wiegie Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 (edited) So, I'm are taking my family to Switzerland to visit the inlaws this summer and I am looking for the cheapest flight to get there. I'm trying all of the normal websites and Expedia seems to have the best fare through its "mixed airlines" option. In my intial searches, I just quickly said that one adult was flying and the price came up to $720. That price was a fair bit cheaper than anything else I had seen, so I wanted to see if they had enough tickets for my whole family, so I changed the number of travelers to 5 adults. And still the price was $720 per ticket. So, now I am ready to actually buy the tickets, so I enter in 2 adults and 3 kids and the price now goes to $850 per person. So, then for fun, I say that we have 2 adults, 2 kids, and 1 infant in a lap and the price jumps up to $960 per person. I called up Expedia to see what was going on (and if I could just buy 5 adult tickets) and her response was "no, because the airlines will notice that your children are not adults." And the best price she could give me was the $960 per ticket one. it really makes no sense (or rather, I don't understand the price discrimination model that the airlines/expedia are employing) Edited February 7, 2011 by wiegie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 So, I'm are taking my family to Switzerland to visit the inlaws this summer and I am looking for the cheapest flight to get there. I'm trying all of the normal websites and Expedia seems to have the best fare through its "mixed airlines" option. In my intial searches, I just quickly said that one adult was flying and the price came up to $720. That price was a fair bit cheaper than anything else I had seen, so I wanted to see if they had enough tickets for my whole family, so I changed the number of travelers to 5 adults. And still the price was $720 per ticket. So, now I am ready to actually buy the tickets, so I enter in 2 adults and 3 kids and the price now goes to $850 per person. So, then for fun, I say that we have 2 adults, 2 kids, and 1 infant in a lap and the price jumps up to $960 per person. I called up Expedia to see what was going on (and if I could just buy 5 adult tickets) and her response was "no, because the airlines will notice that your children are not adults." And the best price she could give me was the $960 per ticket one. it really makes no sense (or rather, I don't understand the price discrimination model that the airlines/expedia are employing) DO NOT CONNECT OR TRANSFER IN MANCHESTER!!!! I would pay an extra grand to never have to go to that airport again. Also, they make you pay for all the suffering your children may put the other passengers through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Irish Doggy Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 FYI, I hear that the discount ticket websites aren't necessarily getting the best fares from all airlines anymore. It might be worth your while to visit a few airlines' actual websites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 DO NOT CONNECT OR TRANSFER IN MANCHESTER!!!! I would pay an extra grand to never have to go to that airport again. Also, they make you pay for all the suffering your children may put the other passengers through. Unless it were my only option, I would never transfer anywhere in England. Paris sucks too (if you want your luggage to make the flght). I've had very good luck at Amsterdam though. All transfers in America are hit and miss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 FYI, I hear that the discount ticket websites aren't necessarily getting the best fares from all airlines anymore. It might be worth your while to visit a few airlines' actual websites. been doing that for sure--and I almost always buy directly from the airline anyway but the key in this situation seems to be that expedia (and apparently only expedia) can mix flights between Swiss Air and Air Canada to get the decent rate (decent for adults at least). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 I hate when they quote a one-way price and then say that round-trip is required. Well, then give me the round-trip price. To that end, I tried to "mix and match" the same flights all on my own, but the one-way price for a ticket from Chicago to Zurich on Swiss is about $2500. (At least I do understand that type of price discrimination though.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 well, I just spoke with Swiss and the woman there thought it was quite strange that the children made things more expensive--she told me that I could book the tickets and then once I had a reservation I could call Swiss back up and just tell them what my kids ages are. No problem from their end. On hold with Air Canada right now (with an expected wait time of 20 minutes) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delusions of grandeur Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 (edited) Try hotwire to see if they can help you better. I almost always find they have better prices when I check all those sites.. I just did an arbitrary search for a round trip on the same days on both sites, and it was about the same for the cheapest ones, but you could easily find a bigger difference... I don't fly that much, but I can say for sure that hotwire tends to be alot better for hotels, if not both... (Edit: Dammit, now the Huddle ads are bugging me to book a trip on hotwire from ATL to Zurich.) Edited February 7, 2011 by delusions of granduer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Try