Booking through Expedia? Should I do it?

[klpca]

Hi all. We are traveling to France next year in Oct. The booking window opened recently so I am setting up my saved flight searches. In doing this I rediscovered something that worked very well for me in 2010 on our trip to Italy. If I book a flight & hotel on Expedia it saves me a phenomenal amount of $$. The fare class is listed as "K". I am always concerned that Expedia will mess something up because of issues that others have had with them but I've used them a few times and all was well.

For example, if I book San Diego to Paris with *one* night in the least expensive hotel, the cost is about $750 per person. If I go directly to United or Lufthansa, or any other airline the cost is over $1,200 each. If I use Chase Ultimate Rewards the Lufthansa flights are over $1,500pp. Also, on Expedia it shows zero baggage fee if I use the "bundle" feature, but if I book airfare only, it shows $60 per bag. So far, the cost savings of leaving out of LAX isn't worth it compared to leaving out of SAN on these fares and I would like to avoid LAX if at all possible.

Any thoughts pro or con on booking now? My daughter is going to Paris in March and has been watching airfares. She was happy to fly British Air for $760pp, but that doesn't include baggage and she did not get to select seats, so I know that the price is pretty good.

 

[Talent312]

Typically, I book directly with providers, so as not to deal with TA's in the middle. But I like to check with online TA's to see if they can beat the provider's price. Also, it can be helpful to have a U.S. based TA when dealing with foreign carriers.

I used Expedia for a flight from Venice to Rome, and when it cancelled, they worked with me to find another. Also, they had a low-cost code-share flight from Athens to Frankfurt that no one else did. IOW, I wouldn't hesitate to use 'em.

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[klpca]

Typically, I book directly with providers, so as not to deal with TA's in the middle. But I like to check with online TA's to see if they can beat the provider's price. Also, it can be helpful to have a U.S. based TA when dealing with foreign carriers.

I used Expedia for a flight from Venice to Rome, and when it cancelled, they worked with me to find another. Also, they had low-cost code-share flight from Athens to Frankfurt that no one else did. IOW, I wouldn't hesitate to use 'em.

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Thanks for the reply. I just noticed that there is no seat selection allowed at (it appears) any price point on Expedia. I discovered this when doing my search for the exact flights on Chase UR. Chase was much more transparent with what we were getting (free bags, no seat selection). A google search seems to indicate that a lot of the European carriers are doing this now. Did you experience that?

Back in 2010 and 2012 I was able to select seats but we flew Delta and United, not an EU carrier. I just want to sit with my husband and not next to a stranger for 11 hours, lol. On Lufthansa economy, you select your seat at T-24 - just like checking in to Southwest. I hate having to watch the clock on vacation. I never know if I will have cell service and if OLCI will work.

 

[Talent312]

Sometimes, even when booking thru a TA or another airline, you have to try seat selection on the airlines' own website where you call up your flights for review. If the flight is on an affiliate, you may need to call to get their booking code for your flight. I've called to confirm a flight and asked about seats and agreed to pay a fee if they had one.

We've encountered some Euro airlines where, even with a payment, seat selection was only available at check-in or the airport. I guess that lets them to use the most economical plane for number of passengers who show.
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