I'm currently planning a small vacation for my family this year. We've never been on a plane so we're all excited. I went directly to the airlines website to search the prices. Later on in the day I saw a commercial for a discount travel site. I searched their site and the prices were dramatically different. According to them, my flight tickets would be $3,000 cheaper. How is that possible?Has anyone saved money using one of these sites?
I'd advice treading very carefully when you see an offer that appears to be too good to be true. A $ 3,000 price difference in this case I believe is a dead giveaway that this is a scam. I expect that if you are to save some money then it would be at most 20% of what you would originally have spent. If I were you, I'd avoid such sites in future. The site linked to below is great for finding the cheapest flights. Log In
These bucket shops advertise flights much lower, but then until you physically book the tickets you will see the real price per person, plus taxes etc. many advertise a 'from' price and you can only compare the same days on the same airline and flight number. Some are genuine, but most airlines will guarantee to match their prices. Now, if you are booking a package with a car, accommodation or transfers then that maybe different as some sites can offer better packages, but flights shouldn't be dramatically different if it is the same airline.
I do not think it is very good to fall for those advertisements. It is really scary and the best thing to do is never try out such a thing. You could be in a whole lot of trouble if you end up doing something wrong with your ticket. It is best to do it in the normal way.
I have seen that much of a difference before using Expedia and I can say all our trips we have taken went well. But I can't vouch for other sites. Airline prices rise and dip at an alarming rate so I am not surprised at the change but you have to jump on it or you might loose it. Expedia is good for finding deals but after that the airlines might change times and that is when Expedia doesn't help you very much. So if you are taking anything with lay-overs, I try to make sure there is plenty of time between flights so if the flight gets bumped up an hour, we won't miss it.
It's possible to save money through discount travel sites, but a discount that large is likely a scam or comes with hidden fees. In most cases, you should simply go through the airline's website or try to use a trusted discount airfare site like Orbitz or even Travelocity. I wouldn't risk trying to take advantage of that $3,000 discount deal.
