When you’re booking a revenue ticket on an airline (as opposed to redeeming miles), are you better off booking directly with that airline, or through an online travel agency? In this post, I’d like to address that topic, since the answer isn’t obvious to most.
For those not familiar with online travel agencies (often referred to as “OTAs”), these are websites like Expedia and Orbitz, which let you book flights, hotels, rental cars, and more. Let me start with a couple of things upfront that should be the same regardless of whether you book directly with an airline or through an online travel agency:
- The prices of flights should be the same regardless of whether you book directly or through a mainstream online travel agency; in some cases you may see slightly lower prices through online travel agencies you may have never heard of, though I’d recommend exercising caution when using them
- You generally earn points as well as elite credit for flights in the same way regardless of whether you’re booking directly or through an online travel agency (there are a limited number of exceptions, like JetBlue TrueBlue, which awards fewer points for third party bookings)
With that out of the way, let me share the pros and cons of booking through an online travel agency, and my general strategy (which I’ll say upfront is that I book directly with an airline, unless there’s a strong incentive not to).
In this post:
Downsides of booking through an online travel agency
Let me start with the downsides of booking through an online travel agency. As I said above, I generally don’t book through online travel agencies, and I consider the cons to outweigh the pros in most situations.
Online travel agencies can be a bit of a curse when things go wrong, and there are issues with your ticket. If you have a schedule change, face irregular operations, need to change your ticket, etc., the airline might tell you to contact your travel agency, while the online travel agency might tell you to contact the airline. You could end up in a never-ending loop of misinformation, and I’ve certainly had it happen before, and it couldn’t be more frustrating.
It’s a total pain when you want to get something fixed but are just getting the runaround. Nowadays many airlines (at least most airlines in the United States) offer ticket flexibility, where you can cancel a ticket and apply a credit toward a future flight. In these situations, it’s much easier to just deal with the airline directly, since it limits how much can go wrong.
Furthermore, I find that most online travel agencies have horrible phone customer service. They all seem to use outsourced call centers with very little training, so don’t expect much of a resolution if things go wrong.
Of course there are also plenty of airlines with horrible customer service, though that’s more variable. At least some airlines offer decent self-service reservations options online, in the event of irregular operations or schedule changes.
Furthermore, sometimes it’s easier to book through an airline’s website in terms of selecting seats, entering your frequent flyer information, etc. With most airlines it doesn’t make a huge difference since technology has greatly improved, but there are some airlines that let you select seats at booking, but otherwise require you to call to select them.
Benefits of booking through an online travel agency
So, why should anyone even consider booking through an online travel agency? If you ask me, there are several potential benefits, but they’re mostly pretty niche. While airlines have a 24-cancelation policy for flights in the United States, there are some limitations to those regulations, including how far in advance you have to book to qualify for that.
In my experience, online travel agencies have much more flexible 24-hour cancelation policies, and many will allow you to cancel within 24 hours even if you’re ticketing your reservation the same day of travel. You’ll of course want to consult the website of the online travel agency (and even take screenshots), though I find this is sometimes flexibility that comes in handy.
Another potential benefit of online travel agencies is that the booking interface is easy to use, or at a minimum, familiar. If you’re booking a smaller airline you don’t often travel with, you might find that using an online travel agency is just easier.
I also find there are fewer issues with credit card payment and general website error messages through online travel agencies, compared to the website of a small airline I’ve otherwise never flown before. For that matter, in some situations, airlines may require you to present the credit card used to pay when booking directly, while that doesn’t apply when booking through an online travel agency (this is rare, and is almost always for non-US airlines).
Furthermore, when flying a small airline, it’s nice to know that you can at least reach customer service at a major online travel agency 24/7, even if they’re not necessarily that well trained.
There’s also something to be said for the fact that online travel agencies will sometimes let you book tickets you couldn’t book directly with airlines. For example, when two airlines have an interline agreement, you might not be able to book a ticket between two non-partners through an airline website, but you might be able to book that through an online travel agency.
Lastly, while I wouldn’t consider these to be traditional online travel agencies, it’s worth keeping in mind that premium credit cards sometimes offer credits or bonus rewards for booking through their portals. So that could be an incentive to use something like the Capital One Travel Portal or Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal.
My online travel agency booking strategy
Unless I have a compelling reason not to, I’ll always book directly with an airline. That minimizes the odds of getting frustrated if any ticket changes are required, or if there are irregular operations. It also makes it easiest if I need to cancel my ticket, and want to use a credit toward a future flight.
The only time I’ll consistently book through an online travel agency is if I think I might want to cancel within 24 hours, and booking directly with an airline wouldn’t qualify for that.
Furthermore, in some situations I’ll book through an online travel agency if it’s an airline I don’t often travel with, and I’m having issues with their website. I’ll also do so in situations where a ticket can’t be booked directly through an airline, like if I’m booking an itinerary involving multiple airlines that have an interline agreement, but not a closer partnership.
There’s merit to using traditional travel agents
The above is framed in the context of whether one should book directly with an airline or through an online travel agency. However, there’s another booking option that I think is worth mentioning as well — rather than using one of the mega-online travel agencies, you can also book with an actual travel agent who specializes in air.
Not every travel agent books air, and for that matter, even if they do, you don’t actually want to book airline tickets with most travel agents. That being said, there are some agents who specialize in air, and are the savviest people you’ll find out there.
While there will often be booking fees for ticketing this way (since air commissions are often quite low, aside from some premium tickets), they can be invaluable in terms of their knowledge, monitoring of your itinerary, help in the event of irregular operations, etc.
