Travel Guru
Established Member
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2006
- Posts
- 2,009
Flight Centre have a price beat guarantee. If you don't have an existing relationship with a specific branch/agent, be warned that :
1) Their initial quote may be significantly $$$ higher than quotes available through other channels, unless you present a quote to beat.
2) Will try to hit you with CC surcharge that could bump the overall cost to higher than if booked through other channel (always take a quote that is inclusive of taxes, surcharges AND CC fees to allow a reasonable comparison)
3) Their taxes and surcharges often do match (read are higher than) the same quoted by the airline (see also 2 above).
4) They have a booking fee of their own, so ALWAYS compare NET fare with NET fare (see also 2 above)
To answer your original question, it doesn't take much effort to compare a couple of online agents (eg best flights, travel.com.au, zuji) and the airline itself. Worth checking anyway.
As someone who spent many years working for the big red cult, I've seen every trick in the book and more.
Always know what the actual taxes should be (check with airline direct) as some agents will attempt to squeeze $30-$50 more out of you by over inflating the taxes deliberately.
If you're not quote beating, it's worth checking the fares with 2 or 3 FC's as the agents set their own markups on nett-fares, and you'll often find a FC in a low-socioeconomic area or an area with high competition will set lower markups than FC's in higher socio-economic or competitive areas.
It's also worth checking with FC's other brands Escape and Student Flights.
I would argue if you have a quote from an online agent (or other agency group for that matter) that includes or doesnt charge a CC fee, then they shouldn't either.
Definitely do your homework, it'll pay dividends.
TG