Has anyone ever booked their flight through Orbitz?

[Ted and Holly]

Just wondering what your experiences are with buying airfare through Orbitz.com.
They seem to have some great prices.... though they only last a couple of HOURS.
If I find the flight numbers of cheap flights, will the airline itself give me those prices if
I book through them??


Please help!

Holly

 

[AZKathy]

I just did in January for our May trip. Found R/T tickets from PHX to MCO for $185 each. The same flights on the United web site were for $237. Since I was a first time purchaser through Orbitz, they waived the $5.00 service fee. I called the airline afterwards to check seat assignments and we were on their itenerary.

The only glitch we had was buying for five. I had to buy four first and then repeat the whole thing again for a single purchase. When I went to "submit" the single order, they said that flight was unavailable for purchase now. I freaked out, to say the least. But, I called the 1-800 number to cancel the four ticket purchases and they said they could. The person tried on her end to buy that flight first and was successful, so we did not have to cancel the purchases.

 

[Ted and Holly]

Thanks for the info. Are you all seated near each other?? I'm just afraid we won't get seats near each other by booking through orbitz.... Last night they had $190 RT from Manchester, NH to Orlando, with only one stop in Pitsburgh. It was USAIR I think. Its about $700 less than anything else we can find!

Did they send you paper tickets, or are you just on a list somewhere??


Holly

 

[AZKathy]

I called United that afternoon after the purchases and asked to put our seats together. The four that were purchased at the same time were together and all she had to do was put my seat by them. No problem at all with the airline. She changed seat assignments on all four airplanes we are flying on.

We got an e-mail confirmation the next day with our itenerary and confirmations. We are to take that to the airport for check in and they will issue us our boarding passes then with check in. I believe you can get paper tickets when you buy the tickets through Orbitz, you just have to pay a fee for the paper tickets. I know we are on United's itenerary, so I feel comfortable getting our boarding passes at the airport.

 

[coreynyc]

Do not worry when using Orbitz! Orbitz is a partnership of all the major (AA, Delta, Unied, Continental, etc.) airlines and they have access to every discounted"web fare" that the airlines offer, which is why they usually (always check around, I have occassionally done better on the individual airline websites & the discounters like Southwest & Jet Blue don't participate in Orbitz) offer the lowest rates. I've used Orbitz to save hundred's on airfare for me, my parents, and my grandma.

The only problem with using Orbitz is a slight one--as you noted, after booking on Orbitz you have to contact the airline directly to get seat assignments.

 

[punky'smom]

Has anyone ever flown on Midway? I checked on Orbitz and Midway has the best price. But I haven't heard too many good things about them. But I haven't heard anything lately.

 

[Ted and Holly]

I think they declared bankruptcy a while ago.... in fact, it may have been before 9/11.
Here is a link to the midway website:

www.midwayairlines.com


This is what it said:

Midway Airlines
Midway Airlines is a regional jet airline serving the East Coast. Midway began operations in November, 1993 and moved the company's base of operations to Raleigh/Durham International Airport in August, 1995.

Midway Airlines suspended operations on September 12, 2001. After a direct government grant of $10.5 million dollars, Midway re-launched service from Raleigh/Durham, NC on December 19, 2001 to six cities.

Midway Airlines will continue to provide signature amenities such as leather seats, hot towels, and mints on flights. With an average aircraft age of less than one year, Midway Airlines boasts one of the newest jet fleets in the industry.

Midway Airlines is a community of enthusiastic, friendly employees dedicated to providing safe, reliable air transportation with superior customer service, thus promoting employee pride and company spirit.

Welcome to Midway's Corporate Information Center. Please select a topic from the list below.

 

[cforza]

I just purchased tickets from Orbitz from NY to Orlando non-stop $99 for March break! They have already e-mailed my confirmation with seat assignments (4 all together). I didn't have to contact USAir for the seat assignments, all done.

 

[punky'smom]

I just booked our flight on Midway thru Orbitz.com. Leaving 4/19-returning 4/28. $156 round trip pp. for a total of $479.50 for 3 or us. I check Midway's online site and the same flights would be $785. total of 3. Saving $306.00 I'm sooo psyched. inkbounc

 

[beattyfamily]

I've used Expedia before because you can pick your own seats while you are puchasing and they also had "infant in seat" discount (about 50% off) that I couldn't get at the airline's webiste.

But a few weeks ago, I heard about a good deal here with AA and went to their website and they were right! It was $440 for 4 tickets non-stop in October from Boston. I wanted to be sure it wasn't a mistake so I checked with Expedia and Orbitz and Orbitz had the best price. It was $410 including the service fee. So I went with them.

I couldn't pick my own seats but it wasn't a problem. I called AA and they told me my seat assignements and we were kind of together. We took up a row with one additional seat for another passenger right in between us (rows of 5) I asked if we could be front/back with one parent and child in front of the other parent and child in the back and she did it with no problems, which is great because there's no one next to us so we can get up and switch seats or go to the bathroom easily! I also signed up for AA's frequent flyer program AFTER I booked the flight and had the numbers added to my itinerary. No problems.

I did learn from Orbitz that they go by the preferences you put in your profile BEFORE you buy the tickets. I had put window seats for the girls and isle seats for us which is I guess why they put us where they did but I didn't like having a stranger right between us.

I'd highly recommend them especially at that rate!!!

 

[Ted and Holly]

THanks for your opinions, everyone! We did it!!! Ted booked a flight on USAIR through
ORbitz just yesterday. It was very easy!

Thanks again! I don't know what we'd do without these boards!

Holly