Tamara wrote: > > > Obviously, Travelocity engages in the war of nerves... We'll see. If I > > don't get anything half decent from them again before March 15, I'm > > gonna go back to the local travel agent, and let her do the arranging. > > If I'm gonna get screwed *anyway*, I'd rather let the local people > > make their buck than some Grasso-like CEOs at Travelocity. <
Oh dear. What a mess. Well, my experience with Travelocity is that they offer great deals - IF you go after them well in advance. My flight to Denver is an example, and when I checked back to see if another friend could book the same flight, I found that our itinerary is not even listed as an option... presumably because it's already been completely booked. We got great departure times, good planes, excellent fares, and it was easy to do online. So this is just a counter-point to Tamara's critique... four of us had excellent results booking to Denver (and IOLI!!) through Travelocity. Clay Clay Blackwell [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [Original Message] > From: Tamara P. Duvall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: chat Arachne <[email protected]> > Date: 2/8/2005 10:01:18 PM > Subject: Travelocity - a cautionary tale (US) > > Gentle Spiders, > > Sometime in mid-April, I'm planning to go to northern California for a > week - to see my son, to see a primary-school friend who's coming to > visit her nephew (currently beavering at a PHD at Berkeley), to discuss > the further developments of Rosa Libre/Rosalibre with Cathy > Belleville... A thoroughly enchanting plan in every respect (I don't > shift butt *easily* <g>)... > > Last time I went to CA (March '03), my son found me a good (cheap) > flight, did the booking and paid for the ticket - all on Internet - all > *I* had to do was to write a check to pay him back. This time, I > thought that, despite my age, there was room to grow - I was encouraged > in that line of thinking by my recent driving derring-do's (Ithaca nad > back <g>) - and asked him to teach me how to do it for myself > (additionally, if *I* pay for the ticket, with *my* Visa, I get bonus > miles. I've heard that, more and more. they're harder to convert to > anything useful, but...) > > He steered me to Travelocity - an online business devoted to finding > you the cheapest possible flights - and told me how to navigate it. I > took 3 days to familiarise myself with it; being 'puter-illierate, I > don't always notice everything at a single glance and, being 55, I'm no > longer able to think of all the possible "angles" all at once, the way > I was 20-30 yrs ago... > > The following is the message I sent him tonight, after the 3-night > Travelocity-watch... > > > Remember how I said - a couple of days ago - that I could come to CA > > (San Jose turned out to be cheaper than SF, actually) for $304? Even > > at convenient times. Well...! > > > > Having confirmed with you that an 8:45 flight out from SJ was OK, and > > that the price was on the "extremly good" end of things, yesterday I > > decided to go ahead and actually sign up (create an account) with > > Travelocity... Dear me, how *very* "interesting"... :) > > > > Checking out the very same route and date/stop-number requirements *as > > a member*, I got the same round-trip price on fewer flights than the > > night before and two nights before (those two nights' readings were > > identical). But the outbound flight I was interested in was still > > included (if no longer on the specified "primary" date), so I > > "continued"... Rude awaking; the return flight choice, would now cost > > $736 for the round trip... the only returns available for the $304 > > were ones with *several* stops (even though I was only interested in > > one-stop routes), one of which required an overnight layover (dare say > > they offer a hotel accomodation to tie into the package, and collect a > > fee <g>) > > > > Tsk, tsk... :) It *may* be a coincident but, having grown up in a > > communist environment - where we *knew* we were being screwed at every > > turn, and learnt to expect it - I'm somewhat "Miss Marplish" > > (suspicious), and strongly smell a "switch and bait" tactic. > > > > Today, there were *no* flights under $340 being offered, with nothing > > under $380 on the primary date. Trying to sign up for "watch for > > cheapest tickets on a favourite route" (I was gonna sign up for both > > Roanoke/San Jose and Roanoke/Denver for later) produced no screen > > (other than a blank, with "transfering data" at the bottom) in 5 > > minutes, so I cut it off; in 5 minutes, I can get to the travel agent > > (if it weren't night time) :) > > > > Obviously, Travelocity engages in the war of nerves... We'll see. If I > > don't get anything half decent from them again before March 15, I'm > > gonna go back to the local travel agent, and let her do the arranging. > > If I'm gonna get screwed *anyway*, I'd rather let the local people > > make their buck than some Grasso-like CEOs at Travelocity. > > > > Love, > > Mama > > -- > Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ > Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
