Booking Spirit Flights through eDreams?

[Herding_Cats]

I'm trying to plan a weekend trip for the fall, and I've found flights that are significantly cheaper than everywhere else. $116/person round-trip instead of a minimum of $250 through all of the other carriers is enough to make me stop and really consider this. I haven't clicked through to see if there's any fun and exciting undisclosed fees not included on the google flights page yet.

Stay far, far, far away, or is this just the priceline version of pricing for a budget carrier?

 

[Herding_Cats]

I know that spirit can have its issues. That's not what this post is about. There are quite a few flights on the same day from them, so I'm not too worried about not having a backup flight if one gets cancelled.

 

[miksicnarf]

I don't know what eDreams is but if the price differs from Spirit's website, I'd be suspicious. I recently flew Spirit (booked directly through Spirit) for the first time and I was pleasantly surprised--no issues. Just be aware of what you get and don't get re: seating, baggage, etc.

 

[jimmymc]

What is the price booking on Spirit's website as opposed to eDreams? If something does go wrong, it's much easier to deal with the airline rather than having both companies point fingers at each other.

 

[Jimsig]

I have never heard of eDreams but I wouldn't be surprised that if you continued with the purchase it would all of a sudden tell you that that fare is no longer available and the new fare is $XXX.xx and it's the same as booking Spirit directly. Some of these OTA's lure you in with what looks to be a cheap fare and then they use mumbo jumbo such as "while checking inventory we found that fare to be no longer available" or "We are checking to see if that fare is still available" and the new fare happens to be what you found on the actual airline. They are hoping at that point you will just buy it through them as you have gotten that far anyway. It's basically bait and switch but they hide behind saying things like their computer system does not contain real time prices and the like.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I have never heard of eDreams but I wouldn't be surprised that if you continued with the purchase it would all of a sudden tell you that that fare is no longer available and the new fare is $XXX.xx and it's the same as booking Spirit directly. Some of these OTA's lure you in with what looks to be a cheap fare and then they use mumbo jumbo such as "while checking inventory we found that fare to be no longer available" or "We are checking to see if that fare is still available" and the new fare happens to be what you found on the actual airline. They are hoping at that point you will just buy it through them as you have gotten that far anyway. It's basically bait and switch but they hide behind saying things like their computer system does not contain real time prices and the like.

This is exactly what happened

 

[_19disnA]

Most of those 3rd party airtravel sites are simply accumulating data from various airlines for display purposes. While it makes comparison shopping easier, I would always use the actual airline website to make the reservation. I think it is highly unlikely their fares will be lower once you add in all of the 'extras' you need to actually make a reservation. If that site uses some dubious scheme to get you to book with them would be a huge red flag to avoid using them. If they can't be honest when you are making a reservation, do you think their customer service will magically be better if you have an issue? Probably not.

 

[Lewisc]

I'm trying to plan a weekend trip for the fall, and I've found flights that are significantly cheaper than everywhere else. $116/person round-trip instead of a minimum of $250 through all of the other carriers is enough to make me stop and really consider this. I haven't clicked through to see if there's any fun and exciting undisclosed fees not included on the google flights page yet.

Stay far, far, far away, or is this just the priceline version of pricing for a budget carrier?

Airlines like Spirit and Frontier underprice airfare and gouge on everything else.
Frontier wants $55 to check a 40 lb bag. An extra $50 if your bag is 41-50 lbs. $60 for a bin bag. $99 at the gate if your personal item is too big.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Airlines like Spirit and Frontier underprice airfare and gouge on everything else.
Frontier wants $55 to check a 40 lb bag. An extra $50 if your bag is 41-50 lbs. $60 for a bin bag. $99 at the gate if your personal item is too big.

I know all of this. It's not what I asked about. I've flown frontier and they do not hide their luggage policy. My question was about using what appears to be an online travel agency that is advertising tickets for about $30/person LESS than directly from Spirit. And since I know that places like Hotwire/Priceline do this for things like hotels and rental cars, I was trying to figure out if dealing with this particular OTA was worth the hassle.


If prices were even remotely equal, I'd choose one of the major carriers (that are closer to home.) But since they're all in the $400/person range, I'm willing to jump through some hoops for the just-over-$100/person range.

 

[keishashadow]

Airlines like Spirit and Frontier underprice airfare and gouge on everything else.
Frontier wants $55 to check a 40 lb bag. An extra $50 if your bag is 41-50 lbs. $60 for a bin bag. $99 at the gate if your personal item is too big.

unfortunately, not unusual to see flights cancelled short notice these days

Frontier (whom I’ve never booked) as a minor player in our area, has cancelled multiple flights from our market to MCO commencing early in April. Know several people who had to scramble & got stuck with painful replacement costs on other carriers.

i just renewed our spirit saver thing, figured well worth it for the slightly discounted flights & bag fees...not to mention, I caught quite a few under $50 fares a month or two out to MCO the past year. now, I see that discounted checked bag price has jumped to $55 On the MCO route for us. Lol ironic it’s possibly more than the flight, itself. At least they have a decent track record as to maintaining the flights i’ve booked In the past.

OP - the travel agency you reference has many negative reviews. have you set up a price alert/flight watch on the dates you need thru google? You will see a graph of the most recent pricing and can set up alerts for drops etc.

 

[sam_gordon]

My thought?

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS book airfare directly with the carrier. Any savings to be gained by booking with a TA will quickly become worthless if you have some issue and changes need to be made.