Booking Flights (especially international) Online so frustrating!

How was Turkish Air? Looking at them for Atl-Athens
Excellent in our experience. We've flown to/through Istanbul more than a handful of times in the last couple of years and are flying home from Athens in June and r/t to the Balkans in October. If the itinerary makes sense I'd much prefer flying through Istanbul than LHR, CDG, FRA or AMS, especially since we've got a non-stop from Seattle to Istanbul. Flew that route last week on a brand new A350-900 and the entire experience including the lounge in IST was top notch. In 2022 our flight home from Dubrovnik was delayed causing us to miss our connecting flight home and TK rebooked us on a flight the next day and put us up for the night in Istanbul including hotel, food, and transfers. Wouldn't hesitate to book TK again in the future.

Accidentally booked our June trip home on the wrong day and it was easy to change the flight online to the next day.
 
I feel the pain. We went to Greece last summer. Searching flights was difficult. We ended up paying an agent $50 each to book 'em. She booked us a 1 hour layover return flight in Frankfurt. Ridiculous, and extremely stressful. We ran through the airport and went through at least 3 security checks. They held the flight since so many people were late. Our luggage was delayed home, no surprise. We may use her again, but will not put up with a short layover.

Anyone remember trying to book a flight in the late 80s and early 90s, in the early days of being online? You could book a flight on Prodigy or Compuserve, but you had to know the Sabre codes. That's a language unto itself generally only known by travel agents. It was fun to poke around with, but no way could any mere mortal book a flight online back then. As bad as it may be today, we've come a long way in 30 years.
 
I have been booking our flights for 20+ years and mostly with Delta. It has been 5 years since the last time I flew. This past week I tried to book a flight with them in May and it has been frustrating to say the least. Flights to 2 different destinations (in the same state) within the USA have flights between 6 to 15+ hours long. The best time to destination (6 hours) had only 52 minutes to get to the connecting flight. The next best connection time is about 4 hours in Atlanta. I'm nervous as it is and will be wearing a mask but 4+ hours is too long and the 52 minutes to get these old legs to the connection in Atlanta may not be possible.
This was to be a test for future flights overseas but I may have to rethink future travel.
Kind of was the last thing to enjoy in retirement.
 
Shopping now and we have also seen the opposite. LONG (unacceptable) layover, long elapsed times.

Anywhere from the usual 21-23 hours to 37-40 hours for SE Asia flights from our home.
 
After an Orbitz/BA nightmare -- which resulted in us being unable to use $500 of tickets even though they had given to us as a travel credit -- we only buy directly from airlines. And we're increasingly willing to pay more for refundable seats.

Example of where this worked and was very important:

We're doing a safari in July. Route home is Lusaka to Doha to US. Qatar flight that is actually code share on an American aircraft. $3K for two tickets. (Buy the same flight from American ... $6K. Go figure.)

Two months after we bought the tix we get a message from Qatar that says "There has been a change to your itinerary, click here to accept it."

When we check into it, American had changed the schedule and the plane now left Doha before we arrived from Lusaka. I called Qatar and they said there was no option to fix it but not to worry it would get sorted. I called back two weeks later. Same story. Literally no option given.

Looking online, I could see that a new, perfectly fine itinerary was available for $6 more than the existing tickets. But they couldn't just move me onto it, even with a $6 charge, because they didn't have seats authorized by American for the flights under whatever code I was on. So I had to cancel the original flights and then book the new itineray as a new purchase. Insane.

I shudder to think where I would be if I had bought those tickets through a 3rd party or hadn't bought a refundable option.

(The root of all of this is sloppy airline regulations ... the above shouldn't be a legal situation.)
 
If I'm flying from Tuscon to Asia I always book the main flight (LAX to Asia) first, once I know the dates/time then I book a flight from TUS to LAX, usually on Southwest but whatever airline gives me the best price and connection times. I always book directly with the airline but will use Google flights to compare what's available.
 
I think the reason for changes comes from optimization routines. Those are probably always running and making suggestions for changes that will save the airline money.

When I was in grad school, one of my fellows was on a military project for a "continuous optimization" for deploying assets. Traditionally, you put in all the resources, constraints and costs, run it, and get your solution. The challenge is continually taking in new or different inputs and always have an "optimal" plan. Today they'd probably call that AI, but it was based on linear programming.

The problem is that, as a passenger, their optimization probably doesn't value your time or convenience very highly; what they consider equivalent is probably far from it. But at least they run up against government "passenger rights" rules. Here's another case where, unless you tell the optimization engine NOT to do something stupid, it will do it if it saves $0.01.
 
