Airfare---$$$---HELP!!

[greatam]

I had good luck booking a one way for my TA in October by using a consolidator. Try mobissimo.com or tickets-to-europe.com. Both of them had some excellent prices. Good luck.:)

 

As posted so frequently, you REALLY have to be extremely careful buying consolidator tickets. They are NON ENDORSABLE to another airline-in essence you are STUCK with the originating carrier. They have NO value to another airline and cannot be used to board another airline.

 

And the latest problem with consolidator tickets-IF there is a flight change, often you will be UNABLE to make the "free change" available with published fare tickets. Example: You booked flight 234 at 2:00PM to depart your cruise. But the airline changes flight 234 to 10:00AM. Sorry, you are STUCK with flight 234. Doesn't matter what time the flight leaves-there is still a flight 234 and YOU ARE ON IT.

 

With $200-400 change fees common on consolidator tickets, PLEASE be certain you have allowed enough time for any glitches in scheduling, weather, mechanicals or maintenance. You could be in for a VERY rude awakening if you miss your flight-doesn't matter the reason. You have absolutely NONE of the normal protections in the Contract of Carriage with consolidator tickets.

[lawyerrose]

As posted so frequently, you REALLY have to be extremely careful buying consolidator tickets. They are NON ENDORSABLE to another airline-in essence you are STUCK with the originating carrier. They have NO value to another airline and cannot be used to board another airline.

 

And the latest problem with consolidator tickets-IF there is a flight change, often you will be UNABLE to make the "free change" available with published fare tickets. Example: You booked flight 234 at 2:00PM to depart your cruise. But the airline changes flight 234 to 10:00AM. Sorry, you are STUCK with flight 234. Doesn't matter what time the flight leaves-there is still a flight 234 and YOU ARE ON IT.

 

With $200-400 change fees common on consolidator tickets, PLEASE be certain you have allowed enough time for any glitches in scheduling, weather, mechanicals or maintenance. You could be in for a VERY rude awakening if you miss your flight-doesn't matter the reason. You have absolutely NONE of the normal protections in the Contract of Carriage with consolidator tickets.

 

We'll see. From the fine print I've read in my travel contract, it doesn't look like this is true. I've been very happy with flights booked through consolidators before. I'm certainly not alone in booking with consolidators and, depending on the quality of the company, most people seem to be very satisfied. Nothing about the way they've done business so far alarms me. More will be revealed, I guess.

[greatam]

We'll see. From the fine print I've read in my travel contract, it doesn't look like this is true.

 

From the tickets-to-Europe website:

 

"Most special airfares allow refunds, with a penalty ranging from $300 up to the full amount of the ticket. Restrictions on changes and cancellations vary.

 

Once payment has been submitted, changes to your booking are subject to a $300 fee plus the difference in the fare at the time the change is made. Any changes are also subject to availability at that time. Until you contact us and we determine the specific rules of the ticket you purchased and the changes you want to make, we're only able to provide you with the general policies outlined above. Our customer service representatives will calculate additional charges on the day you contact us. Please note: All paper tickets must be sent to our main office for refunds or exchanges. Some airfares may not permit changes once the tickets have been issued"

 

And 95% of consolidator tickets are NON ENDORSABLE. In published fare Contracts of Carriages and fare rules, there are rules regarding endorsements to another airline. Those rules are NOT in consolidator tickets. BECAUSE it is not a published fare ticket, another airline has NO IDEA what the ticket ACTUALLY cost and therefore as a general rule, WILL NOT accept consolidator tickets for carriage.

 

And though some people report getting FF miles on consolidator tickets (most likely due to the severe devaluation of FF miles in the last couple of years), under most airlines rules, FF miles are NOT awarded. Tickets-to-Europe makes a broad assumption that FF miles are awarded: "frequent flyer mileage are generally allowed"

 

Nothing wrong with purchasing a consolidator ticket, as long as you KNOW the ramifications and have an alternate plan IF there is a problem. Good luck!!!

[lawyerrose]

From the tickets-to-Europe website:

 

"Most special airfares allow refunds, with a penalty ranging from $300 up to the full amount of the ticket. Restrictions on changes and cancellations vary.

 

Once payment has been submitted, changes to your booking are subject to a $300 fee plus the difference in the fare at the time the change is made. Any changes are also subject to availability at that time. Until you contact us and we determine the specific rules of the ticket you purchased and the changes you want to make, we're only able to provide you with the general policies outlined above. Our customer service representatives will calculate additional charges on the day you contact us. Please note: All paper tickets must be sent to our main office for refunds or exchanges. Some airfares may not permit changes once the tickets have been issued"

 

And 95% of consolidator tickets are NON ENDORSABLE. In published fare Contracts of Carriages and fare rules, there are rules regarding endorsements to another airline. Those rules are NOT in consolidator tickets. BECAUSE it is not a published fare ticket, another airline has NO IDEA what the ticket ACTUALLY cost and therefore as a general rule, WILL NOT accept consolidator tickets for carriage.

