Qantas Price Matching

[Debsta]

This just popped into my inbox:

 

So along with no booking fees and fee free payment options when you book at qantas.com, all Qantas flights now come with a Price Promise*.

 

If you find a lower publicly available fare on an Australian website, for the same Qantas flight on the same day after booking with us, we'll match it. The same goes for all hotels, cars, activities and transfers available at qantas.com.

 

* Price Promise conditions apply. An Australian website means a website with an address ending in .au or any other website operated in Australia by an Australian company. Claims must be submitted by midnight (AEST) on the same day. Fare is matched by refunding the difference within 10 days of departure. The Price Promise does not apply to cancelled bookings.

[The_Big_M]

Heaps of conditions, and doesn't really offer you anything more* than just booking at the cheapest price anyway.

 

*Yes, there is 1000FF points, but that's small beer, and could negate you getting other better deals if you just rely on this first off.

[bazzaw]

On another issue - but slightly related to this.

 

For some reason (unknown to me :)) - I always browse TA websites for International flights/fares, but browse Airline individual websites for domestic Flights/fares. Frankly. I don't really know why I do that.

 

One think I can't quite work out - is whether the fares that TA websites point me towards - are the whole truth. I often get the impression that they are "specialising" in some airlines and avoiding others. We have flown a few times with Korean Air - and are now finding that none of the TA's seem to bring KA fares up in searches - if so, would this mean that for some reason the TA's have taken a negative view towards dealing with KA , or does KA now not have any "deals" ??

 

Barry

[bazzaw]

I am unsure how any TA would have a Qantas fare at a lesser price than Qantas itself - after all Qantas are basically the "wholesaler" .

 

Many years ago (16) - I did a full time 3 months course on "how to be a TA" - during that I learned the ins and outs of TA's and how they worked and got their commissions. Basically Ta's get/got? a commission on whatever they sell/sold? These commissions varied in size depending on the product - Travel Insurance being the most lucrative! I don't know if this arrangement has changed since then

 

Barry

[SunnyinDubai]

 

 

One think I can't quite work out - is whether the fares that TA websites point me towards - are the whole truth. I often get the impression that they are "specialising" in some airlines and avoiding others. We have flown a few times with Korean Air - and are now finding that none of the TA's seem to bring KA fares up in searches - if so, would this mean that for some reason the TA's have taken a negative view towards dealing with KA , or does KA now not have any "deals" ??

 

Barry

 

I recall some years ago one of the large TA's here had a tiff with one of the airlines - might be Singapore Air - and the TA pretty much said that they were not going to recommend that airline at all to their clients. Cannnot quite remember the exact details but I think it had to do with online bookings and that SQ felt that they were getting sufficent online bookings and hence did not feel that they needed to pay the TA Commissions or something along those lines....not sure if it ever got resolved but it clearly does happen. Maybe the same happened with KA? A lot of airlines are now relying on people booking online because it is just so much easier (though not with the new SQ webpage :rolleyes:)...so maybe the TA's don't get as much commission as they get from other airlines.

[moyaroo]

I am unsure how any TA would have a Qantas fare at a lesser price than Qantas itself - after all Qantas are basically the "wholesaler" .

 

Many years ago (16) - I did a full time 3 months course on "how to be a TA" - during that I learned the ins and outs of TA's and how they worked and got their commissions. Basically Ta's get/got? a commission on whatever they sell/sold? These commissions varied in size depending on the product - Travel Insurance being the most lucrative! I don't know if this arrangement has changed since then

 

Barry

 

Strange but true. TA's can sell for less than published air. not all the time but sometimes. the deals are called Consolidator air and involve wholesale buying of tickets for resale. Sometimes these fares are actually more than published , but normally a few hundred less on international runs.

 

If a TA is selling consolidator fares they will generally only have them for certain airlines. I have gotten good fares from one of my suppliers on Korean in the past but it varies with the supplier, but bottom line is that Q is not going to pay out their gty on a consolidator fare!

 

A similar thing happens in the cruise industry where TA's will sometimes get a block of cabins to resell for less than the going rate at the cruise line website. Crazy things happen out there.:cool:

[The_Big_M]

One think I can't quite work out - is whether the fares that TA websites point me towards - are the whole truth. I often get the impression that they are "specialising" in some airlines and avoiding others. We have flown a few times with Korean Air - and are now finding that none of the TA's seem to bring KA fares up in searches - if so, would this mean that for some reason the TA's have taken a negative view towards dealing with KA , or does KA now not have any "deals" ??

 

It's like dealing with most 'agents' - you usually don't get everything available, although the reasons vary. Sometimes it's commissions, but sometimes it's also due to the reservation/booking system the airline, or the TA use. Sometimes the routing is complicated, so the option doesn't come up as it's just not recognised upfront. Sometimes it's just poor programming! They're probably the main reasons something doesn't come up.

[moyaroo]

It's like dealing with most 'agents' - you usually don't get everything available, although the reasons vary. Sometimes it's commissions, but sometimes it's also due to the reservation/booking system the airline, or the TA use. Sometimes the routing is complicated, so the option doesn't come up as it's just not recognised upfront. Sometimes it's just poor programming! They're probably the main reasons something doesn't come up.

 

 

When it is something doesn't come up / they're probably the main reason you are surely referring to the major online sytems like 25bits and Travelwhastsity as your average TA with a res system doesn't have that online. Nor are consolidators generally available in that manner. If we are talking about the big guys it is true they do not list some airlines and some airlines won't allow themselves to be listed by them. American Airlines IIRC is one such. American pulled their availability from one of the majors early this year, but has since re listed due to a court order.

 

As many of you know smaller airlines often do not list with anyone. Such is the case for regional carriers like Sharp and Regional express who are invisible on international sites (you seemingly can't get there) they aren't listed, but are listed with many (all) of the Australian on line air brokers. In theUS there is a relatively large airline who does notand has not listed on anyone's site Southwest. It will be interesting to see what happens once they fully integrate Air Tran into their fold as Air Tran was listed. . ..