What Is The Logic?

[phillyguy]

I needed to fly from PHL to PSP. If I search U.com it primarily shows me flying United through DEN or ORD.

I realize that U does not fly into PSP, but why not suggest a U flight to DEN or LAX and then an United Flight to PSP? I realize the code share arrangement but why give away more than they have to?

I would much rather fly on U and as far as possible.

So I would up booking round trip PHL/LAX then another ticket on United round trip LAX/PSP. And actually priced cheaper than doing it the way U.com proposes it.

Of course ther is a risk of a mis-connect, but I allowed myself plenty of time in between.

 

[jimntx]

One of the things I've noticed about all the airlines websites that I have dealt with--mostly AA, CO, and DL...

The companies all offer "incentives" to book on-line rather than involve a human in the process, but the on-line system seldom comes up with the least expensive option, and in some cases, fails to come up with the most efficient/convenient routing.

Another thing I've noticed about the sites is that if there is no non-stop/direct flight from Point A to Point B, you quite often have to know the connecting city in order for the system to even return a routing. For instance, on both CO's site and AA's site, to get a routing from Dallas to Rome, Italy, I had to specify connecting through EWR (for CO) and ORD (for AA) before the systems would admit that I could get there from here. I'm not talking about independent travel sites like Travelocity or Orbitz, just the direct airline websites.

 

[Colby]

Back in the Travel Agent days these were things that We would do to help out a customer to make their trip easier or put them on an airline they wanted to fly...But that was the Experience that a Travel Agent has....A lot of people started booking their own travel Online and That is why I gave up the business... But, guess there is an advantage to using a Travel Agent.... They know who goes where and when ...Simply from experience.....

Just yesterday I flew from DCA to BNA to visit a friend and some other NON-REVS were standing there with me and they did not even know that there was a 7:50 Flight from PHL to BNA non stop.... It had 0 seats in Back and 10 in First that was why I chose to go through DCA so I would be guaranteed a seat... Well , That went from 11 Seats open to 6 with 6 non revs listed...YEP, I was a little nervous about getting on....But it all worked out and I am Here in BNA as we speak........

C~

 

[2clippedwings]

Back in the Travel Agent days these were things that We would do to help out a customer to make their trip easier or put them on an airline they wanted to fly...But that was the Experience that a Travel Agent has....A lot of people started booking their own travel Online and That is why I gave up the business... But, guess there is an advantage to using a Travel Agent.... They know who goes where and when ...Simply from experience.....

C~

That was about the same time that I took my years of travel agency and Sabre experience and bailed out too.
We were knowledgeable on fares and routing to accomodate our clients wishes. Their repeat business ensured our job security. Too bad the airlines were short sighted...