Booking Flights (especially international) Online so frustrating!

[audreyh1]

Is it just me, or has booking flights online gotten much harder?

I usually first explore using Google Flights, then it sends me to the airline to book, which usually works great. Or at least used to!

But this time I had a lot of trouble finding flight options I had seen before. Selecting for later departures- instead of showing me more later flights, it just shrunk the number of flights displayed and no additional later flight options. Huh?

Also difficultly with longer layovers. It just drops shorter layovers from the list, and doesn’t display additional options.

I think I used to be able to see more options on the airlines site too, adjusting departure times and layover times, but I don’t get additional options anymore.

However, Google Flights did save my butt this time. I had been tracking a few options, and one (which I couldn’t find today) had a much better price and I was able to click on it and book with United. I never would have found it otherwise! It simply wasn’t displayed in any list.

Too bad it’s so complicated!

And why do they even offer you international arrival layover returning to the US of 1hr 20mins? They know you have to go thru customs! But try to add longer layovers - no, no more options!

 

[target2019]

Version 8.22/67,009b fixes that.

 

[audreyh1]

Version 8.22/67,009b fixes that.

What is that?

 

[zangbao]

And why do they even offer you international arrival layover returning to the US of 1hr 20mins? They know you have to go thru customs! But try to add longer layovers - no, no more options!

I got caught up in this once. Didn’t really look into my connections. I’ve never sprinted in an airport before this.

Since then Global Entry solved this problem for me.

 

[audreyh1]

I got caught up in this once. Didn’t really look into my connections. I’ve never sprinted in an airport before this.

Since then Global Entry solved this problem for me.

Well might be possible but even when Global Entry is super fast, sometimes you have to wait a while for the luggage and then recheck it, and then go through security again. I always allow at least two hours.

 

[zangbao]

yea, it’s been years since i travelled in and out of the US with luggage for this reason.

 

[audreyh1]

yea, it’s been years since i travelled in and out of the US with luggage for this reason.

I figured.

 

[Texas Proud]

Try this one... I get some travel deals sent from a website... so was checking on the actual expense instead of the teaser rate...

They had me flying out of one airport and back to a different one!! Not something that is even interesting to me...

 

[bbqcoder]

I booked our international flights to Seoul from Boston last December using Google flights. Didn’t have any issues checking on flights and booking them. Flew Turkish air to destination and then Hawaiian air on the return. Went through customs in Honolulu but it was pretty quick

 

[tulak]

And why do they even offer you international arrival layover returning to the US of 1hr 20mins? They know you have to go thru customs! But try to add longer layovers - no, no more options!

This is a pain. I’ve had some luck in using Google Flights to initially finding the flights I’m interested in and then going to the airline websites and finding the same flights, but with options for longer layovers. I have noticed that sometimes the longer layover flights are more expensive, but not always.

So my only suggestion would be to find the airline/flights that you want, and then dig deeper on the airline’s website to see if you can find the same flight with a longer connection.

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah, where I seem to be failing is the digging deeper part.

It used to give me more options on layovers.

 

[Koolau]

This last trip we gave up on using the (main) airline's web site because we couldn't book the commuter airline with them. We ended up using expedia. W*rked okay but didn't give us a good feeling that everything was right (it was.)

 

[c4t3rp1ll4r]

I wish Google Flights had the option to filter out third party sites. So many times, they'll give a result that seems like a killer deal, but only on one random website I've never heard of with low/no reviews.

 

[sengsational]

^ Same with rental car 3rd party. Kayak might let you filter out the cr*p.

 

[audreyh1]

I wish Google Flights had the option to filter out third party sites. So many times, they'll give a result that seems like a killer deal, but only on one random website I've never heard of with low/no reviews.

I haven’t run into 3rd party sites with Google Flights. I just get lists of flights directly from the airlines and I can filter for a specific airline if I wish. Then I have the option to book directly with the airline.

 

[c4t3rp1ll4r]

I haven’t run into 3rd party sites with Google Flights. I just get lists of flights directly from the airlines and I can filter for a specific airline if I wish. Then I have the option to book directly with the airline.

It's at the very end, at the summary of the trip. If you scroll down, you'll see the direct booking option, but also a list of other places to book the flights. For example, searching for flights to Paris just now, I can book a particular flight direct on British Airways, or I can use Ovago, Priceline, "Business class" travel agency (that's really the name of the site, quotes included), Flighthub, and more. Ovago is slightly cheaper than booking direct for this flight, but I wish I could filter it out entirely since I only ever book direct.

