www.CostaRicaTicas.com

When I first started traveling, I used travel agents to buy my tickets. I figured that their experience and knowledge was worth the small fee. I soon learned that they quickly tired of trying to manage my travel for peak efficiency concerning cost and travel time. I began to use the many online sites and later started dealing directly with the airlines. What I have found is that often, I can get a cheaper price, shorter travel time and better seat assignment by using bucket shops such as travelocity. Just today, I was able to book my upcoming CR trip on AA thru travelocity for less money and shorter travel time. Like 7.5 hrs from Green Bay to SJO. I then careful read AA's price guarentee and learned in the fine print, that the price guarentee had to be exactly flight for flight. Travelocity offered me AA flights that AA did not, even tho I had AA show me 50 flights.

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My life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming...." MAN....WHAT A RIDE!!!!"

I booked through AA and then used Priceline for the price guarantee.
I haven't found a better deal using Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, etc. for flights and prices than what the airlines offer.
When trying to match the exact flights it can be tricky, I haven't tried it but you could try ctrl + F (control and F key) to bring up the find box for the web page and search for the flight number.

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Butchering the Spanish Language since 2005

I usually book directly with AAlines unless there is significant savings.The big reason is that if a cheaper price comes up for your shcedule after you book you can get the fare reduction simply by calling AAlines.I have done this numerous times and saved hundreds of dollars.One trip a $525 fare turned into a $350 fare.rbc100

I usually check travelocity and come up with the best fare. Then go to that airline web site and find the same flight for the same price as Travelocity less there $5.00 fee.
Have never seen flights on travelocity that I could not duplicate on the airlines web site. You also lose the price guarantee on AA as has been pointed out. Very often you bonus miles using the airline web site to book your flight.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

I went to Travelocity today and checked ORD to SJO for March 9-13th. Travelocity was almost $200 cheaper!!!! I never believed in these consolidators but, for $200...WOW!! But, I'm still confused as to whether I go to SJO or MDE.

dapanz1

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Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

I tried that for a buddy of mine, I am bringing him in May.

May 25-30 on travelocity ($385.22)

5/25 AA893 / AA971 (CLT-MIA-SJO)
5/30 AA988 / AA1216 (SJO-MIA-CLT)


SAME EXACT FLIGHTS ON AA.COM ($537.22)

$152 CHEAPER ON TRAVELOCITY FOR THE EXACT SAME FLIGHTS.

I also book directly on the airline website. In my case Continental.com. Mainly for the 100% versus 50% elite qualifying miles on economy flights (Only a concern if you are flying at least 25K miles a year).

The other advantages include 500 miles for the booking, 500 each way for checking in online, a $5 "travel club" bonus, a 24 hour refund policy and a low fare guarantee (possibly other promotion bonuses depending on routing).

In the rare instance that I can find a cheaper flight on travelocity I'll still book on Continental.com. There is a special number to call for the low fare guarantee, and they'll match the lower fare and give you $100 credit for a future flight.

AA will also match any lower fare but do not believe they give you a credit for future use.

So the advantages I see in using the airline is they will match a lower fare (at least AA and Continental will), give you bonus miles for using their website and save you the extra fee Travelocity takes for itself.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, etc are not consolidators. They book directly with the airline.

Consolidators purchase blocks of seats and resell them. Different business.

I have used Travelocity and Expedia for Air, Air+hotel and a cruise.
They often offer rebates ($100 on a cruise using Travelocity and $150 coupon on Expedia for a trip I took in October. That coupon I just used for my San Jose Super Bowl trip).

The only drawback is if you have problems with any part of your reservation you have to go back to them to get it corrected. You should always double check with the airline or hotel or rental car company or cruise line within a day or two of booking through these websites.

I agree with what was posted about finding flights on their sites that will NOT show up on the airline's sites. Delta is especially bad about this sometimes.

Also Delta will give you combinations that are NOT what you want (ie. they will pair the 7AM flight with the 8PM return when you actually want the 10AM flight with the 8PM return, etc). You have to keep changing the requested flight times to fool the program into giving you the right flights.

I use all the online resources and work a number of combinations until I find what I want at the price I want.

It's getting harder and harder to use FF miles so if you have any thought about travel BOOK IT. You can always change it or cancel it if you need to for about $50 but at least you've got a reservation.

Also try different days than you might normally want. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are usually the best for using FF miles.

One may consider various methods of finding the best deal available. In my case I've found Continental.com to be the most accomodating as well as providing the best deals without slapping additional charges as travelocity and orbitz will.
And the frequent flyer miles are indeed better than other airlines. Once you get that Elite status it is so nice to be automaticaly upgraded to 1st or Business.

Right Whitley?

Muffdiver

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Respectfully,

Muff

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Muffdiver wrote:



That works great if you live in a city or area that Continental serves. It is of no help if you have to rely on AA/TACA/USAir/etc. Getting the best fare requires a lot of research and work.

Just a small part of the price we pay for pooossy unless off course you live in paradise

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine