Using USA websites to book flights?

[nzwasp]

So i want to book a trip to new orleans and if I am on united.com vs united.ca there is savings of over $200 CAD.

Does anyone book their flights on american websites? are there any pitfalls I need to be aware of.

[rage2]

I've booked as far as expedia.in for some huge savings. Exact same tickets. I thought everyone knew to shop regional prices as they can differ by as much as 70% from what I've seen.

[nzwasp]

Seems you just pay different taxes. For instance United.com doesn't charge the us transportation tax but United.ca does.

[riander5]

bookings.com is solid for me

[msommers]

Originally posted by rage2
I've booked as far as expedia.in for some huge savings. Exact same tickets. I thought everyone knew to shop regional prices as they can differ by as much as 70% from what I've seen.

Do you require a VPN to do it?

I also clear all my history, cache, cookies etc each time I start a new search.

[rage2]

No VPN needed. I don't even clear cookies or cache.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Expedia pisses me off, it always shows me prices hundreds of dollars cheaper than it is, then when I go to book it says "oops - prices have changed! We could not confirm the lower price with the airline" and that $500 flight is now $800.

[Manhattan]

Wouldn't a site like Kayak or Google flights take care of this issue?

[rage2]

Not always. Here's a quick check that I just did. Assuming I'm in BLR and want to go to BKK for a week, Oct 24 to Oct 28.

Expedia.ca has a 1 stop flight at $370cdn.

Google Flights has a 1 stop flight at $353cdn.

Expedia.in has a 2 stop flight at $278 that didn't even show up in the other 2 searches (local airline).

Now, if we're comparing the EXACT same flights, lets choose Thai Airways direct as a comparison:

Expedia.ca has it at $1102.29cdn.
http://i.imgur.com/d7k8APV.jpg

Expedia.in has it at $462cdn.
http://i.imgur.com/qHixvhM.jpg

Only 58% off. :nut:

Google Flights had this example at $463cdn, so it got it right, but that's not always the case.

[nzwasp]

in my case we have to go new orleans at easter next year. We can fly from calgary for $980 return on the US version of the website. However our friends from edmonton the flight costs $1800 return from the same website.

[Manhattan]

US/Canada Expedia is definitely biased towards the major airlines. I don't use it for booking short haul flights between cities in Asia or Europe. So many more discount airlines that it pays to check a few more websites.

US/Canada flights though there's not many bargain basement deals.

[SkiBum5.0]

nzwasp. Fly to Houston and drive. My return ticket next week, Houston to Calgary was $308USD. It's a 5 hour drive to N Orleans

[Mitsu3000gt]

Expedia USA is giving me the same BS price increase of several hundred dollars after I click "book". I need to go to Miami in January and prices are crazy ($750ish for our dates).

So is there any possible issues whatsoever with booking through a different country's Expedia? No chance of problems with ticketing or anything like that?

I always check USA and CA Expedia but I've never gone as far as .in haha.

[Minimalist]

I'm paying Rage 15% to book my flights to South America, I'll still save decent money in the end.

[rage2]

You can use a travel agency who will do it for free. The guy I had would find me insane flights with long layovers and cheaper than normal. They can even mix and match airlines on a single segment which no online sites can do for you. My flights on a single segment to India are a mix of AC, Cathay and DragonAir with no code share. It's basically how I'm able to go to HK for 3-4 days on the way to India and another 3-4 days on the way back and still be cheaper than through booking on AC only to India so I can expense it all. Best of all those tix are all cheaper to upgrade to business. Free vacation haha.

No clue how they make their money.

[msommers]

Originally posted by rage2
No VPN needed.

That's fantastic. The savings you listed is absolutely nuts, wow.

[Minimalist]

I dropped $3,800 on two air tickets to Ecuador earlier in the year, hate to think how much I overpaid. I'll need tickets again in December and May.

Any good recommendations for a travel agent in Calgary? Real time-suck looking online.

[rage2]

Just booked a roundtrip flight to SFO for work. I had to book pretty specific flight times to meet my schedule. Another huge price swing. According to United, this happens with codeshare flights all the time.

$500USD - United US Site (Only had 1 ticket left and sold out on me while booking)
$1040CDN - United CDN Site
$1040CDN - Expedia.ca
$800USD - Expedia.com
$1851CDN - Air Canada

Google Flights (CA) found the $1040 and $1851 prices via United CA and Air Canada. Can't access Google Flights (US) with a Canadian IP.

I ended up booking through United US, took a business class seat on the way down at $660US roundtrip, or $885cdn. Still the cheapest available. Caveat here is that United US only honors their US prices using a US credit card with a US address.