another? If the travel agent does not deliver anything, will you get your money back, and how? In this "no ticket" situation, these are things that at present you have simply taken on trust: you have a contract with the travel agent but not with the airline.

 

7 hours ago, chikinyellow said:

How can they be $900 cheaper than the actual airline? 

 

Because airline tickets are not a fixed price item like a tin of baked beans sitting on a supermarket shelf. They are contractual bundles. The travel agent may be promising to get you a bundle that is different from the bundle that the airline is currently selling, or it may be arbitraging using your money, or there may be even less salubrious reasons.

[hallasm]

7 hours ago, chikinyellow said:

I  am able to pull up our confirmed reservation with seat assignments online on aa.com.  Wondering if I am missing anything? How can they be $900 cheaper than the actual airline? 

 

If you can access your reservation on aa.com you should be safe. Worth to check luggage allowances. Might be hand luggage only.

In general flightsbird.com does get very bad reviews.

[waterbug123]

9 hours ago, chikinyellow said:

How can they be $900 cheaper than the actual airline? 

 

:::waiting for the other show to drop:::

 

Because you probably have consolidator or bulk fare tickets.  Depending on the exact fare code of these tickets you may or may not be able to:  select seats in advance, pay to upgrade seats, change your ticket, or cancel your ticket.  Your ticket may also be highly restricted, such that if the flight is delayed or severely canceled, you may not have the option to have your ticket endorsed over to another airline or to be rerouted.  You may also find yourself at the bottom of the barrel for being reaccommodated.  

If your plans don't change and your flight is on time, you may never know exactly how different your ticket may be and you can pat yourself on the back for saving money.   Experience a long delay or a cancellation, you may wonder what kind of black hole you've fallen into.  

Caveat emptor....

[FlyerTalker]

Hope you actually read through their whole website.  Between the typos and grammar errors, I wonder about the professionalism of the outfit.  In addition, reading the "About" page is nothing more than promotional puff - no actual data about the company.  Can you find a real life address or contact info other than the sales number??  Nope - or at least I couldn't.

 

In addition, reading the "Terms and Conditions" indicates that Flightsbird really isn't selling you anything until they say so.  You can send them money and it's not a sale until they decide it is.

 

Finally, their low price guarantee is really bogus.  If you pay them $15, then you MAY be eligible for a refund IF you cancel within 24 hours and someone else has a better price.  But even then, the $15 stays with FB.  Book with a major carrier direct and you have that 24 hours cancellation window for free.

 

But hey....you saved money.  And decided to ask the questions after you plunked down the cash.

[epixx]

And next week you might receive an e-mail that they canceled your tickets.  Read this, for example:

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k11326906-Flightsbird_com-Air_Travel.html

[Globaliser]

13 hours ago, epixx said:

And next week you might receive an e-mail that they canceled your tickets.  Read this, for example:

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k11326906-Flightsbird_com-Air_Travel.html

 

In a situation like that, I'd lay a small wager on the agent never having issued a ticket at all. That's the crucial distinction (which most people do not understand) between having a booking reference with which they can see their reservation on the airline's website, and having a ticket number that shows that they actually have a ticket for travel. A reservation does not entitle you to travel, only a ticket does.

 

The poster of that TripAdvisor review clearly thought that being able to see a reservation was enough. It isn't.