Experience of buying cheap tickets, flying multiple cities

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bd_tkk
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:51 am

Experience of buying cheap tickets, flying multiple cities

Post by bd_tkk » Fri Nov 11, 2016 11:36 pm

Hi all

I have found a website (https://www.vayama.ie/) which offers super cheap flights for the city I want to fly to. It offers a ticket at a price which is about 150 € less than that of the airways (etihad) but transit time can sometimes be about 15 to 20 hours. How reliable is this kind of website for buying air tickets? Is there any difference in service related issues? Does anyone have any experience buying any tickets from this website or such cheap websites? Can there be any problems in changing date from the airways office (etihad) later on if needed?

Another issue is regarding multiple destinations flying. Does anyone have any experience of flying multiple destinations? Any experiences regarding changing flight dates if needed?

It would be great if you would share your experiences or give me good suggestions related to buying cheap tickets from reliable websites other than website of the airways.



Experience of buying cheap tickets, flying multiple cities

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harryc
Posts: 1112
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 6:09 pm
Location: Espoo-Helsinki

Re: Experience of buying cheap tickets, flying multiple citi

Post by harryc » Sat Nov 12, 2016 3:44 pm

Seems to me, you'll get better answers if you give the city you're aiming at and what prices you have so far found.

betelgeuse
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Re: Experience of buying cheap tickets, flying multiple citi

Post by betelgeuse » Sat Nov 12, 2016 3:46 pm

bd_tkk wrote: I have found a website (https://www.vayama.ie/) which offers super cheap flights for the city I want to fly to. It offers a ticket at a price which is about 150 € less than that of the airways (etihad) but transit time can sometimes be about 15 to 20 hours. How reliable is this kind of website for buying air tickets?
No experience with that particular site. However, in general if you buy with credit card you always have recourse with the credit card company. When the travel agent issues you are a ticket, you can check the reservation codes on the websites on the relevant airlines.
bd_tkk wrote: Is there any difference in service related issues?
Changes to the tickets happen with the party you used to book with. Depending on the travel agent vs. the airline directly, this might be better or worse.
bd_tkk wrote: Does anyone have any experience buying any tickets from this website or such cheap websites? Can there be any problems in changing date from the airways office (etihad) later on if needed?
I tend to buy from the cheapest site possible and so far have not had issues. It's unlikely to cheap tickets allow you to change the dates without paying hefty fees.
bd_tkk wrote: Another issue is regarding multiple destinations flying. Does anyone have any experience of flying multiple destinations?
I have done multi city tickets. There's not really anything special about them. You just want to make sure that individual legs are on a single ticket so transfer work smoothly. Even multi tickets are ok as long as you have good trip interruption cover in travel insurance.

harryc
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Re: Experience of buying cheap tickets, flying multiple citi

Post by harryc » Sat Nov 12, 2016 10:27 pm

However, in general if you buy with credit card you always have recourse with the credit card company
Yes - there is a place for arguing your case there. But it is not at all sure one will prevail with their side of the story! One is usually talking about +/- 1000-2000 € - not a small sum for many. And one can be 'out' that sum until case resolved - which may take months - and a lot of expensive phone calls - frustrating email correspondence, etc.

CC companies also vary tremendously on their operational policies - you may hear 'good' stories from someone - and you will have a quite different cc company. It also depends on what kind of a 'hair day' a cc company employee is having - none of this stuff is carved in stone.

bd_tkk
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Re: Experience of buying cheap tickets, flying multiple citi

Post by bd_tkk » Mon Nov 14, 2016 1:13 pm

betelgeuse wrote: However, in general if you buy with credit card you always have recourse with the credit card company.

What does it exactly imply?
betelgeuse wrote: Changes to the tickets happen with the party you used to book with.
so, there is no chance to change the date if needed from airline's office?

betelgeuse wrote: You just want to make sure that individual legs are on a single ticket so transfer work smoothly.
It seems I will get only one ticket for the whole trip. It does not matter whether there is a long break in a particular city. Is it possible to get a new boarding card from the city where I will have 6 weeks break if needed?

betelgeuse wrote: Even multi tickets are ok as long as you have good trip interruption cover in travel insurance.
What does it imply? Must I buy a travel insurance?

