I want the cheapest fairs possible witbout having to worry about them fucking up and not getting me a ticket like some other sites.
Does Kayak really provide the best prices with the most reliable service?
Kayak just basically compares other sites like Expedia, Orbitz and whatever else. Then the lowest one shows on top. You can also use Google Flights, that one is pretty good but can miss out on some airlines. Vice versa for kayak.
I get all my alerts from Kayak. In 5 weeks I am going to New Zealand and I only paid $225 RT from LA. Got the email fare alert from Kayak and booked the flight, so there's that.
>>1134017
How do you guys do your flights? Do you just pick the destination outright, or hop from one locale to the other and score separate tickets along the way?
>>1134017
Flight tickets are a big con. You will never get proper deals on these websites. If it is at all possible to get a deal on plane tickets you either need to be an insider or benefit from extraordinary circumstances.
Try this experiment:
Try to book a direct flight from your location A to destination B. Find the cheapest option
Now search for the same route with 1 layover. You will find that this is consistently cheaper.
A-C->B is cheaper than A->B
So how about you try to book a ticket from C to B? This will surely be cheaper, right? Of course not, dumb goy.
If you try to book C to B, looking for the cheapest ticket you will find that now you should book C-A->B. This is just a silly tactic by aviation companies to justify higher prices, which also happens to encourage people to spend longer in the air than they need to.
>>1134036
Fuck that's cheap
ITAMatrix is the key. Get the price from there, then you have a big job trying to find exactly how the fuck they came to that price.
>>1134017
I haven't done this, but make sure to clear your cookies and use incognito when buying tickets. Apparently they base the prices according to your information too.
>>1134137
Ill try that. I've been using the app so looks like I wont be anymore...
>>1134105
hello conspiracy theorist kun
the layover flight is cheaper because direct flights to more frequented areas are usually more full. the less frequented layover sites are almost always "filling" final spots, and usually have less convenient times, and these services help them maximize profit.
the cost is not purely the service itself, large components of the cost arise from scarcity and convenience, which explains why layover flights are cheaper despite being two flights instead of one.
if retards like you had influence (thank god you don't) you'd institute "fair" price rulings which would mandata a certain price for a certain service, and lead to fucking 1950's chinese rail service.
fuck off.
oh, by the way, traditional airlines have profit margins of less than one percent. those are extremely thin, and it's why most of them went out of business or restructured over the last 2 decades.
lcc's have MUCH higher profit margins, oh, and guess what, they use layovers to fill as much vacancy as possible.
fuck off and die
>>1134017
Try TrivaGo, it's better. Trust me I know shit.
Dont want to start a new thread, since this seems kinda fitting.
I really (used to) like kayak, since they where pretty good at finding low fares, have a nice, no bullshit UI, and where only directing me to a place where I could buy the flight, instead of selling it to me.
But since a while, they are also selling their own "kayak mix", and the prices of other resellers are much more prominent.
BUT: Unless the price difference is virtually so low that I can buy 5 flights, hoping that one might work out (e.g. 50€ instead of 5000€, so not going to happen), or the flight is so trivial that I can always take the train and forget about the 100€ for the flight, I will absolutely not book with a reseller. They are fine for really trivial shit, or some getting-drunk-in-spain holidays, but for intercontinental, where I absolutely must make sure that I will take the flights that I booked, they are a big no.
which leads me to my question:
IS THERE ANY FLIGHT SEARCH ENGINE THAT LETS ME FUCKING OPT OUT OF FUCKING RESELLERS AND ONLY GIVES ME THE PRICES AS BOUGHT DIRECTLY FROM THE AIRLINE?
Because as of now, the search engines are essentially worthless, when I have to check the price of every flight that might be cheap with the airline anyways.
>>1135663
Continuing on that:
google flights seems to be both, better and worse.
On the one hand, it often tells me the direct, airline prices, but then on the other hand, they are not linked by them, but rather, they have a nice little textbox, telling me
>Rufen Sie Lufthansa an, um zu buchen: +43 810 10258080
>Verkauft unter LH ...
so essentially, they know (supposedly?) what it costs, they know the flight numbers, but they cannot redirect me to the airline to buy it there, instead, choosing to tell me to call them, and what to tell to them?
