Why people believe that on-line travel agencies (like Expedia, Orbitz, etc.etc) are the cheapest.?

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amr_ronaldo9

They bilieve that because now a days most travelers buy there tickets on-line, But if you go to a travel agent he will give cheaper tickets than oline.
travel agents always have special deals to affer costumars unlike orbitz,exepedia........etc.
sometimes travel agencies can have 50% or more off a ticket if you buy it few months earlier or a few days earlier.
and sometimes they have to get rid of tickets that won't sell so they give it for much cheaper

rhodamarie

People believe that online atravel agencies are the cheapest because of the outstanding marketing campaigns and/or strategies that these agencies have. They are good at identifying the weaknesses of people in terms of choosing where to avail of such services/goods. Also, people think they are cheap because they no longer have to do anything but sit in the comfort of their homes and do some clicking and dragging to get the reservations done. Doing online reservations saves them the time and money of having to go out of their homes. The cheaper options still would be the travel agencies within the town.

averagebear

It's true that Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc. all have the same fares (published fares), that you can buy directly from the airlines and avoid the $5 charge. I only use those sites to know which airline has the lowest fare and best route, then I go to the airline site.
I don't use a local travel agent for cheap US domestic travel for leisure because the agents really don't make much off of those tickets so they don't want to spend time searching for the best fare for you. My travel agent would do it only because our company uses their agency. But I don't feel I can exploit that business relationship for my leisure travel needs.
For international travel, I always use a travel agency. If I travel to India, I buy from Indian agency. If I travel to Korea, I buy from Korean agency. You get the best price that way.

northmiamibeach1975

On international flights, maybe. But, not on domestic flights.
Anyway, the only airline that I know is a truly "low-cost" is Spirit Airlines. i live in Fort LAuderdale and they have incredible fares, sales from 1 cent!!!!

tonalc1

I have never found that to be true. I would be interested to know what "normal agencies" you are speaking of.

If you're speaking of travel agents, they might find a flight that's $50 cheaper, but they'll charge you that amount for their basic services, more if they include other bookings.

Also, agents get overrides (i.e. bonuses) for steering customers to a particular company or airline.

Jessie

I think it's mostly in the US that people buy tickets online. For most of Asia here it's thru travel agents, and they're pretty good priced from what I have experienced.

DethNcarnate

Online doesn't always come out cheaper than travel agents, and vice versa.

As an example, I've taken four trips this year, one domestic and three international itineraries. For one of the international flights the travel agent had the better fare, online won out on the other three.

Availability of those discounted fares is probably the catalyst in determining whether you get that cheap fare or not.

Alec A

Well they are cheaper as long as you book your flight, hotel, and car together then you save money but if you are booking only one of the 3 then you will spend extra money.

Manchester Hooligan

Not always true. But if money is important it's always a good idea to check with agents AND online.

Plons

That's not true. Everytime I go online, I find a cheaper deal than in agencies - however, usually the online deals are with smaller companies. Agencies deal with mostly bigger corporations and so can get discounts that way.

So it depends on really what type of fares/airlines you are looking for ...

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