hotwire to see if they can help you better. I almost always find they have better prices when I check all those sites.. I just did an arbitrary search for a round trip on the same days on both sites, and it was about the same for the cheapest ones, but you could easily find a bigger difference... I don't fly that much, but I can say for sure that hotwire tends to be alot better for hotels, if not both... (Edit: Dammit, now the Huddle ads are bugging me to book a trip on hotwire from ATL to Zurich.) Thanks for the advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Try hotwire to see if they can help you better. I almost always find they have better prices when I check all those sites.. I just did an arbitrary search for a round trip on the same days on both sites, and it was about the same for the cheapest ones, but you could easily find a bigger difference... I don't fly that much, but I can say for sure that hotwire tends to be alot better for hotels, if not both... (Edit: Dammit, now the Huddle ads are bugging me to book a trip on hotwire from ATL to Zurich.) Hmmm... let me know what the pricing is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Well, the guy from Air Canada said that they wouldn't have a problem either with buying adult tickets for our kids. (He also thought the expedia pricing was idiotic.) So, it looks like I will buy the tickets from Expedia. We'll see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Well, obviously I had to weigh in. Just curious, why should someone not be able to charge more for something if they feel they need to? It's like the fat guy charge. Everyone acts like it's some a-hole move on the part of the airline but they're just saying that, because they're likely not going to be able to seat someone next to you, you've got to make that up. Why would anyone expect otherwise? That dude is costing the airline money. Maybe they find that they've got to give away such and such amount of free drinks and what not because kids are more inclined to flip out and bother the other passengers? Mind you the price difference seems steep, but I also realize that despite the fact that everyone insists their kids are well behaved, somehow a bunch still aren't. I'll say this, when an adult buys a $20 entree in my restaurant, they don't turn the table into a superfund site the way a toddler does with the nearly free bowl of rice we give him. So, in many ways, I'd rather charge more for that bowl of rice because I know it's going to take my busboy 20 minutes to scrape the rice off the floor, chair and nearby walls. Kids also cost me otherwise. I have customers who refuse to sit near tables of kids because it's a special occasion and they don't want it ruined by a screaming kid. So the fat guy deal could kick in because you're taking up your table and the one next to you (in essence). Someone's screaming child could very much turn that part of the dining room into Siberia. And heaven help me if I should approach a table and ask them to put their kid on vibrate. Not sure why it's perfectly acceptable to tell a loud drunk to shut up but don't even think of telling someone that their darling angel is bugging everyone and that they need to do more than try to ply them with treats but perhaps interrupt their meal and take the kid outside. Why should someone's choice to bring their children to a restaurant or on an airplane be a load shared by all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furd Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Meh. Last time I was on a plane, I ordered a "chicken" sandwich that, get a load of this, did not contain any chicken. Now that's annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Meh. Last time I was on a plane, I ordered a "chicken" sandwich that, get a load of this, did not contain any chicken. Now that's annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 Well, obviously I had to weigh in. Just curious, why should someone not be able to charge more for something if they feel they need to? It's like the fat guy charge. Everyone acts like it's some a-hole move on the part of the airline but they're just saying that, because they're likely not going to be able to seat someone next to you, you've got to make that up. Why would anyone expect otherwise? That dude is costing the airline money. Maybe they find that they've got to give away such and such amount of free drinks and what not because kids are more inclined to flip out and bother the other passengers? Mind you the price difference seems steep, but I also realize that despite the fact that everyone insists their kids are well behaved, somehow a bunch still aren't. I'll say this, when an adult buys a $20 entree in my restaurant, they don't turn the table into a superfund site the way a toddler does with the nearly free bowl of rice we give him. So, in many ways, I'd rather charge more for that bowl of rice because I know it's going to take my busboy 20 minutes to scrape the rice off the floor, chair and nearby walls. Kids also cost me otherwise. I have customers who refuse to sit near tables of kids because it's a special occasion and they don't want it ruined by a screaming kid. So the fat guy deal could kick in because you're taking up your table and the one next to you (in essence). Someone's screaming child could very much turn that part of the dining room into Siberia. And heaven help me if I should approach a table and ask them to put their kid on vibrate. Not sure why it's perfectly acceptable to tell a loud drunk to shut up but don't even think of telling someone that their darling angel is bugging everyone and that they need to do more than try to ply them with treats but perhaps interrupt their meal and take the kid outside. Why should someone's choice to bring their children to a restaurant or on an airplane be a load shared by all? My only response is that both of the actual airlines concerned reiterated that kids tickets should be cheaper than adult tickets. (And for the record, I would never bring my kids to a decent restaurant for exactly the reason that Det explains.