Personally, I don’t find it necessary to book this way for simple itineraries, but for complicated ones, I think there’s lots of merit to booking in this way, if you can find the right match.
Bottom line
Personally I do what I can to book directly with an airline, rather than through an online travel agency. By all means use websites like Google Flights to look up fares and schedules, but then I’d highly recommend booking directly with an airline. That’s mainly because this simplifies matters if there’s any sort of schedule change, irregular operations, the need to cancel, etc.
The one exception is that travel agents who specialize in air can add lots of value, especially for complex itineraries. While there might be ticketing fees for booking that way, they can help avoid a lot of headache, especially if you not someone who loves monitoring your own flights.
What’s your strategy — when do you book direct with an airline, and when do you book through an online travel agency?
One not stated here is that some OTAs may allow you to book combination of flights that are possible but don't appear on the offical website (though I would only do this with Expedia/Booking.com/Gotogate).
For a recent trip between Europe and India I was able to book my dad on a flight on Saudia that included 10/11 hour layovers in Jeddah in both directions. This was a flight combination that just didn't appear the official website but did appear on Booking.com
I have to criticize Google Flights for being an enabler of shady OTAs (names like "Flighthub", "Ovago", "Arangrant") listing flights for sale at highly discounted prices, which:
1) throws off your (my) searches and perception of suitable flight dates with results you would never book
2) dupes unsuspecting people into thinking these OTAs are a good deal.
At best, they are a slight discount (if your plans are certain and you will...
I have to criticize Google Flights for being an enabler of shady OTAs (names like "Flighthub", "Ovago", "Arangrant") listing flights for sale at highly discounted prices, which:
1) throws off your (my) searches and perception of suitable flight dates with results you would never book
2) dupes unsuspecting people into thinking these OTAs are a good deal.
At best, they are a slight discount (if your plans are certain and you will need absolutely no help). At worst, you will be charged hundreds of dollars to do any normal ticket modifications, even in weather circumstances where this should be free.
These OTAs give up their commission $ to get you these artificially lower prices, and then make it up by exorbitant / unreasonable fees to do anything requiring human help. They are located in places like HK, Singapore, PO boxes in Miami with shell companies, where I doubt you would be able to track them down if you had any real problems.
Buyer beware. And GFlights should vet and take some position on listing these places, hopefully in the sense of not letting them...
The answer is, like so often, price! Many OTAs (not only the obscure ones you may never have heard of) offer you a discounted price. Could be not worth bothering, but could be as much as around EUR 50 or more per person adding up quickly when two or more people are travelling together. Often they do that on their own account, just to get your booking and your details, so they can bombard you...
The answer is, like so often, price! Many OTAs (not only the obscure ones you may never have heard of) offer you a discounted price. Could be not worth bothering, but could be as much as around EUR 50 or more per person adding up quickly when two or more people are travelling together. Often they do that on their own account, just to get your booking and your details, so they can bombard you with attempts to sell you ancillaries afterwards. And that's the catch: Almost every add-on they may try to sell you afterwards will be much more expensive than booking this directly with the airline. So you have to be disciplined: Book the discounted fare from the OTA, wait until you get hold of the airline booking reference, then pull up your booking with that reference directly on the airline's website and book your seats, luggage or whatever directly there.
In Europe there is also consumer protection and if there is a schedule change or cancellation, the airline is not allowed to tell you to contact the OTA to sort this out. They have to help you directly.
However, you need to be pretty sure when booking that there will be no voluntary change from YOUR side, which will be costly and tedious, if an OTA is involved.
So, if you know what you are doing, you can save quite a bit.
The only time I use OTA's to book flights is when I have a long journey with secondary cities at either end. Think something like Winnipeg, Canada to Durban, South Africa. I found that trying to book a routing like that directly via an airline tricky with very limited options. An airline usually can get you to the primary hub at either end, but if it's secondary city to secondary city they struggle. So if...
The only time I use OTA's to book flights is when I have a long journey with secondary cities at either end. Think something like Winnipeg, Canada to Durban, South Africa. I found that trying to book a routing like that directly via an airline tricky with very limited options. An airline usually can get you to the primary hub at either end, but if it's secondary city to secondary city they struggle. So if it were Winnipeg to Johannesburg, you could easily book that on Air Canada.com. Or Durban to Toronto. But Winnipeg-Durban and it gets harder. Expedia, on the other hand, is usually able to cobble different options together on multiple airlines, making it easier. Exactly what the article says about OTA's being better at interline tickets or other complex combinations.
If I use a OTA it'd be only Trip.com. Not only they often have cheaper prices for China flights than even booking direct, but for many airlines they also offer ticket combinations options (luggage, free cancellation) that I can't find anywhere else even on the airline website
+1 on trip.com; I also like their "loyalty and perks system". One feature I would love to see them add is mixed cabin bookings.
One other major benefit of OTAs (and the only reason I would use one, in the rare circumstance when I do) is the ability to package unusual ticketing combinations such as open jaws or combination flights on different airlines from different alliances.
Additionally, many airlines impose surcharges on direct bookings originating in some countries which you can avoid by using OTAs that ticket on a SOTO basis. For example, it is invariably around 10-20% cheaper for me to book via any OTA when originating travel in Malawi than it is to book directly with Ethiopian Airlines for the exact same fare basis as ET levies a surcharge on direct bookings.
That kinda seems like a silly practice on Ethiopian's side Sean. Any idea why they'd do that? Other than because they can