Your Experience Booking Direct with Expedia and Lastminute

poiuy1234 on 22/10/2015 - 10:19
Last edited 22/10/2015 - 10:48

I am considering booking flights to Europe through expedia or lastminute. Has anyone had any experience booking direct through these websites? What were your experiences like?

Or should I book direct with the airline instead? I am interested in flights offered by Qatar airline.

Expedia has found a cheap connecting flight from Athens to Santorini, with a 1h 20min layover. Is this amount of time sufficient?

Also, the Athens to Santorini flight it has found is with Aegean airlines. But it doesn't say if it includes luggage. I assume it doesn't. But how would I go about adding luggage, via expedia for example?

And finally, if the route on flight found by expedia is via Hong Kong, how would I go about making that a stopover, without incurring extra charges?
Amsterdam - Qatar Airways
Doha - Qatar Airways
Hong Kong Qatar Airways operated by Cathay Pacific

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Comments

  • altomic on 22/10/2015 - 10:32

    book through which ever is cheaper.

    3 hour stop over is plenty.

    • poiuy1234 on 22/10/2015 - 10:38

      Just double checked and the layover is actually 1h 20min. Would I still be ok?

      • altomic on 22/10/2015 - 10:52
        +3

        At Athens airport -Domestic and international flights are located under the same roof. Arrivals are on the ground floor, while departures are on the first floor. So, what you have to do is locate an escalator or elevator, go up, and then locate your check in desk number referring to one of the numerous monitors.

        Legal minimum:

        If rechecking in, you have to show up at least on an absolute minimum of 30 mins before departure time to check in and proceed to security control.

        Practical minimum:

        The whole length of the airport hall can be walked on around 7 - 10 mins + an absolute minimum of 30 mins show up on check in. So, count for an absolute minimum time of 45 mins after been finished with all arrival procedures.

        Arrival procedures are: Aircraft taxi, entering the terminal area, luggage claim, passport control etc. which may need a minimum of another 25 - 40 mins.

        So: even if the walking distance between the 2 points is just around 7 mins, i would not book a domestic flight with departure shorter than 150 - 180 mins before my official arrival time.

        Keep in mind that any long international flight can always have a delayed arrival time due to numerous unpredictable reasons, such as increased flight traffic, late departure etc etc etc.

        TLDR : 1.5 hours is too short between int flight and dom flight.

  • piggyfund on 22/10/2015 - 11:19

    For flights I would go direct to the airline unless expedia is substantially cheaper. Main reason is if there is a disruption airlines will issue a notice and it will go to expedia rather than you, I've heard of plenty of stories where people blame the airline for not telling them of their flight changes but its actually expedia not forwarding or unable to forward the message.
    I like expedia for hotel bookings but I have had issues with 'lost' bookings but I think this is the hotels fault rather than expedia.

    • donbot on 22/10/2015 - 12:03
      +1

      I've booked International Jetstar flights with Expedia 2 months ago - and I received the notification direct from Jetstar that my flight detail had changed.

      I also added luggage etc direct with Jetstar using the booking reference for the airline. Very easy.

      • piggyfund on 22/10/2015 - 12:05

        I should look into this as I have quite a few flights booked via expedia and I did not enter my phone number so will have to add it.

        • donbot on 22/10/2015 - 12:21

          Phone? I never received phone notification. Just email.

  • piggyfund on 22/10/2015 - 11:23

    About layovers, if it is with the same airline and there is a delay making you miss your connecting flight they will assist you with another connecting flight but if there is only one flight day for example you may be required to stay the night at your own expense (this happened to someone in my family and they tried to claim it back on insurance) if you are booking different legs of the trip yourself and patching it together it will have to be a longer layover as you need to collect your bags and do immigration etc again.

  • MITM on 22/10/2015 - 14:50
    +1

    Print out all the flights you have found/like - and take them to Flight Centre and ask them to pricebeat it. Sure they will by $1, but THEY will be responsible for your entire journey as your agent. So if you get stuck somewhere, just call their 24hr hotline and ask them to help you out.
    Oh, and take out proper travel insurance please.

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