Booking flights through Travelocity

[LeslieG]

I have always booked flights directly with the airline, but I have an upcoming trip that I would like to use a different airline on one of the legs, and so that leads me to a site like Travelocity. It's also quite a bit cheaper than the alternative on United. Having never booked that way before, I'm a little nervous. What troubles could I run into by not booking directly with the airline?

 

[Swimnoid]

I've done that through kayak and it was no problem at all. It was 2 separate transactions but it took you where you needed to go for each.

 

[beansmom]

i routinely book thru Priceline or Travelocity or Cheapo Air...never had an issue.

 

[HulaHoopy]

I have also booked through Travelocity with no issues.

 

[LuLuO]

I've never had a problem except when you have to talk to customer service it can be a pain because of the language barrier. I purchased their trip insurance for a trip to Hawaii and ended up not being able to go. I got 100% back. So for that I like them a lot.

I booked a cruise with them too and that went very smoothly.

 

[LeslieG]

I've never had a problem except when you have to talk to customer service it can be a pain because of the language barrier. I purchased their trip insurance for a trip to Hawaii and ended up not being able to go. I got 100% back. So for that I like them a lot.

I booked a cruise with them too and that went very smoothly.

I actually just called them and was on hold for at least 15 minutes, then got someone who did not speak English well. I take it their call center is overseas? Anyone know if others such as Expedia or Orbitz and the like have better customer service? I'm really just concerned about having a problem if something goes wrong, like a missed connection or something like that, and then having to deal with them instead of the airline directly.

 

[tar heel]

Have you tried skyscanner.com? If I understand it correctly, it finds the prices, but you book on the airline site. I have a friend who is living abroad for three years because of her DH's job. She is literally visiting a different country every month and uses it to book her flights and hotels. i'm getting ready to use it but don't have a firsthand account yet EXCEPT that it gave me better prices than I had been getting.

 

[anc876]

I have booked directly through airlines, Travelocity, Expedia, Hotwire and CheapTickets and have never had an issue. When I did need to call someone, I just called the airline directly and was always able to take care of everything.

 

[LeslieG]

I have booked directly through airlines, Travelocity, Expedia, Hotwire and CheapTickets and have never had an issue. When I did need to call someone, I just called the airline directly and was always able to take care of everything.

That's what I wondered. I didn't know if it was like when you book a cruise with a travel agent, and then the cruise line will not speak to you.

 

[eliza61]

I have always booked flights directly with the airline, but I have an upcoming trip that I would like to use a different airline on one of the legs, and so that leads me to a site like Travelocity. It's also quite a bit cheaper than the alternative on United. Having never booked that way before, I'm a little nervous. What troubles could I run into by not booking directly with the airline?

I've never had any issues with booking through travelocity at all. The price savings though IMO come when you bundle. book a flight and hotel together.
I've been happy with their service though.

I've heard opinions that it's very hard to make changes or cancel but I haven't had to do that.

 

[LeslieG]

Are you able to access your reservation on the airline's website if you want to make a seat change or something like that?

 

[CammelleandBre]

I booked a trip with them last month. That included flights, was able to pick my own seats.

 

[Tink-aholic]

I had a terrible issue with Travelocity a few years back. Long story short, I was managing a team and one of the parents was home booking the flights while I was literally on stage with the team accepting the award (which meant we were flying to the next tournament). She booked the wrong flights and I figured it out when I got home, so I canceled and rebooked less than two hours later. Travelocity charged my credit card for ALL of the flights, even though they had a window to rebook that I was well within. When I went back to complain, they even acknowledged that there were electronic "footprints" attempting to cancel the original flights, but that it must not have gone through. How convenient for them.

American Express didn't back me up, even with Travelocity's admission and the fact that I bought the same number of tickets for the same people to the same destination for the same days, just departing 12 hours earlier.

It was an expensive lesson, but I will NEVER use them again (and we fly 3-4 times per year and always buy the tickets online). Just make certain the flight you book is the flight you want, because you apparently can't cancel.