Questions : YOUR PURCHASING EXPERIENCE

➢ Would you go on this website? How do you usually book your flight tickets? Is it stressful for you?
➢ Would you rely more on a human-based research or on a computer-based one? Why?

I usually buy my tickets online but directly on the website of the airline company, I don't use search engine such as Opodo or Expedia.
For me it is not stressful to buy my air tickets online because I'm enjoying the Air France Staff prices for my tickets, so I just pay 10% to 30% of the total cost of a ticket.

Hey all,

I'm not used to travel by plan (maybe 'cause I don't like it ! ). However when I have to, I'm looking for a search engine (voyages-sncf.com, expedia.fr, ...) for the best price then I go directly on the webiste of the airline companie.

But I'm not as lucky as Chloé and I have to pay full price

Personnally, if I have to travel inside Europe, I would rather look to the low-cost airlines websites such as vueling, Easyjet, and (if i really don't find what i'm looking for) Ryanair or to a flight search engine as i don't mind about the services and just look for the cheapest flight. This option is the best one for me when I have a one or two-hour flight most of the times.
Yet, if i have to travel further, i would rather call a travel agency or go directly to the airline website as air france, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa etc.

how do you guys book your flight? what are you expecting of a flight search engine? cheap prices or specific services?

so do I Vincent...

Vincent_Alliaga wrote:Hey all,

I'm not used to travel by plan (maybe 'cause I don't like it ! ). However when I have to, I'm looking for a search engine (voyages-sncf.com, expedia.fr, ...) for the best price then I go directly on the webiste of the airline companie.

But I'm not as lucky as Chloé and I have to pay full price

Hey Vincent!
you can try to find a job in Airfrance

The problem with search engines such as Opodo is that you are not sure it is the cheapest flight ticket ever ! I prefer to call travel agency to model my trip ! For example, for Taipei, I looked everywhere but I finally booked with CFA because they were offering me what I was really looking for. As a matter of fact, the price I paid was among the cheapest ones.

edith_bonnefond wrote:Personnally, if I have to travel inside Europe, I would rather look to the low-cost airlines websites such as vueling, Easyjet, and (if i really don't find what i'm looking for) Ryanair or to a flight search engine as i don't mind about the services and just look for the cheapest flight. This option is the best one for me when I have a one or two-hour flight most of the times.
Yet, if i have to travel further, i would rather call a travel agency or go directly to the airline website as air france, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa etc.

how do you guys book your flight? what are you expecting of a flight search engine? cheap prices or specific services?

For Europe flights, Ryanair is the best company ever ! Cheap tickets, very often on time... A great deal for students.

When I travel within Europe, I always buy my tickets either on the EasyJet's website (it's the only low cost company serving Geneva airport). However, I still check ebookers.com to see if others companies are cheaper (like AerLingus sometimes).
Otherwise for international flights I always search for the cheapest on ebookers.com and buy it directly on this website.

Concerning the booking stress, the only factor is about payment security (we pay considerable amounts of money after all )

Yann_Gerardi wrote:When I travel within Europe, I always buy my tickets either on the EasyJet's website (it's the only low cost company serving Geneva airport). However, I still check ebookers.com to see if others companies are cheaper (like AerLingus sometimes).
Otherwise for international flights I always search for the cheapest on ebookers.com and buy it directly on this website.

Concerning the booking stress, the only factor is about payment security (we pay considerable amounts of money after all )

I totally agree with you ! I prefer to pay great amount of money when I know the company I am booking with is trustful ! Oftentimes you can read in the news unhappy customers trying to get back their money...

Did you guys had bad experiences with online reservation?

[quote="chloé_laluc➢ Would you rely more on a human-based research or on a computer-based one? Why?[/quote]

Well, I like the human-based research because the person can give you some advice based on his expertise and also I like that this kind of reseach feels more personal. On the other hand if the system is set up well, the computer-based research is maybe less vulnerable to human error.

