Why Travelocity Sucks: Sorry the lowest Price has changed...

In message Nobody
wrote:

Once you understand how these systems work, then you understand why they
come to you at the last minute with a "sorry that fare isn't available".

Sure -- What I object to is that once they determine a fare isn't
available, they later show that same fare as being available again.

--
You can get more with a kind word and a 2x4 than just a kind word.

DevilsPGD wrote:

In message Newbie
wrote:


bertbarndoor wrote:

: What the hell, you do a search, you get the price, you click on it,
: and then it goes up $300. How annoying is this? What a waste of time.

Yes it is frustrating, but travelocity is a global company, not your
neighborhood desk, and it is entirely possible that someone could have
bought those cheaper seats in the meantime.


I've also seen it on routes where I am fairly certain that no one else
was buying -- I tend to book flights at 3 or 4 in the morning,

Not that I disagree with some of the other stuff you are saying, but
when it is 3 or 4 in the morning where you are, it is NOT 3 or 4 in the
morning in most other places.

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:38:48 -0600, DevilsPGD
wrote:


Sure -- What I object to is that once they determine a fare isn't
available, they later show that same fare as being available again.

One time I kept searching for a fare. A number of times it would show
the lower fare but I could never book it. This occurred over a period
of weeks.

In message mrtravel
wrote:

Not that I disagree with some of the other stuff you are saying, but
when it is 3 or 4 in the morning where you are, it is NOT 3 or 4 in the
morning in most other places.

True. However, it is statistically likely that when I am searching for
a flight between a couple smaller cities that are relatively close,
there aren't a whole ton of Aussies searching that route.

Well that, plus I described how I identified that no one else was
searching that same route through Travelocity at that moment.

--
You can get more with a kind word and a 2x4 than just a kind word.

On Oct 26, 11:50 pm, DevilsPGD wrote:
In message mrtravel

wrote:
Not that I disagree with some of the other stuff you are saying, but
when it is 3 or 4 in the morning where you are, it is NOT 3 or 4 in the
morning in most other places.

True. However, it is statistically likely that when I am searching for
a flight between a couple smaller cities that are relatively close,
there aren't a whole ton of Aussies searching that route.

Well that, plus I described how I identified that no one else was
searching that same route through Travelocity at that moment.

--
You can get more with a kind word and a 2x4 than just a kind word.

Travelocity is no better than any other travel site, really. I just
saw an article by a guy who was a travel agent and fired for no
apparent reason. So he's getting revenge by posting everything he has
learned on the inside for the general public to see. It's amazing
what he's telling, how to get cheaper everything! There are so many
tricks to the travel biz and he's doing this on purpose. But there is
no way he can be shut up. See it at: www.columbinetravel.biz and see
what you think too. I'll use his tips from now on to get cheaper
everything.

You people are all too accepting!! Give me a break, are you seriously
telling me that it isn't technically feasible to show the actual price
of the fare when, with one more click of the button, I get the ACTUAL
frigging price 2 seconds later? As that guy on TV says, GIVE ME A
BREAK! This is a simple BAIT and SWITCH! My original post stands, why
annoy us like that? And you are right, it isn't only travelocity, but
I am going to single them out anyway. Why? Because I used to think
they were industry leaders and now I think they are a bunch of chumps
for wasting all of our time like this.

Get real, show us the actual price. If you can show us a second later
with one click of a mouse button, then you can show us NOW UP FRONT.
STOP WASTING OUR TIME! You suck Travelocity, you suck.

are you seriously telling me that it isn't technically feasible to show
the actual price of the fare

Well, Yes, I think we are. Between any 2 airports (more if one is doing a
multi-city search), there are multiple airlines and a variety of possible
connections. Imagine the time it would take if sites like Travelocity (but,
insert Orbitz, Expedia, etc.) had to go to each possible airline's website
and insert the paramters of your search in order to arrive at possible
itineraries and prices and then display them in some matrix for you to look
at. Thus, to speed things up to the user, these sites build a large
database a few times during the day and use that for conducting searches.
(Refernce my use of "real-time" in my prior post.)


with one more click of the button, I get the ACTUAL frigging price 2
seconds later?

Yes, this can now happen quickly as you have identified a specific flight on
a specific day that can then be input into an airline's database to get a
real-time quote. If the fare still exists, fine--otherwise this is when you
get the message that the fare no longer exists.


This is a simple BAIT and SWITCH!

Well, you are right. These sites are not upfront with the user on how the
seach is actually performed.

I used to think they were industry leaders

The industry leader is Orbitz.

are you seriously telling me that it isn't technically feasible to show
the actual price of the fare

Well, Yes, I think we are. Between any 2 airports (more if one is doing a
multi-city search), there are multiple airlines and a variety of possible
connections. Imagine the time it would take if sites like Travelocity (but,
insert Orbitz, Expedia, etc.) had to go to each possible airline's website
and insert the parameters of your search in order to arrive at possible
itineraries and prices and then display them in some matrix for you to look
at. Thus, to speed things up to the user, these sites build a large
database a few times during the day and use that for conducting searches.
(Reference my use of "real-time" in my prior post.)


with one more click of the button, I get the ACTUAL frigging price 2
seconds later?

Yes, this can now happen quickly as you have identified a specific flight on
a specific day that can then be input into an airline's database to get a
real-time quote. If the fare still exists, fine--otherwise this is when you
get the message that the fare no longer exists.


This is a simple BAIT and SWITCH!

Well, you are right. These sites are not upfront with the user on how the
search is actually performed.

I used to think they were industry leaders

The industry leader is Orbitz.

In message . com
wrote:

Travelocity is no better than any other travel site, really.

It's great to research options, but only once in my life have I not been
able to get the same or better fares directly from the airline.

This might not hold true for more complex itineraries, but I'm near a
reasonably well connected airport and primarily fly to major cities.

--
You can get more with a kind word and a 2x4 than just a kind word.

"bertbarndoor" wrote:
You people are all too accepting!! Give me a break, are you
seriously telling me that it isn't technically feasible to show the
actual price of the fare when, with one more click of the button,
I get the ACTUAL frigging price 2 seconds later?

As another poster said, you're asking them to interface with
each airline's system and attempt to book every possible flight
combination for available fares, as opposed to published tariffs.
I suppose that is technically possible, but then you'd be here to
whine about how slow the website is.

IMHO, its better to use such sites (Expedia, Orbitz, etc) to
get a list of which airlines fly a particular route an which have
lower fares, as a starting point. I prefer to book directly with
the airlines themselves, since there's no middle-man in case
of changes and your also get perks like extra FF miles. =R=