What has Zuji done to their booking engine???

[wandering_fred]

Somehow I don't think savvy travellers make any online booking site successful, or a travel chain successful - which is a pity really. Most of the travel agents dumb down to the lowest common denominator and actively market towards them.

Well actually I don't care who they market toward - I generally can ignore ALL web based advertising. What I do want, separate from the mass market hoopla is the ability to know exactly what I am paying for - before I pay for it. That means a method to decipher the real fare booking class and the associated change/cancellation rules. The sites can bury that in the fine print if they want, just have an option to get to it.

And yes I have cancelled a QF ticket on the BPAY payment option when it came up Q class.

But I wander

Fred

 

[Evan]

Fred,

What you can do is just ring QF and ask them what class it books into.
I have now made 2 booking in 2 days with QF that do not work correctly with there multi destination tool. (Had either CX or JL components) and they also checked agreed the flight option not shown and waived the fees. (But they do check it does not work for you first)

Often you can use the ITA tool also and if you get the same price your pretty sure its the same booking class.

E

 

[Dave Noble]

Well actually I don't care who they market toward

Actually you do. You want a company that will provide the facilities which you want. Zuji , assumedly, feels that the new site is good for those that they are targetting and they don't want to be dealing with calls from people over things such as "what does QLBBG mean" or "what is class Q" and and so do not provide it . Their target is those that just want a ticket

Dave

 

[straitman]

Actually you do. You want a company that will provide the facilities which you want. Zuji , assumedly, feels that the new site is good for those that they are targetting and they don't want to be dealing with calls from people over things such as "what does QLBBG mean" or "what is class Q" and and so do not provide it . Their target is those that just want a ticket

Dave

Or alternately they have no real idea who they may gain or loose and what grief or otherwise they may cause. (sounds familiar to anyone who works for big business)

To me it sounds like they wanted a web site that looked and sounded how they liked and believed would work without a full knowledge of the consequences. ..... and that's what they got.

The feedback that people send in will only have limited effect as it never goes to the ivory towers.

 

[GDSman]

The MD of Zuji is an Aussie based in Singapore - by all accounts a highly experienced travel operator and I'm sure he cares about the success of the business.

 

[straitman]

The MD of Zuji is an Aussie based in Singapore - by all accounts a highly experienced travel operator and I'm sure he cares about the success of the business.

GDSman,

If you are referring to my post there was never any intent that the MD or other management don't care just that the senior management are often insulated by middle management who are there to climb the greasy poll at all costs. Often this is not to the long term benefit of the companies concerned.

This is from one with experience in the biggest of companies.

 

[clifford]

Their target is those that just want a ticket

Dave

Pity they will have missed their target. They will also have missed everything else.

Good luck to them, and to their Aussie MD who most assuredly will get the A when results don't come in as hoped.

Can't treat Asians like dumb Aussies...

 

[clifford]

Anyway, moving right along....

I just checked the Travelocity (US) site and it now allows you to pick a date range for international flights (as it used to do). I guess it was brought back by popular (American) demand.

So I would suggest that if you wish to, check fares using the www.travelocity.com website in future and ignore the dumbed down Australian version.

 

[straitman]

I've just sent off an email also so will be interested to see if I get a response. :-|

It does not surprise me that I've not received any answer.

 

[Mal]

According to a reply I got when I sent Zuji an email query over which class a particular fare booked into, they can't tell me which fare class it will book into *until* I book the fare.

Clowns.

 

[clifford]

According to a reply I got when I sent Zuji an email query over which class a particular fare booked into, they can't tell me which fare class it will book into *until* I book the fare.

Clowns.

They're a great organisation!

If you want a little more professionalism and the old-style booking engine, go to Zuji's daddy's site, travelocity.com.

 

[Mal]

On the plus side, their .SG site does accept Amex.

Pity they've turned the booking engine into something that defies description as to it's stupidity and missing features.

 

[JohnK]

I have just been looking at some airfares on the Zuji website to return from Thailand early in the new year and it is priced 20% more than Expedia for the same itinerary. I have noticed this a lot on the Zuji Singapore website in recent times. What is happening? Have they forgot to reprice the airfares in SGD since the decline of the AUD?

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

I have just been looking at some airfares on the Zuji website to return from Thailand early in the new year and it is priced 20% more than Expedia for the same itinerary. I have noticed this a lot on the Zuji Singapore website in recent times. What is happening? Have they forgot to reprice the airfares in SGD since the decline of the AUD?

Yes, there's no doubt that Zuji is quite a bit more expensive than Expedia. Surely they can't be making money with this approach (but maybe some people don't check).

I've been looking for a cheapish fare from LHR to BLR for a little while, and today found expedia.com.au offering flights on Kingfisher airlines (how are they?) for AUD 819 rtn, which is a very good price. Needless to say Zuji doesn't come close.

Anyways, I didn't feel confident parting with $819 for a 10-hr flight on an airline which I knew nothing about, so I opted to burn some UA miles for a LH business class ticket. I think I'll be much happier with this. My itinerary is HNL-LAX-YVR-LHR-FRA-BLR-FRA-LAX-HNL, all in business class for 120,000 miles.

Can't do that with QF...

 

[goaugo]

i think zuji au has finally heard us all. they now have all the taxes and fees included. what's more, they now provide the flexible date search like qantas

 

[stryker]

i think zuji au has finally heard us all. they now have all the taxes and fees included. what's more, they now provide the flexible date search like qantas

More like they were losing business hand over fist. And their prices are not all that competitive. Usually more expensive than Expedia.

You have to blame the Australian chief executive, I think.

 

[MelUser]

I still prefer when ZUJI listed all of the specials offered by the different airlines as a list as this provided true airline by airline comparison.

 

[Evan]

I have used Zuji/Tavelocity a few times, sometimes they have cheaper fares than the airlines direct on the same flights. I hate there new search engine but hey if you can find what you want then why worry.
Atleast i have never had any issues with Zuji unlike what some people seem to report with other online services. The seem professional to me.

E

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

i fondly remember the days when zuji was nearly the only flight booking sight i needed to use.

now it's a few hrs on a quiet nite shift going through around 5 sites to determine which offers the best value, sometimes going to the airline direct to see if they can do better.

i do wonder if there's a market for an agency where you paid a flat fee for them to book your travel, but you knew they would hardly mark up the prices.

i was surprised by my boss telling me he got a great package from flight centre last yr for a trip to HKG + Shanghai. I honestly couldn't beat the package they gave him. It's the only time in yrs i've not been able to price beat

 

[jpk]

i was surprised by my boss telling me he got a great package from flight centre last yr for a trip to HKG + Shanghai. I honestly couldn't beat the package they gave him. It's the only time in yrs i've not been able to price beat

I think FC do their own consolidation don't they? So they can discount quite deeply at times. That said, I refuse to use them. Seen them mess up friends trips too many times, and a mate who worked for them had some horror stories from the inside.