Go Travelocity For Cheap Airline Tickets! Plan Your Dream Vacation/Cruise Here
Written: Mar 07 '02

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I’ve purchased airline tickets from Travelocity.com twice and I want to explain to you my wonderful experiences and why I think this is the best site for finding cheap airline tickets.
Get Started Quickly
I went to many, many travel sites trying to find a site that lets you search for ticket prices without a big hassle and without having some sort of requirement to buy. Many sites you have to create an account right off the bat, not with Travelocity.com. When I first went to the site over a year ago it allowed me to visit and use the site three times, after that I had to create an account. It was a simple sign up process, just like one for a free email account-no credit card is needed at this time.
Using Your Account
After signing up you will have a lot more benefits such as saving planned trips for a later purchase or just for tracking fares to try and catch a cheaper price. You do not have to log in each time; it will remember you unless you disable the automatic log-in feature. Even then, you will have to enter your password each time you save an itinerary or purchase a ticket.
Searching
The best way I have found to search for cheap tickets is to use the main page option. Here you can enter 2 cities or if you know them, airport codes. I just type in the two airport codes and nothing else, which will ensure the cheapest tickets available. It will then return an almost-endless list of airlines and ticket prices. The best time to buy tickets is either 15-30 days, or more, before you want to leave. If the time amount is less than that, for example 7 days, you will be looking at higher prices. Make sure to read the ticket rules as they will say how long you are allowed to stay, how far in advance you can purchase the tickets, when those prices are good through, earliest travel and any other fees you may incur. You can do everything but purchase the ticket and then save or hold it and come back and purchase the ticket later. Remember that the price can change.
You can also do advanced searches where you can chose the exact dates, time, first class/coach/other and even certain airlines. Remember this will limit your chances of finding the cheapest tickets possible but it will help you personalized tickets.
FAQ‘s
If you have questions you can click on Customer Service tab at the top of the page and go to their frequently asked questions page. If you cannot find your answer, there is a ‘Email Us’ button at the top of each FAQ page.
Buying Your Tickets
Like I said, you will NOT have to enter your credit card at any time except when you are purchasing a ticket. After finding the itinerary that you want you just click buy and follow the steps. You will need to enter the ticket holder’s name right away and then any other information that you enter, such as billing name or credit card holder’s name, will not change the ticket holders name. So you do not need a credit card in your own name to purchase a ticket, not do you need to have the tickets delivered in your name, it could be in your mother or father or friends name if you won’t be home to accept the tickets.
If you previously held a ticket you will log into your account and find your itinerary and purchase from there. Remember you cannot hold a ticket for more than the specified hold time and this is different for certain airlines. If you do not purchase your ticket within a certain amount of time it will simply be cancelled. You do have to use your credit card to hold your ticket but it will not be charged unless you actually purchase the ticket.
Delivery of Tickets
Non-paper (Electronic) tickets are a good way to go if you do not want to pay a delivery fee. With this you pick up your tickets at the airport when you check-in before you depart. Paper tickets are sent by second-day express mail for $12.95 or next business/day delivery for $17.95. This is not charged per ticket but per booking record. The other option is to have your ticket send to your travel agency, note that you may be charged up to $25 for this service. I have only used the Paper ticket delivery and the first time I bought through Travelocity.com I got the ticket the next morning and I only paid $12.95 for the second-day delivery.
Preferred Program
I have not used this service but you can pay a fee ($29-99) and become a preferred customer of Travelocity.com. The introductory fee of the first year is $29, regularly $49 and if you join the Elite program it is $79 for the first year and $99 every year after that. Some of the benefits are enhanced service, exclusive savings, members-only travel specials, local dining and shopping discounts, hotel upgrades and much more.
Site Use
Everything is pretty self-explanatory on the site. The toolbar at the top of each page makes it easy to switch from airline ticket searching to hotel or car booking. The only problem I’ve noticed on this site is that it can slow down extremely. This is usually while you are looking for tickets since it is constantly updating due to tickets becoming available or unavailable, so expect this.
Final Thoughts
I am still looking for other sites that offer the service that Travelocity.com does but I have yet to find anything that is even close to it! Some sites like Priceline.com require you to enter your credit card and hope for the best! It’s sort of like the lottery, you never know what you are going to get and you give them the right to buy you the ticket, I don’t like that idea at all. I was looking at Hotwire the other day searching for tickets and you can search for tickets but if you look at a special low fare, you have to buy it within so many hours or you cannot look at it for something like 48 hours! Just weird little things like that make me stick with Travelocity.com. I highly recommend it for buying your tickets and just keeping current on the lowest price for your dream vacation!
*TDD line for hearing impaired: 800-555-7585.
*Regular service number: 888-709-5983
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Reviews written: 281
Trusted by: 249 members
About Me: Love my two cute boys that I stay home with.
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