Beneath the semblance of savings and convenience, there are often unexpected hurdles and annoyances lurking when booking air travel through online travel agents (OTAs). While these platforms undoubtedly offer an easy way to plan and book travel, the perceived benefits often come with significant downsides.

What are Online Travel Agents (OTAs)? Online Travel Agents (OTAs) are platforms that offer travelers the opportunity to book airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars and other travel services online. They act as an intermediary between customers and the providers of these services. Well-known OTAs are companies like Expedia, Booking.com, Travelocity, and Orbitz.

Customer acquisition and supposed savings

OTAs lure customers with seemingly cheap offers and discounts that often look lower than the prices offered directly by airlines. These supposed savings can be due to a variety of factors. On the one hand, OTAs use their bargaining power to obtain special conditions from airlines. On the other hand, they use aggressive marketing strategies to attract customers.

Why are airline tickets sometimes cheaper through OTAs?

OTAs can offer airline tickets at lower prices as they use different strategies to get discounts. They buy tickets in bulk and use dynamic pricing to take advantage of price fluctuations in the market. Additionally, they can also avoid intermediary fees and airline commissions. However, things often work quite differently: a little is deducted from the price that the airline charges for the flight alone and that the OTA finds out about by means of screen scraping. Online travel agents try to make up for this with surcharges for additional services such as baggage check-in or seat reservations.

Sometimes questionable booking and service fees are also requested, which are not even shown at the beginning of the process, so that in the end the ticket is significantly more expensive. Some OTAs are also trying to sell questionable "service packages" that suggest that you can rebook without any additional costs. Occasionally it is only pointed out in the small print that only the processing fee of the OTA, but not that of the airline, would be covered. The practical benefit for travelers is therefore definitely worth questioning.

The hidden disadvantages of OTA bookings

In addition to the supposed savings, bookings via OTAs can have significant disadvantages:

• Limited flexibility: OTAs often have restrictive cancellation and rebooking policies compared to direct access airlines or travel agents.
• Customer Service Hurdles: In case of problems, customers often have to contact the OTAs' customer service, which can lead to long waiting times and unclear solutions.
• Lack of passenger data transfer: OTAs often do not share all necessary passenger information with airlines, which can lead to confusion and possible problems at immigration.
• Extra cost: OTAs often charge high fees for ancillary services such as seat reservations or baggage check-in, which may be cheaper when booked directly or through travel agents.

Technical hurdles and incomplete bookings

OTAs often use screen scraping techniques to extract information from airline websites and make bookings. As a result, OTAs often do not have an official distribution agreement with the airlines. This can cause problems as airlines may not take responsibility for bookings made through OTAs.

In addition, in the case of delays and cancellations made by the airline, the airline and the OTA sometimes send the passenger in circles. One refers to the other and nobody wants to be responsible.

Why travel agencies and direct bookings are more advantageous

Bookings via travel agencies with a sales contract and/or GDS connection as well as direct bookings with the airline offer the following advantages:

• Better passenger care: In case of problems, customers have direct access to travel experts or the airline, which can lead to faster resolutions.
• Transparent prices: Hidden fees and additional costs are often lower or non-existent as these booking channels have direct access to airline prices. However, many airlines and travel agencies do not make it easy to keep an overview in the jungle of optional additional services.
• More flexibility: Rebookings and cancellations can often be arranged more easily and flexibly.
• Security and data integrity: Customer data is properly and securely transmitted to the airlines to ensure smooth journeys.

In the world of modern technology and convenience, travelers should carefully weigh the pros and cons before booking their next flight tickets through online travel agents. A conscious decision can mean the difference between a smooth vacation and a frustrating travel experience.

The low-cost airline Ryanair is known for the fact that disputes that have been fought with OTAS for many years are sometimes settled on the backs of passengers. For example, a fee-based “verification” of the passenger is required. There are also a few cases where travelers were denied boarding altogether because they had bought their ticket through a "channel not authorized by Ryanair". Passengers who used Kiwi.com's automated check-in service were particularly badly affected. These cases made it into the general public.