What is your opinion about Orbitz governing 85% of your choice freedom when you book and buy airtravel online?
I just spoke to a friend of mine and she told me that no matter where I search, it is always Orbitz that are selling me the ticket, is this true?
What is your opinion about Orbitz governing 85% of your choice freedom when you book and buy airtravel online?
I just spoke to a friend of mine and she told me that no matter where I search, it is always Orbitz that are selling me the ticket, is this true?
Many of us book via one of those metasearch engines for air fares like Kayak.com, Sidestep.com and Yahoo! Farechase. Funny and sad thing is that all of them signed with Orbitz to not add any new web sites to their meta-search. So Orbitz sees a good site, gives it a bunch of money and then locks the options that it offers. The website can offer what it already has but it cannot negotiate with new online agencies and new ticket opportunities should be provided by Orbitz.
I always thought Orbitz are young and cool, and now they seem to me disgusting and greedy...
What do you think? Is this true?
Reply to this My personal opinion (for what it is worth): I never book through any of the travel sites. I have found incredible deals booking directly through the airlines themselves. I travel full time for work (4-5 flights a week) and have found better deals with the airlines directly than our corporate travel person can find. And, you save on the booking fees as well.
The only benefit of using the travel sites (e.g. Orbitz, Travelocity, etc) is that you are able to search multiple airlines at one time. The trade off is the booking fees and the strong possibility that you will not receive the best deal. So, if you do a little of the work yourself, you will be surprised.
One additional thing: If you are searching through a travel site, make sure you open multiple browsers prior to beginning your search. If you search on one site (e.g. Orbitz) the site will place a cookie on your computer. When you search the next site using the same browser, you will notice the prices are almost identical. If you use separate browsers for your search, you might just find better deals on different sites.
Reply to this 