 

And though some people report getting FF miles on consolidator tickets (most likely due to the severe devaluation of FF miles in the last couple of years), under most airlines rules, FF miles are NOT awarded. Tickets-to-Europe makes a broad assumption that FF miles are awarded: "frequent flyer mileage are generally allowed"

 

Nothing wrong with purchasing a consolidator ticket, as long as you KNOW the ramifications and have an alternate plan IF there is a problem. Good luck!!!

 

With a difference of nearly $4,000 (per person) between what we're paying with the consolidator and what I could get through the airlines, there would have to be a LOT of expensive screw ups for us to lose money on the deal.

[G'ma]

We are considering a transatlantic cruise and are having problems with the airfare. A ONE-WAY ticket from London returning to Dallas is $1375.00.

We found several round-trip flights London to Dallas/FW and returning to London for $699.00. I'm finding it hard to understand why a one-way ticket would be twice as high as a round trip ticket! My question is: Does anyone know if there would be an issue/penalty with us purchasing round trip tickets from London to Dallas and returning to London....but only use the London to Dallas portion of the ticket? My travel agent said that she cannot book the flight to be used this way as the airline will come back and bill her for the difference in the tickets if the round-trip portion isn't used. She feels that we can book the flight ourselves and there not be any penalty for not using the return flight ticket from Dallas to London.

 

Has anyone experienced this situation? THANKS SO MUCH for your help!

 

Your TA is correct. Buying a roundtrip ticket and using only one flight coupon is against the airlines regulations and rules. Your TA could do it, however, if she was ever caught doing it, it would mean she'd loose her airline appointments and could no longer sell tickets. It is a serious matter - for HER.

 

It isn't for you. There is nothing to stop you buying the roundtrip ticket and using only the first flight coupon to fly London/Dallas. Just consider the "return" flight coupons as lost and DON'T try to get any credit for them. If the airlines figure out what you've done, they can send you a bill.....for a one/way ticket, less what you paid. The only way they will find this out is if you tell them or if you try to get credit for the unused part of the ticket.

 

Book it and don't say a thing to anyone - anywhere.

[Globaliser]

Your TA is correct. Buying a roundtrip ticket and using only one flight coupon is against the airlines regulations and rules. Your TA could do it' date=' however, if she was ever caught doing it, it would mean she'd loose her airline appointments and could no longer sell tickets. It is a serious matter - for HER.[/quote']One of the other things that can happen if you book a throw-away ticket through a TA is that it's easy for the airline to issue a debit memo to the TA, and then withhold any money due from the airline to the TA. This effectively puts the onus on the TA to dispute the debit memo, acting as the passenger's representative. The TA may find themselves in a position where they simply have to pass on the debit charge to the passenger.

 

However, if you book directly, it's more difficult for the airline to chase the passenger. A separate credit card charge for a large amount, which had never been specifically authorised, might be difficult for the airline to put through. So the airline generally tends to do nothing to sporadic offenders, concentrating their efforts on those who do it repeatedly.

There is nothing to stop you buying the roundtrip ticket and using only the first flight coupon to fly London/Dallas. Just consider the "return" flight coupons as lost and DON'T try to get any credit for them. If the airlines figure out what you've done' date=' they can send you a bill.....for a one/way ticket, less what you paid. The only way they will find this out is if you tell them or if you try to get credit for the unused part of the ticket.[/quote']One of the things that may help, if you can organise it, is if you book the return half for as far away as possible. It might not be as much a year, because sometimes the cheapest tickets have shorter maximum stays. The further away the return half of the booked journey, the more likely it is that your plans have unexpectedly changed in between making it impossible for you to use the return half of the ticket.

 

Of course, if you have cast-iron evidence that your plans did change unexpectedly, then you are likely to be able to persuade the airline not to do anything, even if it did start to make noises.

 

Finally, I have heard of people who have been able to negotiate with airlines even when they have chased. One instance I recently heard about was someone who bought a number of B-A-C-A-B tickets (A being the home town), intending only to fly B-A-C-A. The airline threatened to charge them for the full cost of that itinerary (much more than flying the full ticket), but the passenger was able to negotiate an extension of validity with the airline so that they could fly the last sector of each of those tickets to complete the trip. Obviously, they had to pay extra to fly home again, but this was an example of the airline insisting on this simply to impose some market discipline.