 

[audreyh1]

It's at the very end, at the summary of the trip. If you scroll down, you'll see the direct booking option, but also a list of other places to book the flights. For example, searching for flights to Paris just now, I can book a particular flight direct on British Airways, or I can use Ovago, Priceline, "Business class" travel agency (that's really the name of the site, quotes included), Flighthub, and more. Ovago is slightly cheaper than booking direct for this flight, but I wish I could filter it out entirely since I only ever book direct.

Well I ignore anything but the direct booking option with the airline. I have never even looked at the others.

I generally don’t trust third party sites so I rarely use them and hadn’t even looked.

I may have to look next time!

 

[c4t3rp1ll4r]

Well I ignore anything but the direct booking option with the airline. I have never even looked at the others.

Me too, except when it skews the results when I'm searching by date and shows me a price I can't get direct.

 

[audreyh1]

Oh, I see. It’s searching by dates that gets messed up by 3rd party offers! I get it now.

 

[brett]

We always shop third party sites but we always try to book direct. My go to first round is always google, matrixita, and skyscanner. Skyscanner seems to give me much better selection low cost airlines in Europe, SE Asia, and Oz. Once in a while I will look at the Orbitzs or the world just to see what is on offer. Never a real problem but I certainly look at the routing and the layover times. Booked recently and did not notice any change.

One thing that I like about matrixit is that it provides the fare code listing for each flight.

Oddly enough we have had a few very attractively priced one way consolidator fares on Cheapoair. Always on BA through London.

We very seldom fly in and out of the same city or country.

 

[Luvtoride]

or I can use Ovago, Priceline, "Business class" travel agency (that's really the name of the site, quotes included), Flighthub, and more. Ovago is slightly cheaper than booking direct for this flight, but I wish I could filter it out entirely since I only ever book direct.

I wouldn’t rule out 3rd party sites. We used one recently to book flights from Newark to Cancun during Presidents week this coming February for our family of 10. Many options to fly direct on airlines we regularly use (United, JerBlue, etc) but the prices were absurd!
$1500-$1700/ ticket.
We booked the flights thru Best Budget Airlines & Cheap Flights Booking | USA Deals who even had phone and email support. It cost us $6,000 for 10 tickets! The confirmed flights showed up in our JetBlue account within minutes of booking. This saved us around $10,000!
We are planning a couples trip to Athens for a cruise from there in September and we are checking this and other 3rd parties for Premium economy or business class seats for the trip. There are big discounts vs going directly to the airline’s websites.

 

[Flieger]

I wouldn’t rule out 3rd party sites. We used one recently to book flights from Newark to Cancun during Presidents week this coming February for our family of 10. Many options to fly direct on airlines we regularly use (United, JerBlue, etc) but the prices were absurd!
$1500-$1700/ ticket.
We booked the flights thru Best Budget Airlines & Cheap Flights Booking | USA Deals who even had phone and email support. It cost us $6,000 for 10 tickets! The confirmed flights showed up in our JetBlue account within minutes of booking. This saved us around $10,000!
We are planning a couples trip to Athens for a cruise from there in September and we are checking this and other 3rd parties for Premium economy or business class seats for the trip. There are big discounts vs going directly to the airline’s websites.

Please let us know if you have any issues with the flights. I have always been leery of 3rd party and such big difference in price, but bookmarked this site!

Flieger

 

[audreyh1]

I just won’t touch 3rd party site for flights. And just as a test, my recent direct booking was closer to half of what that site quoted. Without all the pop ups, chat dialogs and call us ads!

We are probably a special situation in that we don’t fly in and out of a major or hub airport. So there is less competition. It’s tougher to find great deals, and we don’t see the crazy cheap non-stop flights you see occasionally advertised for a hub airport.

 

[sengsational]

It cost us $6,000 for 10 tickets! The confirmed flights showed up in our JetBlue account within minutes of booking. This saved us around $10,000!

I would bet that the third party site had access to something the normal person doesn't have: the ability to buy a block of seats in a single transaction.

 

[Luvtoride]

Please let us know if you have any issues with the flights. I have always been leery of 3rd party and such big difference in price, but bookmarked this site!

Flieger

Issues? The flights are in my JetBlue app as every one of my flights on JetBlue appears (with confirmation number and seat assignments). Saving $10,000 for this peak travel time for 10 tickets was awesome! Their customer service was excellent and we dealt with them on the phone and via email.