Cheapest Airline Tickets: Airline Websites versus OTAs
Where can you find the cheapest airline tickets – at airline websites or at online travel agency websites?
In the past, many air travel consultants were recommending travelers to book their cheap flights directly on the websites of airlines to save the fees charged by online travel agencies for booking, which add around $5 to the airfare.
But now that the large OTAs such as Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz have eliminated the fees to be more competitive with other OTAs and with the airline websites, you now see a level playing field between these two types of booking sites.
And since you can get cheap airline tickets from both these sites, your basis now of deciding where to book your flight shifts from the fare price to other factors such as your loyalty to the airline website, additional benefits provided by OTAs, the crediting of frequent flier miles and discounts provided by OTAs for associated services such as hotels and car bookings.
The advantages of using OTAs over airline websites include your ability to search the cheapest airline tickets across airlines, whether legacy airlines or low-cost carriers, and your ability to get the conveniences of one-stop shopping. OTAs provide various car rentals, hotels and destinations, in addition to keeping you updated with airfare deals that keep changing by the minute.
Many travelers however prefer airline websites because they feel some kind of affinity to the airline websites and they can get bonuses on their frequent flier miles. They also explain that it is easier for them to work out solutions with the airlines if problems arise since they booked with the airline websites. Oftentimes, if there are errors in the tickets and travelers call the OTAs, they are referred back to the airlines.
Many others, meanwhile, get the best of both worlds. They surf the OTAs for the best deals and then book with the websites of the airlines offering the best deals, or if they see that the OTAs do not charge for booking changes within the day for their flights, they book with the OTAs to take advantage of possible airfare discounts within the day.
All in all, the one factor that will help you get the cheapest airline tickets is your access to information on the best airfare deals. So search both OTA web sites and airline websites and then compare fares and benefits.
