Travels with Travelocity
Written: May 16 '00
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When I was looking to purchase tickets to Canada, I had nosed around a few other online ticketing sites. Unfortunately, every one I looked at wanted my credit card number before I saw the available flights. This was unacceptable, in my opinion, so I looked elsewhere.
A tip on a message board led me to Travelocity's doorstep, and I was sucked right in. Using plain English, the directions helped me pick out dates, an airline, flight times... When I realized I could also pick out the seats I wanted, I was really impressed. And all this without giving them a credit card number! (They ask for the number after you have selected your tickets.)
Another feature Travelocity has is their Fare Watcher email system. This allows you to enter several cities that you travel to frequently. The system will email you when the prices on tickets to those cities changes. When I received an email that the price had dropped $143 on my selected tickets, I contacted my destination to arrange for travel dates. "I'm coming to visit you!"
When I went back to the web site, I buzzed through the ticket selection process like a pro. Leave Saturday at 7:08am on American Airlines? Check. Return Tuesday at 3:30pm on Air Canada? Check. I was unable to select my seats on the Air Canada flight, since their seat plans are not available to the scheduling computer. A small loss, in my eyes, for the convenience and pricing.
Being a person who likes tangible evidence that I've purchased something, I opted for the paper tickets. They arrived about a week after I purchased them, and all the information was correct. I have heard of problems with getting the tickets, but I have not experienced this.
My check-in at the airport on the day of my trip was smooth, and the airlines had no problems with my tickets. On the way back home, I did miss my connection in Toronto due to a flight delay, but I can hardly hold Travelocity responsible for that. That being said, it's worth pointing out that you should make sure you have enough time between flights to make a connection if you are switching planes... Some flight plans I saw listed on Travelocity had a very small amount of layover time.
Another problem I have heard is poor customer service. I had not had reason to contact customer service at Travelocity. However, I did recommend the site's Canadian version to my fiancé. He did call them, and ad his question answered with no problem. One strange thing we did notice, however, was that the prices seemed to change on a whim, depending on which options you changed. We found that the price could change $75 for two tickets on the same flight (same time, same airport, etc) depending on which options we toggled.
Travelocity appears to be more suited to the casual traveler who has flexible travel plans, rather than a business traveler. If you specify a date to their reservation system, the prices are outrageous. But if you say you're flexible, most of the time you will be offered a large number of days and times to choose from, and still not break the bank.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
atara
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Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 13 members
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