I want to get a two/three-day break in Dubai so that I can buy a lot of chocolates and other stuffs at a cheaper price than in Finland and put it the luggage as the airline will allow me 30 kg luggage from Dubai.

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Piet
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Location: Finland

Re: Experience of buying cheap tickets, flying multiple citi

Post by Piet » Mon Nov 14, 2016 11:04 pm

bd_tkk wrote:
betelgeuse wrote: However, in general if you buy with credit card you always have recourse with the credit card company.

What does it exactly imply?
betelgeuse wrote: Changes to the tickets happen with the party you used to book with.
so, there is no chance to change the date if needed from airline's office?

betelgeuse wrote: You just want to make sure that individual legs are on a single ticket so transfer work smoothly.
It seems I will get only one ticket for the whole trip. It does not matter whether there is a long break in a particular city. Is it possible to get a new boarding card from the city where I will have 6 weeks break if needed?

betelgeuse wrote: Even multi tickets are ok as long as you have good trip interruption cover in travel insurance.
What does it imply? Must I buy a travel insurance?

I want to get a two/three-day break in Dubai so that I can buy a lot of chocolates and other stuffs at a cheaper price than in Finland and put it the luggage as the airline will allow me 30 kg luggage from Dubai.
My experience:

1st- If the web page screws you over, you can file for a charge-back with your bank that issued the CC or the CC company itself, but this might take a while before they make a decision about the charge-back so you might need to wait before your money is back (if you win the claim).

2nd- No there is no chance to change the time of the flight because these are low priced tickets without the option to change, if you want to be able to change the time later, you pay the normal tariff of a flexible scheduled flight (might be even 5 times as expensive).

3rd- No, in that case you will need two separate tickets.

4th- Must No! -> but advised yes, exactly to cover for problems..

For the 3 day break in dubai, you will have to get separate tickets for your flight back , one to dubai and another from dubai to helsinki. (so as betelgeus said , a multi ticket = multiple tickets paid at once :wink: ).
If god would give us the source code, we could change the world
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riku2
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Re: Experience of buying cheap tickets, flying multiple citi

Post by riku2 » Tue Nov 15, 2016 2:43 pm

bd_tkk wrote:so, there is no chance to change the date if needed from airline's office?
The ticket is from the airline but the travel agency you buy it from (if not direct from the airline) handles all changes until you take the first flight on the booking. only after that will the airline deal with you, they will otherwise refer you to the travel agency. The ability to change depends on the ticket rules (which the airline sets) but the travel agency might add additional rules/conditions. change fees are unlikely to be lower than what the airline demands though.

The only time i've seen travel agency prices cheaper than buying direct from an airline is the kind of site where the travel agency tries to sell you all kinds of extra services, insurance, seat allocation, luggage, extra fees for most credit cards. Only if you successfully navigate the purchase by declining all these do you get the ticket for less than the airline sells it (and your booking might actually show the real airline price and you pay less, so the travel agency made a loss). This works because most customers will stump up for some extras, and that's how the travel agency makes money (this includes telling you that the ticket does not include luggage and you pay extra for it when in reality the ticket from the airline does include luggage).
It offers a ticket at a price which is about 150 € less than that of the airways (etihad) but transit time can sometimes be about 15 to 20 hours
how is the transit time related to how you buy the ticket? are you comparing one airline with another or one method of buying with another (in this second case you should compare the same flights bought two different ways).

there are countless tips for cheap tickets. none of them are specific to finland really. you can find out about them on the internet. using ITA matrix is a good place to start.
must i buy travel insurance
you might want to find out what happens if you get sick in a foreign country. if you break your leg in dubai carrying that suitcase full of chocolate will they treat you for free?

bd_tkk
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:51 am

Re: Experience of buying cheap tickets, flying multiple citi

Post by bd_tkk » Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:12 am

I appreciate your replies.Thanks.


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