Cheap airfare, help!!!!

[docetboy]

You're all misunderstanding the "lowest fare" guarantee United.com offers. United.com doesn't guarantee the cheapest price out of any airline, just on their own flights. As well, the ticket must be the *EXACT* same on the other site you found the fare, including fare bucket and rules. Oftentimes, Orbitz/Travelocity/etc flights will book in "Q" class while United.com may book into "S" or "T" class. This difference invalidates the guarantee. Straight from United.com:

http://www.united.com/page/article/0.../01/16&time=20

The guarantee is valid only for published retail fares available on the Internet for the exact same flight(s), travel date(s), and travel itinerary for the same number of passenger(s). Fares must be in the exact same cabin(s) (First, Business, Economy) and carry the exact same fare rules and restrictions.

The Low Fare Guarantee does not apply to unpublished fares that are not available to the general public and fares that cannot be purchased on united.com or flyted.com. Fares not available to the general public include, but are not limited to, corporate, military, government, wholesaler, consolidator, opaque agencies and other discount fares. The Low Fare Guarantee does not apply to package fares, such as airfares sold as part of a travel package, nor does it apply to airfares on another website that have been reduced as a result of promotional discounts, such as dollars off coupons, loyalty program discounts or fly free offers. The Low Fare Guarantee does not apply to tickets that you choose to refund.

Originally posted by docetboy
You're all misunderstanding the "lowest fare" guarantee United.com offers. United.com doesn't guarantee the cheapest price out of any airline, just on their own flights. As well, the ticket must be the *EXACT* same on the other site you found the fare, including fare bucket and rules. Oftentimes, Orbitz/Travelocity/etc flights will book in "Q" class while United.com may book into "S" or "T" class. This difference invalidates the guarantee. Straight from United.com:

http://www.united.com/page/article/0.../01/16&time=20

The guarantee is valid only for published retail fares available on the Internet for the exact same flight(s), travel date(s), and travel itinerary for the same number of passenger(s). Fares must be in the exact same cabin(s) (First, Business, Economy) and carry the exact same fare rules and restrictions.

The Low Fare Guarantee does not apply to unpublished fares that are not available to the general public and fares that cannot be purchased on united.com or flyted.com. Fares not available to the general public include, but are not limited to, corporate, military, government, wholesaler, consolidator, opaque agencies and other discount fares. The Low Fare Guarantee does not apply to package fares, such as airfares sold as part of a travel package, nor does it apply to airfares on another website that have been reduced as a result of promotional discounts, such as dollars off coupons, loyalty program discounts or fly free offers. The Low Fare Guarantee does not apply to tickets that you choose to refund.

Suuuure. Anybody can cut and paste.

[docetboy]

Originally posted by OTW
Suuuure. Anybody can cut and paste.

*Copy* and paste, OTW

Originally posted by docetboy
*Copy* and paste, OTW

Oy, that's what I meant. This is what happens when I was supposed to get today off, but didn't.

I really think United and the other carriers should use better vocabulary when stating their terms and conditions. If they had used that jargon while I was in training I would have never made it through the seven weeks.

But I know they never will. They have to make their money off the poor customers who don't understand the $100 change fee + any fare difference concept.

Yay for still having friends and drinking buddies who still list me Space Available. It's the only way to go for me.

[Beryana]

I LOVE flying United - and Northwest. I had booked my ticket to go to Germany last spring for a weekend training (yes, a weekend!) through studentuniverse.com. United had the cheapest at $420 RT including fees. Having been a flight attendant I actually included an extra travel day (plus I was going to see a friend from high school while in Germany, etc). Due to weather my original flights were cancelled but United switched me to Business class from ORD to FRA, allowed me to switch original airports for the flight to Chicago to accomodate my ride to the airport, and bumped me to Economy Plus on the return trip from BOS to ORD. United also gave me frequent flier miles for my student fair tickets, unlike American when I went over again this past summer (which I would have flown United, except American happened to be cheaper - though looking back, the increased train fare would have negated the flight cost difference! oh well!)

I also like Northwest (despite a headache causing, trying to get home for Christmas experience a few years ago!). I was upgraded to first class on a space available ticket (flying home for a cousin's wedding and everything was full on the airlines I had flight benefits on so I paid $100 for the roundtrip, four-leg standby ticket). I was also pricing tickets down to Nashville for our Leadership Institute this summer and it was only about $200 RT from CWA to BNA - but I'm probably going to be driving with a group so we can have a car to go visiting, etc while there.

Sarah

[HBADPi]

Originally posted by OTW
Hotwire and Priceline tend to have the LOWEST fares. However, there's a catch. You can select what day you want to leave and come back, but you need to be flexible with your times because they don't give you an exact time. They'll say something like "early evening" or "red eye". They also don't tell you who you're flying until you purchase the ticket.

Also lets say you have a connecting flight and your flight to your connecting city gets delayed to the point that you would miss your flight out of your connecting city, if you purchase through priceline the airline wont accomodate you at all to try and get you on an earlier flight so that you dont miss your connecting flight.

This happened to me when I booked a flight with Priceline from Pittsburgh to Paris a few years back. It was with American and I had a connecting flight in Chicago. It took a lot of begging, pleading, and some tears to get the guy at the ticket counter to book me on an earlier flight so that I didnt miss my flight to Paris. That was the purchase from hell because I had issues on my return flight as well. I ended up dealing with the same ticket counter guy in Pit on my return where he got berrated in front of me by his manager for putting me on an earlier flight when I was leaving. According to his manager, Priceline purchases get no help or consideration from the airline.

- First and last time I used priceline