New Service - Orbitz Price Assurance
Carrie Hill | 24 June 2008 |
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I received an email yesterday from Orbitz. Usually I delete these as I tend to use Expedia - but this one had a neat green dollar sign on it and i read further. Apparently Orbitz has started a new program called “Price Assurance.” This service guarantees you the lowest cost on a flight by offering $5 to $250 back PER TRAVELER if someone books the flight for less on Orbitz between the time you book and the time the flight takes off.
In this age of increased traveling costs, I think this move is quite brilliant. By booking VERY VERY early, even at a higer price - a traveler could realize the lowest price possible on a flight - without checking every day or week waiting for the prices to drop.
So here’s the example they gave in the email - If I book a flight at $350 and 2 weeks later someone books my same itinerary at $250 - they’ll send me a check for $100 within 30 days after my trip. The beauty of it is THEY track it. I don’t have to.
I think this is a great program and I hope it works well for them. Hopefully the other travel sites such as Expedia and Hotwire implement a similar program to keep it competitive active.
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June 25th, 2008 at 9:11 am
This is a smart move by Orbitz to help travelers manage the volatility in airline pricing. Our cross-town friends here in Seattle at Yapta (www.yapta.com), have built their business largely on this benefit for travelers. When you register at Yapta, you can claim a refund from dozens of carriers if the price goes down after you bought the ticket. Worth checking out and registering.
July 13th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
The problem with this program is that another traveler has too book the exact same itinerary as you. If an airline announces a sale that lasts three days and no one books in that window, then you don’t get the refund. I use Yapta for all my flights because it tracks that fares for me and in the case of a significant enough drop tells me how to get the reduced fare or vouchers from the airline.