I know this is not a tech question(and kind of a reddit type question), but which site do you use for booking cheap and safe international travels , especially the ones that are not predatory(visit the site twice and they bump up the price) or the ones who simply map some random airlines to give out some plan
Google Flights first, and then I go to the airline's site to purchase. I never deal with third-party resellers - they might be cheaper in some cases but a nightmare to deal with if the flight changes or gets canceled.
I like Google Flights so much that I also built a Chrome extension[1] to improve the interface (hiding the third-party affiliate links, putting seat data in the top-level of the results, and making business class searches easier).
Always book directly with airlines. You'll almost never find a cheaper price from a third party, unless you are a corporate traveler with negotiated agreements through a corporate travel agency. Airlines will often only let the third party who bought the ticket change it, so you have to go through them and often pay a fee if something goes wrong. It's the opposite with hotels. For airlines, use third party sites only to find routes and estimated prices, then see what the cost is to book directly with the airline. Google Flights is usually the best search engine for most people, but don't clickthrough the links to book directly with the airlines. ITA Matrix is the backend to Google Flights and if you're a HNer, you'll appreciate the power interface.
> visit the site twice and they bump up the price
This is a myth, at least for flights. Flight prices normally go up the closer to the date. They almost never go down as you get closer to the date. So there will be many cases where you visit a site at one time and see one price, then if you visit it at a later time, your expectation should be that the price has increased. But the price would have gone up anyway. Also, airlines do use # of tickets already sold to set prices, and so you should expect that as time moves forward, it is likely someone had the same idea of going from city A to city B as you on that same date, and they bought their ticket.
It's the same kind of myth as "I was talking about this thing with my friend and then later saw a targeted ad for it, so they must be listening to my microphone." No, they know you're interested in that product or that there is increased demand for that flight from data collected elsewhere.
> Google Flights is usually the best search engine for most people, but don't clickthrough the links to book directly with the airlines.
My usual workflow is to pick the flights on Google Flights and then click the button at the end that takes me to the airline's page to book. What's the downside of that?
I've noticed that sometimes Google Flights finds a cheaper international fare if using the airlines site in the local currency instead of USD. Clicking the button at the end in Google Flights takes care of all the settings to get you to the price they showed.
I've also noticed Google Flights prices being outdated sometimes.
Booking directly also gives you more opportunities to rack up points: once with the airline and once with your credit card. Depending on the card/airline you can then pool points by transferring from the card to airline or book free tickets/stays through the card provider.
One annoying feature that Google Flights lacks is including the cost of a checked bag (only supported ex USA or just with domestic US flights, I think)
Kiwi/Kayak has that feature.
But Google Flights is so very quick and easy to use, I almost always use it. It's pretty easy to estimate baggage fees (usually the fare that includes baggage is around +£120 more)
Avoid 3rd parties site like anything. If ever you get in trouble or need any assistance, you'ree not going to get any help from airline and/or have to pay crazy fees. Recently my sister had to change the flight and were charged $750 for 3 people to change the ticket on top of airline difference. Airline was willing to do it complimentary but due to them they had to pay $600 on top
For booking, matrix ita is great too. It's owned by google and then kayak/skyscanner etc to check out route ideas
What's the advantage of this? Whenever I tried, the UX seems so much worse than any other service. If it's the same data anyway, why not consume it from an easier to use service?
For power users, you can force specific fare classes/connections/combinations etc. regular sites won't. You can create some zany things for example, getting United to sell you an American connection. Ticketing it may require an actual travel agent though.
Where Google Flights falls flat is when you want to search to/from multiple airports not on the same city. Especially here in the UK, I’m happy flying from basically any airport in the country, as I’d much rather drive/get a train for a bit longer than have to take a connecting flight. For this I use Momondo: https://www.momondo.co.uk/
If I know what carriers fly the route I always go direct to them. I might check the Skyscanner type sites to confirm which carriers fly the route but I've never booked a flight through them.
