Have had a look at a few of the travel agents like Student Flights and Flight Center and they have the same price guarantee that is:
"If we can't beat your quote by a $1 then you get your flight free"
Just curious to know if anyone has ever managed to get a free flight from this? Cause I can't seem to think of a scenario where they would actually do this?
I think its to show they'll beat it no matter what
Why would they ever give it for free? In the worst case they'd lose less money beating it by $1. It's just a slogan.
Note though there are conditions, like it excludes any booking fees the other offer charges and you must pay up by COB, so don't go looking for a price beat until you are ready to buy on the spot.
just an advertising gimmick. similar to bunnings "lowest prices are just the beginning" slogan and other "lowest prices guaranteed" claims
I believe this would only ever happen if your flight was a dollar or less. Even then I wonder if they'll find a way to wiggle their way out of it ala OfficeWorks. But saying that, when they stuffed up in Canada and a lady threatened legal action they finally caved in (http://www.timelessfinance.com/2012/11/19/fly-free-guarantee…).
In Australia, however, it's been previously said these guarantees are not legally enforceable (http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/qcat-finds-flig…). The guy suing had the same problem I previously experienced with both Flight Centre and Hostelbookers - how the hell do I stop prices rising while I wait for them to get back to me. With Hostelbookers it's even worse because you e-mail them the quote and WAIT UP TO 24 HOURS for them to reply. So they can just sit back and wait for the prices to rise. In the meanwhile, they don't honour hostels.com prices without booking fees becuase you have to sign up for free membership to not pay those fees :{ Most of these dodgy companies will also require the EXACT same payment method. So you'll pay the hefty Qantas "booking fees" either way. I don't even know if they'll mimic a free POLI method as "cash". In the old days I believe Flight Centre charged you their 1.9% credit surcharge no matter what (it might still today…).
On paper the Expedia Price Match (http://www.expedia.com.au/p/price-match) is much better (that is, if it's already the cheapest at the time of booking). Apparently they don't include credit card booking fees in price matches and you claim the pricematch AFTER you've already booked it and get rewarded a $50 voucher. I haven't tried it before though, but I'm sure there's at least something dodgy.
The way it works is that they'll look in their system to see if they have anything cheaper than what you have found. If they don't have anything, they just book you what you have found and charge you $1 less. So yeah, the free thing is just a gimmick.
So I went to student flights and asked if they had ever had to go through with their price guarantee (which is actually a $1500 voucher rather than a free flight) and she said she'd only done it once when a customer was asking for a price beat on a flight where there was a $7000 difference between student flights and the other travel agent because the other travel agent had exclusive access to that particular flight
I went into Flight Centre last year with details of flights. They beat the price by $1 but if I had not have taken notice, they were going to try charging booking fee as well as fee to pay by credit card which would have ended up costing more than the price I asked them to beat (even taking into account fees charged by flight company) !
It was only when I pointed this out that Flight Centre deducted the fees from the total. They were not too impressed that I noticed though.
Flight Centre used to do a "well beat any quote by 5%" which they honoured for me. I used them to find some flights. Went home, found a cheaper far online, went back to FC the next day and they checked the fare and then beat it by a further 5%. The agent said it was below their buy price but had to honour it. This new deal is nothing more than a price match minus $1. You would never get a free flight as they will always beat fare by $1. eg. You goto them with a $1000 airfare quote, they sell you the same fare for $999…. It's like a legal bait type of marketing strategy but saves them having to fork out an extra 5% saving.
I have never purchased from Flight Centre or is other facades. I know a travel agent in Sunnybank who gives me deals which even makes Student Flight staff's jaws drop.
Who in Sunnybank ? They should get more jobs.
I once printed off an internet price I found on a Friday night. By chance it was 10mins past midnight Saturday, which was printed at the bottom of the page. I went into STA at 9am on Saturday morning and they couldn't find the fare. So they booked me on another fare code that was more expensive, but at $1 less than my print out.
My guess was the fare I found expired at midnight and so saved 30% +$1. But no they didnt give me a $1500 voucher.
I just don't get it. If they can't even reduce their price to match another's quote how can they even consider giving it for free. Wound't they be better off matching the quote in the first place? Sounds like a marketing catchphrase with no meaning…..