The problem with booking your ticket on line is the time you spend to find the cheapest ticket, plus, some of the search engine don 't list all the companies that are available so you c an't be absolutely sure it is the cheapest

Actually the only problem I have ever had has been with my Taipei flight: I took two different companies to come here and ebookers did not give me the reservation reference for the first company in order to make the online booking on this company's website, so I had to do it manually at Geneva's airport the day of my departure (which has been kind of stressful).

chloé_laluc wrote:Did you guys had bad experiences with online reservation?

I had a bad experience with Sncf (french company for trains), I booked my ticket to go and participate to the 18th birthday of my brother. Unfortunately, my train was cancelled less than a day ahead and they didn't offer any solutions.

I had a lot of difficulties to get my money back. The only competitive advantage for Sncf is that they have a monopolistic position !!

florent_lefevre wrote:

chloé_laluc wrote:Did you guys had bad experiences with online reservation?

I had a lot of difficulties to get my money back. The only competitive advantage for Sncf is that they have a monopolistic position !!

It will end soon...

Chi Fai_Cheng wrote:[quote="chloé_laluc➢ Would you rely more on a human-based research or on a computer-based one? Why?

Well, I like the human-based research because the person can give you some advice based on his expertise and also I like that this kind of reseach feels more personal. On the other hand if the system is set up well, the computer-based research is maybe less vulnerable to human error.[/quote]

I totally agree with you, the human-based research is, in my opinion, a great asset for Etrip. This way the customer can directly contact someone of the website in case of any problems and have a quick response ( Etrip answers to its customers' mail within 2 to 6 hours). It is also a good way to make the customer feel less stressful...as he is guided during his research

I am not used to look for a flight online. To be honest I am completely lost when I have to do it, there are too many different companies, websites, a whole range of prices... I don't trust myself so I prefer to go to a travel agency. Moreover they offer plenty services; for example if I want to change a departure date I just have to make a call and they will arange everything for me, I don't know how it works when you book online but it seems more complicated, isn't it?

Aurélie_Thiran wrote:I am not used to look for a flight online. To be honest I am completely lost when I have to do it, there are too many different companies, websites, a whole range of prices... I don't trust myself so I prefer to go to a travel agency. Moreover they offer plenty services; for example if I want to change a departure date I just have to make a call and they will arange everything for me, I don't know how it works when you book online but it seems more complicated, isn't it?

You're lazy

More seriously it raises a very interesting problem : there is a galaxy of travel websites. And what you've just said justify iniatives as Etrip.

Exactly, when you have a scattered pool of competitors, you have great opportunity to offer a novel concept and to build strong services that will get you big market shares

I might be a little bit lazy, but I don't think it's the main reason for me to book through a travel agency! I just don't manage to book online, there are too many options

Aurélie_Thiran wrote:I might be a little bit lazy, but I don't think it's the main reason for me to book through a travel agency! I just don't manage to book online, there are too many options

That's precisely what I've said

What is your main problem ? Too many websites ? Or they're not well-designed ? Basically, where is your problem ? Finding a website or finding info ? Or both maybe ? It think it's very interesting to have your point of view on this question.

Etrip concretely does only offer low cost flights search, that's their only distinction in my view. I don't see how this will attract people like Aurélie who are afraid of using online services.

Yann_Gerardi wrote:Etrip concretely does only offer low cost flights search, that's their only distinction in my view. I don't see how this will attract people like Aurélie who are afraid of using online services.

By trying to offer a simple website where everyone can easily find information. But this goal is very far from the actual site, in my opinion

I usually spent a lot of time to search for my flights and sometimes the best results can be reached by a rather unusual way:

1) Flying from Taipei to Manila with a stopover in Singapore --> 5 times the way, but half as expensive.

2) Flying from Frankfurt to Taipei via Beijing --> Call Air Asia itself and they made better offers than on the internet or travel agencies.

So my question is, if ETRIP really can manage to check all that possibilities?