Interestingly, since the OP, I’ve had my itinerary changed a couple of times - not really a surprise*. The main change has been two different changes in aircraft plus times for both short hops between MFE and IAH, smaller plane so no first class. Not really a big deal for less than an hour in the air and they kept us near the front of the plane and we have Group 1 boarding. And on return one flight is leaving slightly earlier. A major benefit is that we have better overall layover timing and the last connection which had been only 1hr 5m is now 1hr 52m. That was the connection I was worried about in the OP but not able to find better options despite much effort thus the frustration.

*A risk with booking flights way ahead is changes in itinerary and aircraft. Unfortunately the tour and cruise we booked requires airline info way in advance and since we have two of them with a week and a half in between we had to coordinate everything together. With each itinerary change I did have the option to have the flight completely refunded or changes made no fee. But since I already had a good price and the layover timing had magically improved, I didn’t want risk higher prices or worse itinerary and really didn’t want to go through the OP head banging exercise again.

People living near a major airport have fewer connections than we do and I’m sure far less trouble with workable itineraries. Also probably better prices overall and great deals at times. But we like where we live and flying out of the local airport is very nice because it’s close and there are never lines through security or check-in so super fast and minimal hassle (Priority and TSA Pre-check help). Three major airlines fly out of the airport so we’re well connected, just always flying through a hub.
 
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If I'm flying from Tuscon to Asia I always book the main flight (LAX to Asia) first, once I know the dates/time then I book a flight from TUS to LAX, usually on Southwest but whatever airline gives me the best price and connection times. I always book directly with the airline but will use Google flights to compare what's available.
Agree completely.

Our home airport is GEG (Spokane) and for those of us in smaller to mid-size markets repositioning to the major west coast gateways like LAX/SFO/SEA or even PDX/DEN/PHX can open up a bunch of good options and offer added flexibility. Good gateways in the east might be JFK/EWR/ATL/IAD and DFW/MSP/ORD in the midwest.

There is risk however in tickets that aren't linked. If you miss your overseas flight you may be SOL. Fortunately we're retired and have time to mitigate that risk by flying in early and sometimes spending the night at an airport hotel or even enjoy a night in the city if there's good public transportation.

We also don't mind a long layover if we can spend the night, which can actually help with jet lag. We're spending the night at an airport hotel on Doha on our way to Sri Lanka in March rather than a 1.5 hour layover and a very early connection.

Adding an extra international gateway can be another good option. We need to be in Athens in early May and there are no good/cheap/convenient options from Spokane to Athens on our dates. There were however great options to London. Found great flights GEG DFW LHR and a cute little AirBnB in London for 4 nights and a great flight from London to Athens. Hate having to deal with London Heathrow but are looking forward to 4 nights in London in the Spring.

Travel is one of the great joys in retirement and there are lots of great options if you have time flexibility and think outside the box a bit.
 
How was Turkish Air? Looking at them for Atl-Athens
I flew Turkish Air roundtrip to Bangkok last March. It was a birthday trip for me so I BTD'd for business class. As per usual, the trip went through Istanbul, but that broke things up into two roughly 10 hour flights. Turkish Airline's international business class lounge in Istanbul's airport is the bomb. Their business class seats lay flat, but they're the older kind where the seats are next to each other instead of the newer alternating "pods." I enjoyed my experience and I would fly with them again, but I would look for a deal.
 
Flying out of Athens was my biggest headache. We are flying from Crete back to Athens super early that morning as part of a cruise extension. So they recommended flights home no earlier than 10:30. Well there were several between 10:25 and noon, but all of them had ridiculously short connection times at US entry/customs airport. That was a big part of what I was struggling with. A later afternoon flight had us overnighting in Newark which I decided was the best approach. Otherwise we would be doing 4 legs in one day which is a bit much!
 
I flew Turkish Air roundtrip to Bangkok last March. It was a birthday trip for me so I BTD'd for business class. As per usual, the trip went through Istanbul, but that broke things up into two roughly 10 hour flights. Turkish Airline's international business class lounge in Istanbul's airport is the bomb. Their business class seats lay flat, but they're the older kind where the seats are next to each other instead of the newer alternating "pods." I enjoyed my experience and I would fly with them again, but I would look for a deal.
We use miles and points and have booked direct through Turkish and also through Air Canada Aeroplan. Taxes are usually a couple of hundred bucks. Our first flight was on a 777 with the older 2-3-2 business class cabin. DW and I shared 2 on the port side and the older style seats were so wide and comfortable I'd never slept better on an airplane. 787 has pods but a weird configuration. The new A350 was great with plenty of storage, a door, and seats that fold into a very comfortable bed. You never know if there's going to be an equipment change but that's really a first world problem.

