Is Priceline The Worst Place On The Internet To Buy Airline Tickets?
I’ve written extensively about how bad it is to book travel through Expedia. Their customer service is worse than you think, even if you go in expecting it to be bad.
I don’t write very much about booking travel with Priceline. I don’t like dealing with Expedia on changes and when things go wrong. But for simple bookings that most travelers might make, is Priceline actually worse?
Maybe I just haven’t been paying attention but here’s an itinerary where basic economy actually prices out as more expensive than regular economy. Great, the play here is not to have Delta’s basic economy restrictions. Plus, you’ll actually earn SkyMiles for the trip.
Except that Priceline recommends basic economy here because it seems to be programmed to tell you that the thing that’s a little more expensive is better?
As if it wasn’t bad enough that they’re leading the casual traveler astray, after jumping through the hoop of realizing that avoiding basic economy and still saving money is the better deal, and going to choose your seats Priceline charges you for free seats. Here’s a seat that the airline is offering to assign without extra charge but they add a convenience fee to assign it.
There are reasons to book tickets through an online travel agency. You may earn rewards. Sometimes you’ll luck out and see inventory that’s not available booking direct.
At the same time you’ll almost invariably get worse customer service than dealing with an airline directly. A travel agent is supposed to be your advocate, not an impediment, but with online travel agencies who make money by driving down the cost of servicing a ticket (underinvesting in customer service) it’s often a game of telephone with two cups and a strike between you and the airline with the agency in the middle.
But still I didn’t realize that Priceline was so bad that it’s recommending customers spend more money to book basic economy tickets, and charging for free seat assignments. That’s just horrible.
Priceline acquired Booking.com for $135 million in 2005 in what is certainly one of the most profitable corporate acquisition deals in history. Now the company itself is named Booking Holdings, and Priceline no longer makes its money on bidding for travel. Instead, that’s the engine behind the company’s overall $120 billion valuation. But they’re clearly not in the business of providing good travel guidance to consumers, or even offering them the best deal. Surely 93-year old William Shatner is shedding a tear.
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