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I'm wondering whether anyone is still able to use Flight Centre to price beat online booking agents such as bestjet.com and for holiday packages… Has their policy been changed recently?
Cheers
Flight Centre Price Beat
buynnjy on 03/10/2019 - 10:52
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not sure now, but I did a price beat from expedia few months ago.
If you read similar threads on here
you will find the FC no longer officially does price beat/match anymore
if they do it needs to be a flight/price offered directly by a airline and its at the agent's discretion.they have moved to a new (at cost) system called "the Captains Package" where they will refund the difference if the price drops before you fly.
I thought the Captain package is an additional cost that you pay like an insurance?
Yes, but the price difference refund is actually a FC credit to be used for future FC bookings. Wouldn’t be surprised if it had an expiry date.
They’ll never give you your money or part thereof back.
Flight Centre are a rip-off to be honest and don't add any value unless you're incapable of booking things online yourself. From my very recent experience (last week), they don't price match anyone, not even their own Aunt Betty sister site which was $300 cheaper for exact same flight, dates and conditions. Their argument is they provide a 'personal service with 24 hr support and price protection if the fares reduce'.
Booked it online for $600 cheaper than FC in the end. Even the insurance quote they provided was more expensive that going to their insurer direct for the exact same quote. Not a fan.
I've never had a good experience with Flight Centre either. I called up about an advertised fare (on their own website!) and by booking over the phone she wanted $200 more. Useless.
Those prices are generated by marketing, and I doubt they check them throughly.
This goes both ways as the public also never read the fine print, and ask for prices outside the promo dates - which would never give you the advertised price, then complain to you the agent that has nothing to do with what goes up online.I was quoting exactly the same flight I found online, available to book.
I'm a stickler for terms and conditions
Most Flighties have their hands tied in this, just to you know agents used to have to pay the a loss out of their own commission.
Covermore actually offers a different policy than what FC agents are "allowed" to sell, so they can't even offer you that product even though it is available.Staff there have a huge turn over due to this, and abuse from the public as well doesn't - as they have to follow company policy and try to make a buck.
The best agents usually go boutique.
As for Aunt Betty, Agents cannot access those fares and are blocked from doing so - so they can't even compete.Covermore actually offers a different policy than what FC agents are "allowed" to sell, so they can't even offer you that product even though it is available.
That's incorrect. The policy was the exact same with the same tier name: YourCover Plus. I checked the particulars of both line by line and it was the absolute exact same offering from A to Z.
As for Aunt Betty, Agents cannot access those fares and are blocked from doing so - so they can't even compete.
Flight Centre used to price match Aunt Betty perfectly fine and aim to beat them. If they really couldn't, policy was to undercut by exactly $1. Seems they've done away with that now though.
I have no knowledge or experience of staff conditions there but neither should I as a customer. The fact of the matter is they're just not competitive and don't seem to want to be with the poor excuses. I don't expect them to be cheaper on every single quote for every single fare everywhere, but at least be realistic and not a rip-off.
Their prices for excursions, tours, JR pass etc are all well above market value too. I simply don't see the point of their existence or how they stay in business. But then again, that might be more a reflection on the general population that still use them…
Covermore has 2 tiers and has a tailored option for FlightCentre that includes medical assistance ect. I know this cause they still haven't aligned their product to be the same for agents and direct sales.
Flight Centre did used to approve price beats for Aunt Betty but it undermines the agents as you couldn't offer that price to begin with - you would have to send your customer away to get screenshots to process that as you are not allowed to do it for your customer. - which is pretty crap feeling when you know you the company can do it lower.
There is value in using travel agents, but unfortunately Flight Centre non longer believes in its staff and thus customer service goes lacking.
You have to apply the same reasoning to using a travel agent as using a professional painter - there are good and their a bad ones and you could always do it yourself.
Go with universal traveller. Same ownership as flight center. They do price beat and accepts fc gift vouchers.
Are they for under 30's and students only?
No, all welcome.
they price beat only price quotes from official airline websites. that's it.
Alternatively, you can go to their sister company Student flights as they price beat online websites that have an ABN.