The lounge at IST is very, very nice with showers, luggage storage, and sleep rooms if your connection is between 4 and 9 hours and one of your flights is a long haul. Our connection was 11 hours so we hung out at the lounge for drinks and snacks and slept at the airside Yotel. We've found some very competitive cash prices too - a great way to BTD.
 
Flying out of Athens was my biggest headache. We are flying from Crete back to Athens super early that morning as part of a cruise extension. So they recommended flights home no earlier than 10:30. Well there were several between 10:25 and noon, but all of them had ridiculously short connection times at US entry/customs airport. That was a big part of what I was struggling with. A later afternoon flight had us overnighting in Newark which I decided was the best approach. Otherwise we would be doing 4 legs in one day which is a bit much!
You might be frustrated but you made it work and you're apparently cruising the Med on your trip. Nice.

My Athens problem is deciding wether to spend our last night in town or at an airport hotel. That's the last piece in that trip puzzle. Departure is at 10:30am so I'm leaning towards in town. Connection in IST is comfortable and direct flight home to SEA arrives at 16:45 and there's plenty of flights home to GEG in case we're late. Having Alaska and Delta status concurrently thanks to a status match means that I can hop on an earlier flight if we get in early.

On our last couple of long-haul flights back into the U.S., customs and immigration were a quick facial scan and a wave. There was literally no one in front of us the last time through SEA.

Our Tuesday flight from Madeira to Lisbon is scheduled to leave at 11:00. Windy.com is forecasting rain and gusts to 45mph.

Some think it's a hassle, I think it's fun.

Safe travels and enjoy your cruise Audrey!
 
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How was Turkish Air? Looking at them for Atl-Athens
We have had a transatlantic flight on Turkish, a South Africa-Rome, and shorter flights within Turkey.

They were all good. Especially the transatlantic flight. We would not hesitate to fly with them again.
 
You might be frustrated but you made it work and you're apparently cruising the Med on your trip. Nice.

My Athens problem is deciding wether to spend our last night in town or at an airport hotel. That's the last piece in that trip puzzle. Departure is at 10:30am so I'm leaning towards in town. Connection in IST is comfortable and direct flight home to SEA arrives at 16:45 and there's plenty of flights home to GEG in case we're late. Having Alaska and Delta status concurrently thanks to status match means that I can hop on an earlier flight if we get in early.

On our last couple of long-haul flights back into the U.S., customs and immigration were a quick facial scan and a wave. There was literally no one in front of us the last time through SEA.

Our Tuesday flight from Madeira to Lisbon is scheduled to leave at 11:00. Windy.com is forecasting rain and gusts to 45mpg.

Some think it's a hassle, I think it's fun.

Safe travels and enjoy your cruise Audrey!
Yes, we are doing an Ancient Greece land tour (10 nights Nat Geo) from Athens covering many ancient sites, then we fly to Barcelona for an 11 night break, half of it in a nearby beach town and half in Barcelona where we’ve already seen the main sights but there are a couple of faves to return to and it’s a good base for day trips. From there we take our Med small ship cruise (12 nghts Nat Geo/Lindblad) which island hops across the Mediterranean including Sicily and some of the Greek Islands. Docks near Athens and we are taking a 3 night extension to Crete which nicely wraps up the Ancient Greek History focus.

Supposedly we arrive from Crete at 6:55am that last morning. I figure we’ll enjoy a leisurely breakfast buffet at Sofitel Hotel in the airport before going to check in for our later afternoon flight and hang out in the lounge.

At the start of the trip we fly in to AMS to visit family for a few days before flying on to Athens. Total trip is 6 weeks long.
 
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How was Turkish Air? Looking at them for Atl-Athens
Turkish air was great in the past. I read a recent article though on how bedbugs are literally dropping from the overhead compartment on passengers and have personally mentally written them off. The article is available from nytimes so if you google nytimes Turkish airlines bedbugs you should find it.

It is a shame since I was actually thinking of doing a few days in instanbul this year on the way to London.
 
Yes, we are doing an Ancient Greece land tour (10 nights Nat Geo) from Athens covering many ancient sites, then we fly to Barcelona for an 11 night break, half of it in a nearby beach town and half in Barcelona where we’ve already seen the main sights but there are a couple of faves to return to and it’s a good base for day trips. From there we take our Med small ship cruise (12 nghts Nat Geo/Lindblad) which island hops across the Mediterranean including Sicily and some of the Greek Islands. Docks near Athens and we are taking a 3 night extension to Crete which nicely wraps up the Ancient Greek History focus.

