Third Party Airfare Booking Sites: The Power Rankings - who to trust, who to avoid

1

Expedia

Expedia.com allows free 24 hour cancellation, with 24 hours counting towards business days only. This is NOT the case with Expedia.ca - where free 24 hour cancellation really means the next 24 hours, whether it's business days or the weekend.

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2

Priceline.com

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3

CheapOair

I know that there's no clear methodology to compare sites in this aspect. But there are definitely some trend e.g. while Expedia usually offers good deals on hotels, Cheapoair or Flighthub can beat their prices in 90% of cases or you can always find a flight cheaper than FlightCentre offers.

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4

Orbitz

Similar to Expedia and Priceline, Orbitz has solid booking technology. Tickets are issued quickly, and if a price is verified on Orbitz, it's extremely likely they'll be able to deliver on it.

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5

CheapTickets

Do *not* get CheapTickets.com confused with CheapTickets.ca (a site which has no affiliation with CheapTickets or Orbitz whatsoever and should be avoided).

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6

Travelocity

Travelocity has solid booking technology. They have had a few public incidents in the past where they didn't honor a promo code that was exploited. On the other hand, they've had a few well known incidents where they *did*.

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I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

9

Webjet

Being an Australian company, it's not overly common to run across WebJet here in North America but they do have a decent reputation, and have come through on a few great deals in recent memory.

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10

FlightHub

JustFly is run by the same company behind FlightHub, so my advice would be similar for both. FlightHub is marketed *much* more heavily on the web, and it's fairly rare to run across JustFly.

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11

Justfly

JustFly is run by the same company behind FlightHub, so my advice would be similar for both. FlightHub is marketed *much* more heavily on the web, and it's fairly rare to run across JustFly.

#Travel #Vacation Rental #Travel & Location 4 social mentions

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

13

Flight Centre

Due to their marketing/branding, I find that people often associate SellOffVacations as being a source of 'last minute package deals and sell-offs', but in reality, the prices will be the same as on all of the other Canadian owned websites (RedTag, FlightCentre, ITravel2000, etc), as they all retrieve their prices from identical suppliers.

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I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

15

iTravel2000

Due to their marketing/branding, I find that people often associate SellOffVacations as being a source of 'last minute package deals and sell-offs', but in reality, the prices will be the same as on all of the other Canadian owned websites (RedTag, FlightCentre, ITravel2000, etc), as they all retrieve their prices from identical suppliers.

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I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

19

Kiwi.com

It does not appear that Kiwi has any sort of 24 hour cancellation policy. It's best to assume you cannot cancel your flight within 24 hours of booking without paying a hefty fee.

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20

Hotwire

Hotwire is known for being a site where you might be able to get a great deal on a 'mystery hotel' (where you don't know what the hotel is until you purchase it). This concept has never really worked well for flights. I have yet to ever see any great mystery flight deals.

#Travel #Travel & Location #Vacation Rental 24 social mentions

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

28

Ebookers

So, changes are $40 CAD more than what it would cost if booked with the airline directly. Note that EBookers fees are actually in pounds, since they are focused on the European market, so the fee will vary with the exchange rate.

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29

eDreams

eDreams is a pretty big player over in Europe (where they are based), but it's become slightly more common to see Canadians mention them, now that they sometimes show up in meta-search site giant Kayak's results.

#Travel & Location #Travel #Vacation Rental 1 social mentions

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

43

Hop2

Hop2 is yet *another* small-time booking site that you'll probably only run across if you use Skyscanner. Hop2 is based in New York City.

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I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

45

StudentUniverse

StudentUniverse is a U.S. based travel site that has been around for a long time, but was acquired by FlightCentre in 2015.

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I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

I don't see Canadians mention SmartFares very often, so I can't really comment on their customer service. They do have a really high rating over at TrustPilot but from scanning through the reviews, I get the feeling a click farm in India was used to generate thousands of these fake, poorly spelled, short, and oddly positive reviews.

48

Google Flights

Some of my favorite sites you may have seen me bring up time and time again over the years, such as Google Flights or Kayak are not third party booking sites. They are what are known as meta-search sites, which means they search multiple third party booking sites, and then send you to one of them, and that third party site is in control of your booking.

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49

KAYAK

Airfare.com is an American owned site. Even though Kayak is a meta-search travel site that *usually* just sends you to an external third party site for booking, Kayak will sometimes seemingly allow you to book a flight directly through Kayak. You're not *really* booking with Kayak though, your booking is being handled by Airfare.com

#Travel #Vacation Rental #Travel & Tourism 79 social mentions

50

Momondo

raeleen: That's one that's started popping up recently on Momondo. I think they might be pretty new. I don't know anything about them, other than that they are based in India, and I haven't seen anyone really talk about their experience with them yet I have seen them offering slightly better prices than other booking sites on a lot of searches.

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51

Skyscanner

So be mindful of the third party site Skyscanner sends you to when making the booking, and check out their ranking in the Third Party Booking Site Power Rankings to see what the quality of the booking site is like and things to watch out for.

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52

Hipmunk

The flexible date search shows you a matrix grid of 7 days by 7 days, which is nice in theory, but it's limited in the sense that it only shows prices of recent searches made by Hipmunk users. For missing date combinations (and there can be plenty), you need to individually click on each one and run a search, defeating the purpose.

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53

Cheap Flights

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54

Fly

JustFly is run by the same company behind FlightHub, so my advice would be similar for both. FlightHub is marketed *much* more heavily on the web, and it's fairly rare to run across JustFly.

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55

Tripadvisor

The third party booking sites that Tripadvisor sends you to for booking with seem to be of decent to high quality. Still, you should probably check out their ranking in the Third Party Booking Site Power Rankings to see what to watch out for.

#Travel #Travel & Tourism #Vacation Rental 74 social mentions

56

one.hackplan.com One

There really isn't one site in particular that jumps out as having consistently better prices than the rest all of the time. One of the biggest misconceptions I think people have is that the sites are in control of the prices. The sites are just the messenger. It would be financial suicide for any site to purposefully set their prices lower than the competition on airfares.

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