3rd party plane ticket retailers with massive price discounts

[ABB125]

Over the last week or so I've been looking into a potential trip to the US using Google Flights. During this, I've noticed that occasionally there are 3rd party retailers offering tickets at vastly reduced prices compared to others. One particularly noticeable examples is kiss&fly.

Kiss&fly are offering massive discounts on Aer Lingus single fares from Dublin to most of their US destinations. For example, Dublin to Washington DC on 3 December, Aer Lingus (and almost all other retailers) are selling tickets at around £600, whereas kiss&fly are offering £184. Similarly, single Aer Lingus Dublin to San Francisco on 25 November is around £720, apart from with kiss&fly at £256. There are many other examples, these are just two. In other cases though, kiss&fly are rather more expensive than everyone else...
I've also noticed it to a lesser extent with TravEasy on TAP Portugal fares, but can't find an example at the moment.

I'm assuming that there is something dodgy going on here, eg: getting through the whole booking process then at the point of payment you might get a "sorry, that fare has now sold out, it's now £lots, woul you still like to proceed?" message, or the tickets being fake. The overriding feedback from online reviews of kiss&fly is negative.

So what exactly is going on here? Has anyone here booked a ticket with kiss&fly or other retailers which are so much cheaper?
In slightly different circumstances I'd be very tempted to book something just to see what happens, but at the moment I can't quite justify it

 

[Darandio]

In slightly different circumstances I'd be very tempted to book something just to see what happens, but at the moment I can't quite justify it

I'm not sure why you would want to? You've already looked online and seen the huge amount of negative feedback, these people have already done this so you don't have to.

 

[ABB125]

I'm not sure why you would want to? You've already looked online and seen the huge amount of negative feedback, these people have already done this so you don't have to.

A reasonable number of the negative reviews are things like "I wanted to change my flight/seat/travel date/whatever and they wouldn't let me" (which to be honest sounds like "I didn't read the terms and conditions" rather than dodgy retailer) or "my flight was amended/cancelled and I didn't find out until I got to the airport" which isn't good but certainly isn't unheard of.
Obviously there's also people saying "I checked with the airline and they said my ticket didn't exist", but also others saying "I had no problems whatsoever".

So personally I'd be willing to take a risk on booking a cheap weekend away or something, fully aware of what might go wrong, in slightly different circumstances next year (but not right now).

 

[Mojo]

A reasonable number of the negative reviews are things like "I wanted to change my flight/seat/travel date/whatever and they wouldn't let me" (which to be honest sounds like "I didn't read the terms and conditions" rather than dodgy retailer) or "my flight was amended/cancelled and I didn't find out until I got to the airport" which isn't good but certainly isn't unheard of.

I have booked through online travel agents (OTAs) in the past, and also have an upcoming booking made through an OTA. I would only really consider them if they offer a significant saving over booking direct.

You are right to be skeptical and your observation is largely spot on IME. Most of the negative reviews for OTAs are indeed people who have come a cropper and done things like type the wrong name or wanting to change or cancel their booking, who are then told either they cannot, or told they have to pay large fees to the OTA.

However, you can also have the following issues:
- Some airlines do not allow management of the booking when you have booked through the OTA; meaning you then have to negotiate with the OTA and possibly pay extra fees to do things like seat selection, adding of baggage, etc.
- For connecting or return flights they often sell tickets with separate ticket numbers and under separate booking references (PNRs), meaning if you miss the connection, you may not be covered. This is often not made clear until after you have paid.
- If something goes wrong such as plane cancellation or delay, it can be harder to get re-routed or get things resolved.

 

[thejuggler]

Modern online version of the travel bucket shop. Just because it is advertised doesn't mean it exists.

 

[FinsburyPark]

Isnt there always a risk with booking 3rd party. For both hotels and flights.

Even with more reputable companies like booking dot com and trivago.

These are great until things go 'Pete Tong' and you then have to go through 3rd parties.

 

[signed]

As @FinsburyPark says, OTAs are fine when there is no problem

Once you have a problem, good luck trying to get through broken English on the other side of the world (not that airlines don't have that) that have no clue how to help you.

For hotels especially (other members have replied for airlines), I encourge anyone to read some posts on r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk

Basically, most hotels will always prioritise direct bookings instead of OTAs (with like who gets walked to another hotel when the hotel overbooked...).

This especially if you need to change something or try to cancel graciously (most hotels will be willing to cancel even outside of the cancellation period if you are nice to them, call as early as possible and most importantly have booked direct. Very rarely will they offer that for OTA bookings). Most hotels also match or even offer more discount on their fares compared to OTAs

Using one or not mostly depends on your risk appetite, having a solid travel insurance and the price difference being large enough to justify it.