Supposedly we arrive from Crete at 6:55am that last morning. I figure we’ll enjoy a leisurely breakfast buffet at Sofitel Hotel in the airport before going to check in for our later afternoon flight and hang out in the lounge.

At the start of the trip we fly in to AMS to visit family for a few days before flying on to Athens.

Sounds like a great set of trips!

It has been mentioned in passing, but I think you might really like ITA Matrix software. It is somewhat less user-friendly than Google Flights, but it does have some more advanced abilities which don't exist in Google Flights but do require a learning curve. The other thing I like is you can go to a "time bar" mode on the results page which allows you to visually see each flight option, something I find extremely useful (see attached image). I think it also shows pretty much every combination possible, unlike Google Flights which tends to try to choose the best several options for you. Finally, you can now use the "book with matrix" option to book any flight option you find in ITA Matrix via one of several OTAs.
 

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Sounds like a great set of trips!

It has been mentioned in passing, but I think you might really like ITA Matrix software. It is somewhat less user-friendly than Google Flights, but it does have some more advanced abilities which don't exist in Google Flights but do require a learning curve. The other thing I like is you can go to a "time bar" mode on the results page which allows you to visually see each flight option, something I find extremely useful (see attached image). I think it also shows pretty much every combination possible, unlike Google Flights which tends to try to choose the best several options for you. Finally, you can now use the "book with matrix" option to book any flight option you find in ITA Matrix via one of several OTAs.
My understanding is that Google developed or perhaps bought that software. I have certainly heard of it. Maybe I’ll give it a try one of these days.

It’s just that in the past I had great luck manipulating departure and layover times and getting decent selections. However this time neither Google Flights nor the airline website would offer additional options. They simply dropped the ones that didn’t meet the criteria. It didn’t used to work that way. I expected to be able to select later connecting flights. No such option.
 
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I feel the pain. We went to Greece last summer. Searching flights was difficult. We ended up paying an agent $50 each to book 'em. She booked us a 1 hour layover return flight in Frankfurt. Ridiculous, and extremely stressful. We ran through the airport and went through at least 3 security checks. They held the flight since so many people were late. Our luggage was delayed home, no surprise. We may use her again, but will not put up with a short layover.

It's one of the reasons I book my own. I have acceptable layover times based on the airport, the stakes (do I have to meet a tour group at my destination or am I on my way home?) and the availability of later flights if I miss a connection. Of course, airlines can change your schedule and mess that up but sometimes if you call immediately you can get a more acceptable itinerary.

Anyone remember trying to book a flight in the late 80s and early 90s, in the early days of being online? You could book a flight on Prodigy or Compuserve, but you had to know the Sabre codes. That's a language unto itself generally only known by travel agents. It was fun to poke around with, but no way could any mere mortal book a flight online back then. As bad as it may be today, we've come a long way in 30 years.

Yeah, I was an early adapter and it was fine for seeing what was available- that was a HUGE advance. I still had to go to the travel agency and tell them what flights to book, having already done part of the work for them. One employer had the paper International Official Airlines Guide, which really helped. Sometimes I had to tell our clueless corporate TA that certain airports existed- Toronto Island and London City, for example.

And I'd start in on the present-day difficulty in trying to book Award flights at a reasonable rate but my grandchildren need my attention. :)
 
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And I'd start in on the present-day difficulty in trying to book Award flights at a reasonable rate but my grandchildren need my attention. :)
So rewarding, so much fun, and gives us former teachers the opportunity to see the world on a budget but in
comfort. If I had only known when I was younger but alas I didn't have the time then.
 
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Sounds like a great set of trips!

It has been mentioned in passing, but I think you might really like ITA Matrix software. It is somewhat less user-friendly than Google Flights, but it does have some more advanced abilities which don't exist in Google Flights but do require a learning curve. The other thing I like is you can go to a "time bar" mode on the results page which allows you to visually see each flight option, something I find extremely useful (see attached image). I think it also shows pretty much every combination possible, unlike Google Flights which tends to try to choose the best several options for you. Finally, you can now use the "book with matrix" option to book any flight option you find in ITA Matrix via one of several OTAs.
One thing that I like about ita matrix is that it provides the fare class on each segment. We look at those if traveling in winter of if we feel he connect times are shorter than we like. The fare class will indicate if you are at the bottom of the pecking order, such as consolidator class, if the flight is cancelled, overbooked, whatever.

Paying attention when buying got us out on another out of Boston when ours was cancelled. It was the very last flight to leave the airport before it closed down due to weather.

Ditto for a winter flight change of flight in Dulles. United had us sched for the next afternoon. Even that was sketchy. Because of our fare class and because we only travel with carry on United put us on the last two seats on a flight to SFO, than a change of plane to our final destination.
 
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