WTF?
>>1135664
>know (supposedly?) what it costs
Which they often dont.
Just tried it: According to google, the cheapest option would be lufthansa, at 1600 €.
And that actually was a combination of flights I could puzzle together at the lh website, but there it is 3700€.
Does lh really give me that flight for less than half of that, just because I am calling them, saying that google told me me? I have my doubts.
basically if you really want "cheap flights "
1- familiarize yourself with flyertalk, read a bit
2- try to look up fare on ita matrix or google flights. For example if I wanted to do a NYC-london ticket - I would be paying $1200 easy one way.
However if I did NYC- LON on delta (open jaw) then AMS-MXP on KLM The price goes to as low as 380eur
As long as you don't do this daily, airlines won''t give a shit, especially when other carriers are involved.
Daily reminder that the cheapest airfare from US to EU+UK is Norwegian Airlines.
>>1135977
>However if I did NYC- LON on delta (open jaw) then AMS-MXP on KLM The price goes to as low as 380eur
>As long as you don't do this daily, airlines won''t give a shit, especially when other carriers are involved.
So you mean buying a second flight (AMS-MXP in your case) that you do not intend to take?
But dont most airlines have no-show fees nowadays? Recently read around the terms and conditions for singaporean, and they want €200 from you. Granted, in your case, that's still €600 cheaper than the first option, but for flights where it is not that big of a difference, that kinda sucks.
>>1134137
Yup. This.
I'm a Eurofag and tried to book a flight for me and my girlfriend last weekend, for a flight in early August. Germany to Spain. A couple weeks before I had compared prices and it was around €120 pp one way, but we hadn't decided on our exact destination.
OK, so two weeks later prices have gone up a bit, but no big dif yet. I'm on various websites to compare prices and see where we can leave from (within a 2-3 hour drive) to get a direct flight. What a fucking shitshow. The more you look, the more prices are increased. These are short haul flights, so its extra ridiculous
The 'discounters' are the worst with this. EasyJet for example blatantly jacked up the price by fucking double mid-transaction. Filled out all the info and only then at the very end gives some bullshit message about a 'sudden' fare adjustment, so what was just under €400 roundtrip for two was jacked up to €800! For a 3 hour flight. What. The. Fuck. This is far more than a national carrier charges.
Clear cookie and the first listing prices go back down on all sites.
>>1136039
>But dont most airlines have no-show fees nowadays?
That's not possible. How can they collect that fee? Your credit card data is not stored on their website, and the transaction will be long completed by the time of the flight so they can't adjust it either.
>>1136054
>That's not possible. How can they collect that fee?
By putting it on my credit card.
>Your credit card data is not stored on their website,
But then, how did I pay for it in the first place? I'm pretty sure that there is some "we will store all yor data" part in the TOS you are clicking away. Plus, they have quite a bit of info about you, besides the credit card, so they could easily track you down for collection, if they'd want to.
Kinda related question, maybe someone cares to answer?
>Is Wednesday really the cheapest day to fly?
There is all kinds of articles and stuff floating around the net, about all kinds of things like this, so there would be two related questions:
What about all those other "find cheap flights" tips?
Wouldnt the price search sites and airlines catch up to the "secret tips" and adapt accordingly?
>>1136054
They can and will collect from you if you violate the terms of the contract you enter into with them. They also can, and will cancel your return ticket, if booked with them. If you provoke them enough, they can, and will, take your ass to court and collect damages. If you try and repeatedly fuck with them, they can and will balckball you.
>>1136536
Dude, though some of what you say is true, the no show fee is not. They make money off you if you lose the value of your ticket, and they make it again if you opt for a change fee if you attempt to rebook at a different time. They had no problem filling that seat you didn't show up for...they overbooked that flight on purpose, and know exactly how many folks typically don't make their connections or that time of flight. [This is also why early check-in and seat assignment can be important]. Don't show up late at the gate, or neglect your online check-in, or they'll feign a right to bump you.
