Trip.com or CheapOAir??

[margmxca]

Has anyone used either of these travel sites to book air fare? Both of them have lower fares than the other sites and than the airlines themselves, but I'm not sure that they are trustworthy.

Thanks.

[Ashland]

Consolidator's (3rd party) ... Sorry I prefer to book directly with the carrier.

Best of luck and take note of all the terms involved.

[Zach1213]

Don’t do it. Don’t. 

[zigdilcru]

agree don’t do it.    we had booked with cheapo and i got sick wound up in the hospital not long before our cruise.   had insurance on the trip and had to cancel because after release from hospital still in bad shape. insurance told me we had to cancel with all parties and then submit all bills.  called cheapo and right off the bat they wanted $50.00 each person to cancel then they told me the airline would give us a credit for less of an amount then we paid for the airfare and we could use that credit within a year from original booking, it was booked 8 months from that date so we had really only 4 months to use the credit. BUT then we would have to pay $300.00 per person to rebook.  not a great deal and we just ate the airfare.  book only with the airline you are going to use, not worth the agrevation.

[voyager70]

Another vote for no.  Have read too many horror stories booking through consolidators.

 

 

[iancal]

Another perspective.  We needed two one way tickets for a last minute Med cruise.  Toronto-Istanbul.  Cheapo provided the very best pricing by a long shot AND the very best routing on the day that we wished to travel. 

 

Why the best routing?  It was BA all the way.  There were three flights to London each day.  We picked the first flight knowing that there were two other just in case.  In London, there were multiple flights after our connection.

 

We had the best of both.  Great price.  Excellent routing.

 

We have had the same good experience with booking on Orbitz.  We always try to book direct but sometimes it does not make sense to do so.

 

 

[Shorex]

Apologies to Longfellow:

 

When a consolidator fare was good,

It was very good indeed,

But when it was bad it was horrid.

 

OP,  make yourself aware of the risks and potential downsides of consolidator fares. If you decide to save a few bucks that way, don't complain if everything goes sour. And if everything goes great, you got lucky.

[iancal]

Keep in mind that the cruise air ticket that you purchased from the cruise line MAY the same type of ticket with the same restrictions.

 

On one occasion we purchased tickets on Orbitz that had the exact same fare codes as the ticket from the airline (orbitz displays the fare codes before you hit the buy button) as the airline.   But there was as difference in price within a span of ten minutes.  $1500 CAD for the airline, the equiv. of $1050. on Orbitz.

Including the ability to select our seats at the time of booking, etc.

 

Clearly this is not always the case but I think it would be a mistake to assume that every ticket you bought from the Orbitzs, Cheapo, Expedias of the world are based on a less advantageous fare code.  I suspect the real issue comes on change or refund time.

Edited August 20, 2019 by iancal

[*Miss G*]

I am not one to use them but my friend has purchased from CheapOair on a number of occasions with no complaints yet.

[Ashland]

7 hours ago, iancal said:

Another perspective.  We needed two one way tickets for a last minute Med cruise.  Toronto-Istanbul.  Cheapo provided the very best pricing by a long shot AND the very best routing on the day that we wished to travel. 

 

Why the best routing?  It was BA all the way.  There were three flights to London each day.  We picked the first flight knowing that there were two other just in case.  In London, there were multiple flights after our connection.

 

We had the best of both.  Great price.  Excellent routing.

 

We have had the same good experience with booking on Orbitz.  We always try to book direct but sometimes it does not make sense to do so.

 

 

Glad it worked out for you...However did you also price those one way tickets with your cruiseline?..Many have said that's when good deals are had.

[iancal]

We did  price cruise air.  As I recall it was almost double and had poor connections.  

 

That is not to say cruise air is not good.  It just was not good for that flight at that particular time.

Edited August 21, 2019 by iancal