Is it better to book online or at the airport?

Should I Book My Flights Directly Through Travel agents, or Should I Go to Airline Companies Directly and Book Them?

In terms of booking any flight, there are only two choices: purchase your ticket through the Internet before your travel date or at the local airport ticket counter. Each option also has its advantages and disadvantages based on the characteristics determining such features as prices, flexibility, and fees, among others. So which of the two is more ideal to use when purchasing plane tickets—online or at the airport? I give you a brief comparison to assist you in making the right decision.

Prices and Sales

Another advantage of online booking is the element of choice, whereby you can compare the different Cheapest Flight Deal options as well as their prices from different airlines and travel agents. Comparing and aggregating from multiple airline partners, OTA’s like Expedia or Travelocity may be able to offer cheaper deals than seeing what an individual airline has to offer. It makes it very easy to search for the cheapest fare due to the high level of price transparency over the Internet.

On the other hand, going to an airport ticket counter to check for available flights and fares only gives you what a specific airline offers. The probability of getting the best price is somehow reduced unless there is a sales campaign offered by that airline. However, if there is a spare seat that the airline wants to get rid of very close to the time the aircraft is leaving, an airport agent will be in a position to offer you a cheap fare. You can not rely on that, though.

On the same note, most websites in the travel niche provide a simple way to modify dates and times to get cheaper flight tickets. This means that if a buyer were to do it at the airport counter, then the entire booking has to be canceled, and the purchase begins all over again.

On balance, it could be said that booking online can be crowned the winner when it comes to obtaining cheaper airfares and additional offers and sales.

Fees

Another benefit of directly booking your ticket at the airport counter is that you can avoid most of the annoying booking charges associated with online travel services. The website usually adds on top of the air ticket price and taxes transaction processing fees, website usage fees, or service fees. This has the effect of increasing the total flight cost that any passenger is willing to pay when booking online. Unlike with other online flight booking companies, at the airport counter, there are normally no additional third-party charges to be incurred.

However, if you are traveling on an international or inter-continental flight with check-in baggage, you may end up spending much more for baggage charges at the airport than what is online. All airlines allow check-in for baggage through the Internet, and most of them provide a lower charge if one adds the checked baggage at the time of online check-in. Most of those discounts will not be honored if one checks in bags on arrival at the airport without having done online pre-payment. Furthermore, some LCCs such as Spirit, operate check-in kiosks and have additional charges for making bookings through these kiosks rather than through the Internet.

After summing up all sorts of fees that may be listed, booking online remained cheaper, except for the scenario whereby a traveler has no check-in baggage at all.

Rewards and Status

Especially for those individuals who travel often and would like to accumulate points in loyalty programs or flyer miles, the convenience of booking directly from an airline’s website or its application would be beneficial as one would be granted credits towards it. So, if you want to accumulate status points quicker to be able to enjoy the privileges of an elite cabin, then only direct bookings with an airline will help. Booking through an agency working online eliminates the chances of getting a free flight upgrade or even other freebies for the money that you spent on the air ticket with the concerned airline.

When booking with an airport ticket counter, checking in, or making reservations, there is no option to input frequent flyer numbers or guarantee rewards credits. Thus, it is more beneficial to book online as a way of expanding our rewards account and getting a privileged elite tier.

Ease and Convenience

One area where beating online booking is almost out of the question for airport counters is the simple accessibility, speed, and convenience of the internet and mobile applications run by online travel companies. You can book your flights any time of the day, 24 hours a day, from any part of the world, and have multiple modes of payment. Compare that to going to an airport with physical cash or plastic money in your pocket, which often entails waiting in a queue and having ticket counters open for a limited period to make bookings.

Further, the flexibility of date, timing, transfers, etc for flights is easily available with few clicks on any search engine online. That is even if one is willing to do it manually with the assistance of an airport agent and that will take so much time. Other passengers, such as families, passengers with disabilities, etc. can also have an enhanced opportunity to choose their preferred seats while booking a flight online and in advance as compared to waiting till the check-in time to try and get a better seat.

For any kind of complex, interconnected trip, or for those who do not wish to expend efforts in bargaining and looking for better options, purchasing air tickets online is far more desirable than at the airport. But if there is a short direct flight on the date of travel or the date is flexible enough, booking at the airport counter can be done.

Cancellations could be done flexibly, and additional changes could be made where necessary.

While ticketing flexibility is more flexible with online and airport counters, there are also weaknesses associated with each. Online travel agencies have varying change, cancellation, and refund policies for flights contingent on factors like Online travel agencies have varying change, cancellation, and refund policies for flights contingent on factors like:

• Whether the fare chosen was non-flexiblenon-transferable, partially flexible, or fully flexible.
• Whether the ticket was booked in advance or closer to the time of travel, or, in other words, how close to the date of departure the ticket was purchased,.
• Whether you agreed with taking travel insurance.

In the same manner at the airport counter, this policy varies from airline to airline and depends on the fare rules and regulations and the flexibility level of changing dates, cancellations, and no-show policies. As a rule of thumb, the airline will have very strict policies for cheap, non-refundable economy class fares, regardless of the channels used to book. To be free to change your booking without worrying about penalties, go for more expensive refundable, or flexible flight tickets.

Airports provide certain benefits, such as: If there is a direct flight available, you would easily be attended to via waiting list or standby, as opposed to the time-consuming online contact services. Therefore, it is ascertained that the walk-up counters in the airport do offer more convenience in terms of accommodating super-urgent and last-minute changes in flight. Nonetheless, similar to all other cases, online travel websites provided more flexibility and choice at a lesser cost for changing flight bookings.

Extra Products or Services

One area where the OTA has an edge over the airport counters is its capacity to package and sell a range of other supplementary travel-related products along with flight bookings. Keep in mind that through Websites, one can not only search and book flights but they can also search for and buy hotels, car rentals, travel insurance, airport parking, etc., at a discounted rate. By incorporating them, it saves a lot of money compared to purchasing these services individually after arriving at the destination airport.

On the other hand, at best, an airline’s airport counter may offer to upgrade you to any other higher classes of travel, such as premium economy or business class, depending on availability. There is little opportunity to buy such things as travel insurance or access to the airport lounges, which can be bought and added to the ticket at a ticket counter. Therefore, it is once again online ticket booking that takes the cake when it comes to saving your hard-earned cash by availing of offers that bundle your flight tickets with other travel-related expenses.

All in all, it is essential to understand that, despite some arguments in favor of airport counters, such as avoiding additional charges or being able to make changes to the flight at short notice, online booking has certain strengths that are more important to most travelers in terms of the above-discussed factors compared to counters. The fact that one can locate the most affordable fares and then be rewarded and gain status besides getting the best convenience, purchasing flexible ticket policies, and accessing additional travel products without leaving the online platform is better for both pocket and convenience. Though get basic advantages of new school walk-up airport counters, the availability and openness of options on the net are more widespread than those found in offline counters. They do exist, however, like business trips at the last moment or some standby cases where counters at the airport may do it. However, in most other ordinary traveling situations, typing the details on the website using a laptop or Smartphone is the best approach to undertake.

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