>>1135663
ITA MATRIX
>>1136653
But isnt that one just the same as google flights (since google has bought them)?
I thnk they have a few more options for complcated flights, but they just give me the same prices as google, wihout any way to simply buy that flight for that price.
>>1137098
You wanted a a way to avoid resellers. Find it on ITA then book directly with the airline.
I personally find that is not worth the hassle and worry.
I just use skyscanner to compare times and different companies and then buy directly on company webpage.
No issues with travel agents, no weird websites etc.
>>1137165
I find the opposite, it's often cheaper when I book direct, though I search the flights on Google first, but maybe because 9/10 flights are by Delta/out of ATL.
>>1137165
Then you are doing it wrong. ITA gives you the info you need. If you struggle with the airline websites then phone them and quote them the info ITA summarised once you chose your flights.
>>1137550
I until last year I used to book flights for my self and others travelling all over the world as part of my job surveying vessels. I never once didn't get the price I saw on ITA.
>>1137127
Skyscanner is very good also although doesn't allow as many options as ITA. Skyscanner does benefit from also including more low cost airlines. Since I was booking for flights for work and we were all collecting frequent flyers miles this wasn't a problem for me.
Ok im getting confused, first time flyer here.
Every site i use is listing different prices for the same plane, same flight.
Trying to go from Orlando (MCO) to any airport in frankfurt aug 5 and return aug 15.
>>1137628
>different prices for the same plane, same flight.
Could be either different resellers, or different classes (even in economy, there is different versions, don't really know how that works) directly with the airline, or being sold by different airlines that are codesharing (e.g. you sometimes can get lufthansa flights for much cheaper, when you book them with united (or was it american airlines?) with whom they are in an alliance).
>Orlando (MCO) to any airport in frankfurt
Be aware that there is only one airport in Frankfurt!
There is a low budget airport called "Frankfurt Hahn", but that is nowhere near close to Frankfurt and only called so because of shitty ryanair. However, high speed train service is quite good in germany, so you can get from from Stuttgart airport (STR) to Frankfurt in 2 hours for 20€ (roughly the same as from "Frankfurt" Hahn to Frankfurt proper) if you book in advance. That connection is even sold as a "flight" by lufthansa (ZWS is the airport code for Stuttgart main station…). Or from Munich (MUC) for 30€ in 4 hours.
>>1137628
Just book the price that is acceptable to you and realize it likely won't get any cheaper. There are probably a dozen fare codes to buy in coach, and once the cheapest are gone, they're gone. Also you are sort of "holding" a fare code/seat during these checks of prices, so one site is getting it where the other is not.
As a frequent flyer, I'd suggest your best price out of MCO is to connect through JFK/LGA, Dulles or ATL, possibly Miami. Might even have to breeze through London or Paris. And, yes, consider a train too as another anon suggested. Lufthansa and Delta are my typical best fares to Germany. Try Icelandair, might get a free layover for Blue lagoon, and they aren't usually on the price aggregation sites.
>>1136039
not really, KLM & AF I doubt have this, and the big 3 us airlines don't do this at all.
>TFW I took a $130 multi city itinerary to 3 different east coast cities, each with an overnight layover for $150 by making my final destination Costa Rica.
Tangentially related, but do any of you play the credit card points rewards game with the airlines? I'm trying to figure out the comfiest way to fly to Japan from ATL next year without killing my bank account before I get there.
>>1138062
Flying out Delta? Get their skymiles AMEX. There is like a 50K skymiles sohn up bonus. If you like I can refer you and I think it's another 10K miles right now. Drop your steam ID, or I can give you mine. And I can refer you. I get miles, too, for the referral
>>1138102
Delta's the cheapest price I've seen so far, but I've been looking at the chase sapphire card since it transfers well to nearly every major carrier other than Delta (and I can still use the points for Delta because some Delta partners are on the transfer list), as well as hotels. Also, I'm wary about tieing myself in with Delta due to the recent changes with the skymiles.
>>1134036
Are the alerts worth it, rather than just doing a search when you need to?
>>1138222
I'm interested in that question as well. How much spam do you get from them, when you give them your email?
