OTA rort

[elogic]

I'm After some advice

I made a booking via a OTA for some flights , received a email confirming the booking from the OTA , booking reference from JQ showed as pending
I followed up today after checking my Amex showed the charge(was charged an extra $98.00 compared to the email confirmation and final amount on the website, no it wasnt a cc charge or currency charge )
At this point I was told the booking couldn't be finalized until I paid another $800.

I've contacted Amex to dispute the purchase charge being higher than agreed and the extra $800 to complete the booking

Any pointers as to who else to complain to ?

 

[serfty]

I have seen many reports of such happening with some (generally obscure) OTA's

Not sure about the probity in this case.

Can you advise who we should avoid?

 

[opusman]

OTA?

 

[mannej]

Online travel agent

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I'm After some advice

I made a booking via a OTA for some flights , received a email confirming the booking from the OTA , booking reference from JQ showed as pending
I followed up today after checking my Amex showed the charge(was charged an extra $98.00 compared to the email confirmation and final amount on the website, no it wasnt a cc charge or currency charge )
At this point I was told the booking couldn't be finalized until I paid another $800.

I've contacted Amex to dispute the purchase charge being higher than agreed and the extra $800 to complete the booking

Any pointers as to who else to complain to ?

Interesting. Was this a single ticket or for multiple seats on the same flight?

Some OTAs don't display prices in real time, or may show actual prices, but fail to display correctly if you want multiple seats where the lowest fare might be sold out for subsequent seats.

 

[elogic]

I have seen many reports of such happening with some (generally obscure) OTA's

Not sure about the probity in this case.

Can you advise who we should avoid?

Hi Serfty

I used mo#on#o.com for the search , I may of had some luck after a heated conversation . Ive received an email saying they will give me a full refund .
Rather not out the site until I have my money , I checked whilst on the phone and its still up as available for 4 tickets . This may be a good bait and switch earner for them .

 

[elogic]

Interesting. Was this a single ticket or for multiple seats on the same flight?

Some OTAs don't display prices in real time, or may show actual prices, but fail to display correctly if you want multiple seats where the lowest fare might be sold out for subsequent seats.

Hi Mel_Traveller
4 tickets on 1 flight, it is still showing as available 2 days after me making the booking , fingers crossed on the full refund they are now processing . I did notify my Card supplier and they did back me after providing the receipt of the sale

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I checked whilst on the phone and its still up as available for 4 tickets . This may be a good bait and switch earner for them .

If the OTA doesn't display prices in real time it could be that they were displaying the price for one ticket as applying to all four - when in fact maybe only 1 seat was available at the low price and the rest would be more expensive.

Real time displays can default the other way, which can be an equally expensive proposition. If you go to book 4 tickets, and three are available at $100, but the fourth is in the next category of $150, all the tickets will get displayed at $150, rather than three at $100 and only the last one at $150. A fair chunk of extra cash the passengers didn't really need to pay.

It's not an ideal scenario either way.

 

[juddles]

IMHO there was a time that "OTA's" offerred something - they usually had fares much cheaper than booking direct. But it seems now that the major airlines (likewise almost any business) will offer the same real prices direct. I have long since stopped buying airfares through third parties - simply not worth the hidden surprises, headaches, lengthy and/or non-existing refunds/changes. If you find something much cheaper, you are actually buying peril......

 

[Must...Fly!]

I only book through third parties if I know I'm not making any changes and the price is significantly cheaper.

For domestic it is never, but for international there are certainly some deals that certain OTAs get which cannot be replicated direct via the airline. Even sometimes if there is no price difference & I know I won't be changing the ticket I will opt to book with AMEX travel, just to avoid the card surcharge. I pinch pennies like that

 

[opusman]

A friend of mine's son got done by a "real world" TA the other week. He had booked a one-way flight to Russia (going for a year). The TA quoted him a price, he paid, got given a receipt, and that was that. Fast forward 2 weeks (1 week before the flight) and he got a call from the TA saying "sorry that flight has gone up in price, we need $700 more before we can ticket your flight".

