Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because they can ticket on multiple airlines into a conjoined ticket if there is no one airline that flies between the desired departure and arrival airports.

Come on how many people on DCUM would be booking tickets like that? So few primary business or leisure destinations you can't get to in the US on one stop on a single airline, or internationally on the same alliance, especially if looking from all 3 DC area airports.

It is common for me to travel on different airlines and/or use different DC area airports each leg of a trip to my kid’s college town. I always start planning (for preferred schedule/best price) on Expedia, usually book while I’m there, but also use airlines directly. For this particular route, it’s always been the same price. Sometimes there’s a difference that’s really opting in/out of seat selection.

I’ve been making my reservations through Orbitz for many years. Has always been fine.

We booked through Travelocity for the 1st time for our trip to Italy last summer. We were buying 4 tickets and it was enough of a cost savings that we decided to try it. Our round trip flights used 3 different airlines but we were able to still order our special meals directly through the airlines. Thankfully we had no issues with the flights or delays. We also booked 4 STR lodgings through Booking.com for the same trip that went smoothly. Ideally I’d still book directly through the airlines, but might consider a third party next trip.

Expedia only for packages, and typically I would research package price vs direct booking with airline/hotel. I would book Expedia/ and such only if sizeable savings, which happens often when booking packages.

Anonymous wrote:Because they can ticket on multiple airlines into a conjoined ticket if there is no one airline that flies between the desired departure and arrival airports.

Come on how many people on DCUM would be booking tickets like that? So few primary business or leisure destinations you can't get to in the US on one stop on a single airline, or internationally on the same alliance, especially if looking from all 3 DC area airports.

Because they can ticket on multiple airlines into a conjoined ticket if there is no one airline that flies between the desired departure and arrival airports.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plane tickets are cheaper on Expedia than going directly through the airline.

This is great, until there is an issue with your flight and you receive no service or support from the airline and have to sit on the phone with Expedia for hours trying to book you onto god knows who sometime in the next 3 days.

I worked for Hilton 15 years ago and remember lots of Expedia users outright yelling at me because there was an issue with their reservation (usually just that it didn’t exist in our system) because Expedia got something wrong and I couldn’t help them.

Yeah. As a frequent traveler I will not book through those third party sites. Too many horror stories, for a $20-$100 savings. I’d rather know where I’m staying that night and reduce risk of getting walked. But it’s a personal tolerance, there can be upsides of you are willing to risk it.

Used once .. of course we had an issue that was a nitemare to correct.
Lesson Learned … Never again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Decades ago there was a thing where you could bid on hotel rooms blind but with parameters. Like — I’m willing to pay up to $70 for a four star hotel in downtown Boston this weekend, and see what you could get. But you’d have to take it without seeing

Hotwire?

Yes Hotwire has that but Priceline was the big one. We used it a good amount when just 2 of us. You could pick specific areas of a city and 4 star, 3 star, etc. So you didn't know specific hotel, but knew general idea. Obviously a night in a hotel is much more comparable to a night at a hotel 2 blocks away, versus comparing a nonstop flight to one with 2 stops.

But they only guaranteed double occupancy, so when with the kids we stopped using it.

Always google flights for searching. Direct for booking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plane tickets are cheaper on Expedia than going directly through the airline.

That may have been true in the past. Has not been for probably 10 years at least.

This is my experience too. Tickets are always cheaper via airline. Maybe Expedia puts cheaper tickets up top of results…but they’re the ones with crazy long layovers?

Exactly it's the price for the flight times that don't get booked (long layovers), or it's basic economy - so if you have bags or want to select a seat its going to cost more. I won't book with these sites - too many times we have encountered issues and its time consuming to get help or a change. I do use them to get a sense of cost, airlines, timing etc. I now exclusively book directly with the hotel, airlines etc. These days the added "discounts" are harder for me to accept because of the added "problems". I don't have the flexibilty or willingness to take a gamble.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Decades ago there was a thing where you could bid on hotel rooms blind but with parameters. Like — I’m willing to pay up to $70 for a four star hotel in downtown Boston this weekend, and see what you could get. But you’d have to take it without seeing

Hotwire?

I did this once or twice decades ago and specifically for a stay in Boston. It was the Boston Park Plaza if I recall. I was young and flexible and you could narrow it down so specific neighborhoods. It was kind of fun to roll the dice but I wouldn't know with young kids.

Anonymous wrote:
Decades ago there was a thing where you could bid on hotel rooms blind but with parameters. Like — I’m willing to pay up to $70 for a four star hotel in downtown Boston this weekend, and see what you could get. But you’d have to take it without seeing

Hotwire?

I use it to start my search. I generally book directly but the prices are often not that different.

I totally don’t trust them because if something is messed up it’s a disaster to change through them. I sometimes use them just to get the lay of the land for options though.

Decades ago there was a thing where you could bid on hotel rooms blind but with parameters. Like — I’m willing to pay up to $70 for a four star hotel in downtown Boston this weekend, and see what you could get. But you’d have to take it without seeing which hotel it was. Hotels used it when they had last minute excess capacity. It was super perfect when my bf was in grad school in Boston — if I could get a nice room, we could just stay there for the night. I wish there was something like that just for little stay cations or last minute free weekends to go someplace close by. The prices were often dirt cheap and I’m sure the hotels made money because once you were there you ended up ordering room service, etc.