A Success Story

I am happy to report SUCCESS in the purchasing of airline tickets for my group of eleven last week!  This was no easy task.  Last week I posted about the trials and tribulations of booking airline tickets in general, not to mention for a larger group.  I concluded by saying my next step was going to be contacting a travel agent - a real live one.  Well, I never did.

Here's how it played out.  After Delta Airlines responded to my request for a group rate with a $997 fare, Continental said they had no flights to Zurich, and United Airlines quoted me a group rate of over $1,000 per person, I realized this approach was going to be no bargain.  And that $667 flight on Kayak kept reappearing, fluctuating a little bit up or down daily.  I knew I had to snag it before it was gone.  Already I was worried there wouldn't be eleven seats left.  I pleaded with both Airfare.com and Vayama to let me book my group on one reservation with one of their telephone agents, but they both said I had to book online.

If you recall my mentioning, one cannot book more than six passengers at a time online.  So hubby and I sat down, each of us with our laptops.  The Kayak flight was now up to $709 on Vayama.  Hubby typed in five names, I typed in six.  We clicked "Purchase" at the exact same time.  His transaction was confirmed, mine failed.  I panicked - I thought for sure there were no more seats available.  I tried again - fail.  I tried a third time - fail.  I had hubby typing in the other six names into his computer so he could try, since he seems to have much more luck (I call it magic juju) with anything computer-related than I do.  And sure enough, as soon as he clicked "Purchase," the reservation was confirmed.  I did a happy dance.  But not as happy as I was when I then noticed that in those few minutes between the first reservation and the second, the ticket price dropped to $648.  Have you ever heard of a $648 fare from the west coast to Europe?  I am just beside myself with happiness and relief.  Thank you, Vayama!