Comments on: Fly.com, Vayama take metasearch into opaque fares from OneWorld, Star Alliance carriers

By: The Week in Travel Tech - Do we still LIKE Google and Apple? | Tnooz

The Week in Travel Tech - Do we still LIKE Google and Apple? | Tnooz — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 17:12:21 +0000

[...] Fly.com, Vayama take metasearch into opaque fares from OneWorld, Star Alliance carriers [...]

By: Finding Discount Airfare to Shanghai from US | CNReviews

Finding Discount Airfare to Shanghai from US | CNReviews — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 06:34:32 +0000

[...] I’ve heard some good things about Vayama. Vayama is another OTA that sells you tickets directly, and apparently has some “opaque” fares tied to the various mileage alliances (like Star Alliance, or SkyTeam) according to Tnooz. [...]

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 04:18:59 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by denschaal: Fly.com, Vayama take metasearch into opaque fares from OneWorld, Star Alliance carriers http://ping.fm/lU1ho (Tnooz)…

By: bs

bs — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 23:50:03 +0000

John, it might not make sense to you/a general traveler, but it does actually make sense in the wacky world of air fare pricing. Iberia is cheaper because it charges certain taxes differently than other OneWorld carriers and United is cheaper because some Star Alliance carriers charge each other surcharges for joint fares. As a consumer, there is no way for you to know or understand these things but it is quite often true that a ticket on the exact same plane will be offered at a variety of prices, depending on who you buy it from.

By: John Yorke

John Yorke — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 03:05:14 +0000

What makes no sense is that Iberia is cheaper than the oneworld option despite Iberia being in oneworld, and United is cheaper than the Star Alliance special despite United being in Star Alliance. I would only expect to see an alliance price if it is the same or cheaper than a flight on a single airline within the alliance.

By: vert

vert — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:20:38 +0000

The neat thing about booking an opaque fare on Vayama.com is that there is a one hour cancellation guarantee. The flights and airlines are displayed in the confirmation email. If you don’t like the flights, you are provided with a link to cancel them within one hour without any penalties and no charges.

One thing about Kayak – I am pretty sure that Kayak has an exclusivety agreement with Orbitz and Expedia that prevent other OTA’s from displaying their fares (even if the prices are better).