Furious With Travelocity

"Gummo" wrote in message
...
Having been delighted with been offered a return flight to Barcelona from
Dublin at £79 on total, I completed the details Travelocity asked for. I
completed the 4 passenger names, telephone numbers, addresses and credit
card details. After pressing the final button, Travelocity announced that
there were no seats on the plane!

I'm suprised that you needed to enter the details before getting blanked
but websites that offer the 'best' fare and then when you enter you dates
state that there is no availability, are common.

I leave them, never to return.

Personally I've never managed to find a better deal than booking with
an airline direct

tim

"Gummo" wrote in message
...
Having been delighted with been offered a return flight to Barcelona from
Dublin at £79 on total, I completed the details Travelocity asked for. I
completed the 4 passenger names, telephone numbers, addresses and credit
card details. After pressing the final button, Travelocity announced that
there were no seats on the plane!

I'm suprised that you needed to enter the details before getting blanked
but websites that offer the 'best' fare and then when you enter you dates
state that there is no availability, are common.

I leave them, never to return.

Personally I've never managed to find a better deal than booking with
an airline direct

tim

Having been delighted with been offered a return flight to Barcelona from
Dublin at £79 on total, I completed the details Travelocity asked for. I
completed the 4 passenger names, telephone numbers, addresses and credit
card details. After pressing the final button, Travelocity announced that
there were no seats on the plane!

I followed this exhaustive procedure for umpteen other dates which suffered
the same fate. Why can these seats not be checked before the form-filling
happens? Why do they offer these prices in the first place?

Going Nowhere Gummo

I followed this exhaustive procedure for umpteen other dates which suffered
the same fate. Why can these seats not be checked before the form-filling
happens? Why do they offer these prices in the first place?

I know exactly what you're talking about. This has happend to me before on
Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz. It's a real pain.

tim wrote:
"Gummo" wrote in message
...

Having been delighted with been offered a return flight to Barcelona from
Dublin at £79 on total, I completed the details Travelocity asked for. I
completed the 4 passenger names, telephone numbers, addresses and credit
card details. After pressing the final button, Travelocity announced that
there were no seats on the plane!


I'm suprised that you needed to enter the details before getting blanked
but websites that offer the 'best' fare and then when you enter you dates
state that there is no availability, are common.

I leave them, never to return.

Personally I've never managed to find a better deal than booking with
an airline direct

tim



I have saved hundreds of dollars by using the various booking engines
over airlines -- but the annoyance of phantom seats is constant --

tim wrote:

Personally I've never managed to find a better deal than booking with
an airline direct

Nor have I! Also, there's never any problem with checking your luggage
through to your final destination, and if your itinerary includes a
transfer en route, the airline makes sure they allow you time enough
between flights for any but MAJOR (and thus unforseeable) delays in
arrival at the transfer point.

tim wrote:

Personally I've never managed to find a better deal than booking with
an airline direct

Weird. The prices between different airlines can be huge, and vary with
the destination. How do you know which airline to call for the
particular journey?

In 2001 ago we flew into Belgrade (when Yugoslavia was still closed to
tourists) and booked through eBookers. We paid less than £100 each.
The staff at the australian embassy were shocked at how little we paid -
they fly to london a lot, but had never got anywhere near that cheap.

To the original poster: I recommend ebookers - they allow you to search
for flights with available seats, checks availability before asking for
details. I've never had the problems you describe. Of course, I may
just have been lucky.

joan
--
Joan McGalliard, UK http://www.mcgalliard.org

tim wrote:

Personally I've never managed to find a better deal than booking with
an airline direct

Weird. The prices between different airlines can be huge, and vary with
the destination. How do you know which airline to call for the
particular journey?

In 2001 ago we flew into Belgrade (when Yugoslavia was still closed to
tourists) and booked through eBookers. We paid less than £100 each.
The staff at the australian embassy were shocked at how little we paid -
they fly to london a lot, but had never got anywhere near that cheap.

To the original poster: I recommend ebookers - they allow you to search
for flights with available seats, checks availability before asking for
details. I've never had the problems you describe. Of course, I may
just have been lucky.

joan
--
Joan McGalliard, UK http://www.mcgalliard.org

"jenn" wrote in message
...
tim wrote:
"Gummo" wrote in message
...

Having been delighted with been offered a return flight to Barcelona
from
Dublin at £79 on total, I completed the details Travelocity asked for.
I
completed the 4 passenger names, telephone numbers, addresses and credit
card details. After pressing the final button, Travelocity announced
that
there were no seats on the plane!


I'm suprised that you needed to enter the details before getting blanked
but websites that offer the 'best' fare and then when you enter you
dates
state that there is no availability, are common.

I leave them, never to return.

Personally I've never managed to find a better deal than booking with
an airline direct

tim



I have saved hundreds of dollars

and here is the point 'dollars'

booking companies may save money on internal US flights
(I have no experience).

They may save money on transatlantic flights (I've not made
once since this method of booking was common, but no doubt
they provides access to the consolidated fares that I used to buy
in the high street but couldn't get from the airlines).

IME they rarely save money on internal European flights. In
99% of cases they simply offer the airline's standard rate for
the wouldn't have to pay if you book direct.

This is a european newsgroup, the OP was booking a
European flight

by using the various booking engines
over airlines -- but the annoyance of phantom seats is constant --

tim

"jenn" wrote in message
...
tim wrote:
"Gummo" wrote in message
...

Having been delighted with been offered a return flight to Barcelona
from
Dublin at £79 on total, I completed the details Travelocity asked for.
I
completed the 4 passenger names, telephone numbers, addresses and credit
card details. After pressing the final button, Travelocity announced
that
there were no seats on the plane!


I'm suprised that you needed to enter the details before getting blanked
but websites that offer the 'best' fare and then when you enter you
dates
state that there is no availability, are common.

I leave them, never to return.

Personally I've never managed to find a better deal than booking with
an airline direct

tim



I have saved hundreds of dollars

and here is the point 'dollars'

booking companies may save money on internal US flights
(I have no experience).

They may save money on transatlantic flights (I've not made
once since this method of booking was common, but no doubt
they provides access to the consolidated fares that I used to buy
in the high street but couldn't get from the airlines).

IME they rarely save money on internal European flights. In
99% of cases they simply offer the airline's standard rate for
the wouldn't have to pay if you book direct.

This is a european newsgroup, the OP was booking a
European flight

by using the various booking engines
over airlines -- but the annoyance of phantom seats is constant --

tim