5 Costly Mistakes When Booking Flights Online (you've probably made #4!)

Sure booking with the airline can be good but depends the airline. I found Eva Air absolutely impossible to reach by phone to make a change of flight, which is the only way to do it. I will use an agent if ever traveling with that airline again

Great info Megan, never knew about the 7 days flight technicality rule regarding cancelation

I always book directly with the airlines because it's better and earn 5X Amex rewards points. On third-party websites, you only earn 1X points with the AmEx Platinum.

I always book direct with airlines, partially because some of the third party sites don't (for some reason) either give you the points if you have a frequent flyer account or something similar. Plus changing flights is actually just easier doing it direct with the airline, and you're also cutting out the middle man and will likely get the best rate directly from the airline. Even if I'm doing a larger vacation, I might choose to do the hotel and car rental as a package deal (as some of these can mean good savings) but when it comes to flights, I prefer to book them separately and also book separate outgoing and inbound flights as some airlines make changing just one flight in a round-trip or multi-stop itinerary dificult, plus if you change your mind or decide you want to delay your next flight in your trip or your return flight, it is easier to cancel and rebook only part of your trip, instead of having to cancel the entire booking (which I have had to do once when I booked a round-trip ticket, or I had to pay a hefty fee, which it was cheaper to cancel and rebook but the return flight was worse than what i would have gotten on the original one, all because I had to delay my outbound flight by 2 days.

For most flights where there might be a chance of me having to cancel, I generally just get the refundable fares. Yes it's a bit more, and in some cases by about 10% but if you do have to cancel (which I have done) it can be a life-saver and save you some money in the end. Of course I also like airlines like SW somewhat for their cancellation policy (you don't get a refund after the 24 hours, but you do get travel credit so you don't actually lose anything, the money you spent just stays on your account, whereas with other carriers you may lose a portion or all of your ticket price, sometimes because of hefty fees. I remember one trip where my ticket was $300, but I had to change my flight, which carried a $199 change fee, so I really ended up paying about $500 extra (the fare difference plus the fee) so I try to stick with airlines that either have flexible cancellation / flight change policies (like SW) or just book a cacnellable/refundable flight.

I will never book through a third party again as it is almost impossible to make any changes. For example, I wanted to take a near empty earlier flight from my home airport. Because I had booked through a third party, the change would cost me over $5000. Never again!

Always through the airline.

Third party booking sites.your dissatisfied almost certain.have a great flight not a bad experience.

Regularly warn peeps to purchase flights directly with airlines.

I always book direct with the airlines, and never a 3rd party. To me, the safety and security outweighs the price component. I would rather pay more, and be able to speak directly with the airline, should a problem occur. Also, I have an annual travel insurance plan that covers all of my trips, cruises, etc. I have too many friend or co-workers who have been a victim of the 3rd party issues. To me, it's not worth the headaches.

Thanks

Last year 6 of us were flying to Denmark on SAS (Scandinavian Airlines). We'd booked it through Expedia. Unfortunately the SAS pilots went on strike and SAS was canceling flights day by day as the strike continued - waiting until the day before the flights. My daughter who lives in Denmark was monitoring as our day to be potentially canceled arrived. At 4am East Coast time she called me to say our flight was canceled. I immediately called Expedia to rebook us on another carrier (SAS was paying for rebookings). BUT Expedia had not been officially notified by SAS that the flight was canceled and wouldn't let me rebook. Luckily my son-in-law flies so much with SAS that he's in the top group and he was able to call the company directly and rebook us. Quickness was important because everyone was trying to rebook with limited numbers of seats available. Even with his help we couldn't get seats until 2 days after our original flight. For this year's trip to visit my daughter in Denmark, I booked directly on SAS.

Honestly I always book through a third party website. I compare then often to the airline's website, but they were always more expensive. But may be in the USA it is the other way round?

Always direct with Airlines

Trying to get flight September or October to Lisbon from YYC. How was your experience in booking your last-minute trip to Portugal to surprise your parents? Was as the flight expensive? Thanks

Last minute booking is a dicey proposition!

I've definitely violated many of these suggestions, especially using third party sites as a one point of contact. The reason is that I only have to deal with 1 person for all issues and the drawback is that it may take longer to resolve issues. If i was adept at booking flights and experienced as you are, I'd perform better :)

If you haven't received your confirmation it could be because your purchase is being reviewed for fraud.

I rather pay a little more to book direct with the airline. Great tips Megan!!

Allways direct with the airline