The explanation given was that they wait-listed the original fare expecting it would become available for booking later on - apparently they do this "all the time" and it was very rare for a fare to not become available.

 

[Must...Fly!]

A friend of mine's son got done by a "real world" TA the other week. He had booked a one-way flight to Russia (going for a year). The TA quoted him a price, he paid, got given a receipt, and that was that. Fast forward 2 weeks (1 week before the flight) and he got a call from the TA saying "sorry that flight has gone up in price, we need $700 more before we can ticket your flight".

The explanation given was that they wait-listed the original fare expecting it would become available for booking later on - apparently they do this "all the time" and it was very rare for a fare to not become available.

And that's a problem for a consumer because...?

Sounds like they've waitlisted him in unavailable inventory on a gamble it opened up while the fare was still published. Deceptive conduct, name and shame.

 

[Saltywings]

IMHO there was a time that "OTA's" offerred something - they usually had fares much cheaper than booking direct. But it seems now that the major airlines (likewise almost any business) will offer the same real prices direct. I have long since stopped buying airfares through third parties - simply not worth the hidden surprises, headaches, lengthy and/or non-existing refunds/changes. If you find something much cheaper, you are actually buying peril......

But Juddles, think of all the Expedia points you're missing out on! /s

Yeah, there's so much less hassle with going through airlines direct. Or rather, via Google Flights which links to the airline anyway. It's anecdotal, but I experience issues with post-booking modifications via the OTA (e.g. seat selection etc.) around half the time.

 

[JohnK]

IMHO there was a time that "OTA's" offerred something - they usually had fares much cheaper than booking direct. But it seems now that the major airlines (likewise almost any business) will offer the same real prices direct.

Some of the time Zuji would have a routing I wanted that was not offered on QF website or if it was offered it was more expensive.

Zuji now taken over by Webjet and haven't neede to check any airtares yet. Looks to be a different search engine.

P.S. I'm not comfortable booking with some of the smaller or not well known online travel agents.

 

[juddles]

Air travel is complex enough, without adding the uncertainties of OTA's. They exist for those that cannot do stuff online - and hence they may be predatory by nature. Qantas and all the other airlines have failings, but BY God I prefer to have an "issue" with a real airline, than some obscure company ......

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Air travel is complex enough, without adding the uncertainties of OTA's. They exist for those that cannot do stuff online - and hence they may be predatory by nature. Qantas and all the other airlines have failings, but BY God I prefer to have an "issue" with a real airline, than some obscure company ......

Agree. But for an upcoming flight an OTA is offering a 12.5% discount ($1180 v $1350 buying direct). It's a short point-to-point. What can go wrong? (I'll let ya'll know!! )

 

[RooFlyer]

Air travel is complex enough, without adding the uncertainties of OTA's. They exist for those that cannot do stuff online - and hence they may be predatory by nature. Qantas and all the other airlines have failings, but BY God I prefer to have an "issue" with a real airline, than some obscure company ......

Agree. I avoid 'aggregator' hotel booking sites for a similar reason. Deal with the hotel rather than some call centre in the Philippines (if you are lucky).

Now a real travel agent, bricks and mortar, bookings through them are even better than airline direct in terms of "issues". They have a direct line to some real person (local agent at worst, proper airline staff for the main ones) and solve the issue. Calling the airline direct will often result in you talking to, er, a Philippine call centre (P1 SST excepted, of course ).

I can honestly say, with all my international travels booked though my TA in Melbourne since 2004, I haven't experienced any of the trauma and disruption we frequently read about on AFF. If a flight is cancelled, an e-mail or a call 24/7 and the issue is fixed.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Agree. I avoid 'aggregator' hotel booking sites for a similar reason. Deal with the hotel rather than some call centre in the Philippines (if you are lucky).

Chain hotels 'yes' - plus there are often benefits such as points and free wifi. But for independent hotels I have saved thousands of dollars going through booking sites rather than direct (perhaps i could call them to get a better deal, but that involves time and expense).

I guess the risk for hotels is less - smaller $ value and easy availability of alternate properties if you had to find somewhere else. A flight disruption can put the whole trip out.