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Hi,
Now I know people on here hate travel agencies, and tbf if I look at trust pilot reviews I can understand why. However, I feel like with the bigger ones a lot of it is just people not checking what they’re signing up to. And sometimes, especially for flights to Asia and beyond there can be a big saving vs direct with the airline. Some sites also offer uptown 10% back by booking through travel agencies like opodo and LM
I’ve discovered on last minute there’s a very interesting feature for flights people may not know about.
If you go all the way to the end of the booking process to the card details page, scroll down and you’ll see a checkbox next to “I agree to receiving more advantageous rates, if available.” Basically if the price drops since booking they will send you a voucher minus 30% fee, this is even on non refundable/changeable flights (From the one time it’s worked for me)
Now I had not even noticed it while booking and tbf if I did see it then, I wouldn’t have believed it even works but to my shock I was sent a voucher for a few hundred £ after a booking.
I was wondering if anyone else has received a voucher or has any more info about how it works. I.e I wonder if it works for LCC’s in which case I’d rather book on LM. The airline it worked for me was Air india.I don’t want LM’s and Opodo’s additional conditions to the airline’s for my booking.
As a regular reader/commenter here, I just can’t endorse anyone seeking to book flights via one of these sites. Too many years of reading how shoddy, stressful and just plain wicked some of their practices have been.
Yup. Other than gotogate travel group (trades under various names) Lastminute has some of the worst reports of any online travel agency ongoing for years. They’ve gone bust at least once as well which does not inspire faith especially when many problems still being posted involve Lastminute’s failure to pay due refunds.
I’d potentially use them only for a booking I’d be flying or staying within 72 hours and it would have to cost a chunk less than other sites.
Seen a supermarket has discounted their vouchers a few times 15-25% and a standard 10% off but my impression is people are not jumping on this.
If you’re a Lastminute or OTA fan then there are typically similar offerings, risk and deals available from many other specialist and general sites starting with hotukdeals.
Not endorsing OTAs themselves as yes, they always try to trick you with additional fees and fake discounts, but if you know what you’re getting into it can be great value.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I always book via OTAs if it’s cheaper and have never had any problems. Tickets have always been issued and it saves me £100s every year. Compared the hassle people here are willing to go through for a few points or lounge access etc., I think it’s really a quite easy way to maximise your travel budget.
Rule number 1 regardless of whether you’re booking direct or with an OTA has always been to use a credit card – if the OTA doesn’t respond to requests for refunds, just claim it back via the bank. And airlines take over the responsibility for bookings at T-24 hrs, so any last minute cancellations or rebookings are sorted directly with them anyways.
If you’re going to bet on an OTA horse then, when looking at the contenders, Lastminute is the very last 3-legged donkey to choose.
I’d potentially use them only for a booking I’d be flying or staying within 72 hours and it would have to cost a chunk less than other sites.
Pretty much. Although I’d extend that to a fortnight ahead of travel.
Agree, i don’t see the issue if you’re buying the cheapest fare bucket which is a simple ticket that isn’t flexible or refundable anyway. For Eu261 the ota makes no difference. One i’ve found useful is kiwi.com, often the exact same price for LCC’s if coming through google flights and then if you pretend to close the tab, gives you a voucher for £21 off the booking.
Not endorsing OTAs themselves as yes, they always try to trick you with additional fees and fake discounts, but if you know what you’re getting into it can be great value.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I always book via OTAs if it’s cheaper and have never had any problems. Tickets have always been issued and it saves me £100s every year. Compared the hassle people here are willing to go through for a few points or lounge access etc., I think it’s really a quite easy way to maximise your travel budget.
Rule number 1 regardless of whether you’re booking direct or with an OTA has always been to use a credit card – if the OTA doesn’t respond to requests for refunds, just claim it back via the bank. And airlines take over the responsibility for bookings at T-24 hrs, so any last minute cancellations or rebookings are sorted directly with them anyways.
Kiwi charges more than LCCs if you add extras though, so unless you book a plain vanilla seat only LCC flight you will pay more (unless you can add those extras later via the airline site for the same price you’d have paid initially).
Today I was told that clicking this feature delays the issue of the ticket as the system first checks for better rates… it is actually annoying to me because I wanted to be sure I have the ticket (not the booking reference only), also because I don’t think they can find any better fare than the one I selected, which was already almost 20% less than the airline’s published fare on the website (which btw makes me really curious to know how they can get such deals). I made sure to check that LM’s fare included luggage. This is why I was curious also to quickly enter the airline’s PNR in their website (in this case Fiji Airways) to see what I ended up getting exactly.
I agree that I would choose such OTAs only when I am quite sure about the trip I am taking. I just found it very annoying now that after 12 hours it still shows as not ticketed and not paid for (from TA to the airline).
I am not mentioning the call center knowledge (some wouldn’t give any information if I am not the passenger, some would) and capacity to intervene. I would just give them a 4 out of 10.
Interesting thread. I agree with the comments above that one should book with OTAs only if they are 100% certain on taking the flight.
Few Qs though: Are there any restrictions on using Lastminute gift card to pay for flights and hotels? Also, how many gift cards can I use per transaction?
I have never used them so getting a heads up would be useful. Thanks.
Today I was told that clicking this feature delays the issue of the ticket as the system first checks for better rates… it is actually annoying to me because I wanted to be sure I have the ticket (not the booking reference only), also because I don’t think they can find any better fare than the one I selected, which was already almost 20% less than the airline’s published fare on the website (which btw makes me really curious to know how they can get such deals). I made sure to check that LM’s fare included luggage. This is why I was curious also to quickly enter the airline’s PNR in their website (in this case Fiji Airways) to see what I ended up getting exactly.
I agree that I would choose such OTAs only when I am quite sure about the trip I am taking. I just found it very annoying now that after 12 hours it still shows as not ticketed and not paid for (from TA to the airline).
I am not mentioning the call center knowledge (some wouldn’t give any information if I am not the passenger, some would) and capacity to intervene. I would just give them a 4 out of 10.
Interesting, when I used it, the ticket has always been issued almost immediately. The one time it found a lower fare, Lastminute already had the cheapest price according to google flights and sky scanner so I have no idea how they do it.
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