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 My only response is that both of the actual airlines concerned reiterated that kids tickets should be cheaper than adult tickets. (And for the record, I would never bring my kids to a decent restaurant for exactly the reason that Det explains.) I missed those follow up posts by you and was merely responding to the first. And to be honest, I was mostly playing devil's advocate. I've never personally seen any airline comp enough things to neighboring passengers to warrant that sort of up-charge. But, given my personal experiences, I could see where someone could be certainly quite justified in a kid-related up-charge even if it seemed absurd on the surface. Like the steak vs rice bowl situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redrumjuice Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 My only response is that both of the actual airlines concerned reiterated that kids tickets should be cheaper than adult tickets. You are confused. You were buying a ticket from a ticket vendor, not the airline. They can charge you whatever the hell they want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 You are confused. You were buying a ticket from a ticket vendor, not the airline. They can charge you whatever the hell they want. Yes--that was my point. Detlef was suggesting that it was the airlines who were trying to make it unattractive for kids to fly, but that is not the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 well, to keep you all updated (since I am sure you are on the edge of your seats): I just bought the tickets through Expedia. I then called Swiss to have them enter my kids' ages--but Swiss said that they couldn't do it and that I needed to call either Air Canada or Expedia to make the changes. So, I called Air Canada, but was told that there would be a hold time of @20 minutes since a snowstorm in eastern Canada had caused a lot of flights to be canceled. So, I hung up and called Expedia and the guy there very nicely entered in my kids' ages. All is fine. Now why the hell when I talked to "Tootsie" at expedia earlier today she didn't tell me how easy it would be to make the changes, I have no idea. (And yes, she told me her name was "Tootsie".) Overall, thank you all for your concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 well, to keep you all updated (since I am sure you are on the edge of your seats): I just bought the tickets through Expedia. I then called Swiss to have them enter my kids' ages--but Swiss said that they couldn't do it and that I needed to call either Air Canada or Expedia to make the changes. So, I called Air Canada, but was told that there would be a hold time of @20 minutes since a snowstorm in eastern Canada had caused a lot of flights to be canceled. So, I hung up and called Expedia and the guy there very nicely entered in my kids' ages. All is fine. Now why the hell when I talked to "Tootsie" at expedia earlier today she didn't tell me how easy it would be to make the changes, I have no idea. (And yes, she told me her name was "Tootsie".) Overall, thank you all for your concern. I thought you had to enter names and DOBs for all passengers on international travel at the point of sale? Evidently not. I almost always use Expedia, BTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 I thought you had to enter names and DOBs for all passengers on international travel at the point of sale? Evidently not. I almost always use Expedia, BTW. Yes--I did have to do this and it went through when I made the sale, but I wasn't certain that the airlines wouldn't try to prevent us from boarding when we got to check-in. Also, I figured it would be best to make sure that they knew my whole family should have to sit together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_am_the_swammi Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Also, I figured it would be best to make sure that they knew my whole family should have to sit together. You couldn't naviagate yourself to a seat in 1st class while they schlepped it in coach? rookie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 You couldn't naviagate yourself to a seat in 1st class while they schlepped it in coach? rookie. He is not impressed by first class and he can save a lot of money by not doing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 He is not impressed by first class and he can save a lot of money by not doing that. Only because his feet don't even tough the ground in coach seats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I primarily fly Alaska Airlines and they are head and shoulders above United ( I used to fly out of Denver all the time). I flew first class as a free upgrade today to Minneapolis, I seem to get free first class upgrades every 4-5 flights or so when not getting free upgrades to business class. These things never happened with United. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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