Watch out for those 'too good to be true' flight deals from weird sites

I was super skeptical about booking a flight through one of those third-party sites that popped up on a search. The price to Bangkok was $300 less than the airline's own site. I almost clicked buy, but I checked the airline's site directly first. Turns out, the third-party site had a crazy long layover and a weird routing that added 14 hours to the trip. It would have cost me a hotel night and meals, wiping out any savings. I'm convinced now that you have to check the airline's own schedule before you book anything. Has anyone else found a way to spot these fake deals faster?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliotadams29d ago

@henry604 yeah the airport thing makes sense but I feel like this whole "too good to be true" trap is everywhere now, not just flights. Even grocery stores have that "bulk buy" thing where you save a dollar but end up throwing half of it away.

henry6041mo ago

Nah, you're being way too careful. "Check the airline's own schedule" is just extra work. I've booked flights on those sites for years and saved thousands. So what if there's a long layover? That's free time to explore a new airport, grab some food. My last trip to Manila had a 12 hour stop in Taipei and I just napped in a lounge. The extra time is worth the hundreds I saved, easy. People act like a few extra hours is the end of the world.

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sageross1mo ago

Free time to explore a new airport" sounds nice until you're stuck in a terminal for 12 hours overnight when everything's closed... I always open the full itinerary details and map the layover airports. If it's a major hub with 24/7 amenities, maybe. But a lot of those crazy routings use smaller airports that shut down completely.

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