Generally if you book direct it is much less hassle especially if you end up needing to make any changes to your booking. Booking via another party means they control the ticket and this makes flight changes, cancellations, etc much more difficult down the road. Booking direct means I can simply change in the airlines app -- often with no or low fees. And if I end up needing to call, I can call the airline directly or visit their office and change my tickets -- both of which is not possible if the ticket is held by another party.
Booking direct also allows you to access a wider variety of fare types. The carrier I fly most often (Air New Zealand) has a complex fare structure that doesn't fit in with most resellers. This means resellers usually only offer the more expensive bag/food/etc-included fares whereas I can get the seat-only fare directly saving quite a bit of money.
Really there is no benefit I can see booking with a third party. Always go direct to the airline.
Wouldn't it be great to know what fares are cheap right now if you are flexible with dates and destinations before you even book? That's where Mighty Travels PREMIUM comes in. You can see the best deals from the US to Europe or the best deals going into Cape Town.
AZair.com (AZair.eu) allow you to combine flights from multiple airports. Covers Europe, Mediterranean and Asia. Suggested in the previous "Ask HN: How do you find airline tickets?" [2]
My first instinct was skyscanner but from the other replies that might be a bad idea (it’s generally pretty good and I mostly fly in Europe, but USA 1-2 times a year I also booked via skyscanner and it was pretty competitively priced).
I'd love to know too. I used the trip.com app to visit Thailand from the US. They misspelled my name wrong throughout the tickets, which terrified me because I thought it was going to be a problem (second time traveling solo). It wasn't a problem. During check-in, they said it happens all the time, nothing to worry about.
Everything worked out, no complaints from me, but would love to hear about alternatives.
I see a few people saying to avoid third parties but I’ve had good experiences with Amex travel including with their phone support. Does anybody have any bad experience with Amex travel to share?
Not with Amex Travel, but they did cancel my card (suspected fraud) while I was overseas. That was wildly unpleasant, and as I discovered they closed all their travel centers ages ago. They did eventually issue a replacement card and send it to the hotel I was staying at… after I arrived home.
The huge advantage American Express held was in having physical offices nearly everywhere. With those gone it's more of a why bother kinda thing.
I actually lost an American Express Card while visiting Delhi last year and they had a new one at my hotel in under 48 hours. They have a pretty sizable local presence in Delhi (I guess a lot of their support teams) but still they came through unexpectedly well.
More expensive (not just 1 or 2%) and not as much inventory
I've compared them a few times, but never booked due to cost. They've also downgraded their customer service in the UK, so I'm not inclined to pay well over the odds just to avail of that
Honestly haven’t had too bad of an experience with Capital One’s hopper portal.
Normally I don’t care for these aggregators, but 9/10 times the price difference is negligible, I don’t have to create a new account, and their customer service has actually been decent ( booked a flight with ryan air that showed incorrectly free check in on the portal, and they reimbursed me for the baggage ).
Also it usually ends up forwarding me the direct flight details anyway, so I can always modify the booking on the main airline’s page.
I mean I'm partial since it's my site, but I do like Beat That Flight - https://www.beatthatflight.com.au/ - in Australia/New Zealand (although you can use it anywhere, if that wasn't obvious) ;)
I find OTAs are often substantially cheaper, they make their money with upsells (insurance, txt updates, etc) but if you just tick no to everything, you can often get quite the bargain.
Many hotels (at least in the US) will treat your booking as a second or third rate customer. I've had many never see my booking, or say sorry they're out of space, or otherwise refuse to honor it. And they'll say sorry, we can't help with third party companies, contact Expedia instead (which owns Hotwire).
You'll eventually get a refund from Hotwire if that happens, after waiting to speak with outsourced tech support. I've found it to not be worth the hassle of possibly not having anywhere to stay that night and ruining plans.
I've used Hotwire for more than a decade and only stopped in the past few years because it's happened so many times.
I like Google Flights so much that I also built a Chrome extension[1] to improve the interface (hiding the third-party affiliate links, putting seat data in the top-level of the results, and making business class searches easier).
[1] https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/skysavvy-enhance-go...