New costs for the consumer from Flight Center...???

Forums › Travel (planes, train, cruise) › New costs for the consumer from Flight Center...???

sir1963

3428 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3756

Subscriber

#311357 9-Jan-2024 14:09

ust doing a quote for our family to go to NZ- USA LA return USA SF-NZ

looks like we are expected to pay a $1050 "service fee" for them to book as well as a $472 "Captains Pack" on top of the airline fees.

And its $4000+ extra to fly from San Francisco rather than Los Angeles.

We can get internal flights for 9 of us for $1600 to get us back to LA

WOW, travel agents have become expensive since we last flew, we will be booking our own flights I think

1 | 2 | 3

8810 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5287

#3179373 9-Jan-2024 14:22

"for 9 of us"

So the service fee is about $115/head then?

What is it as % of the total fare costs?

billgates

4706 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 672

Trusted

#3179374 9-Jan-2024 14:23

What is a captain's pack?

Do whatever you want to do man.

jamesrt

1663 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 942

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3179375 9-Jan-2024 14:28

billgates:

What is a captain's pack?

https://www.flightcentre.co.nz/p/captains-pack

sir1963

3428 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3756

Subscriber

#3179377 9-Jan-2024 14:30

wellygary:

"for 9 of us"

So the service fee is about $115/head then?

What is it as % of the total fare costs?

About 5-6% for us , but it looks like a flat fee so if your flights were cheaper it would be a higher percentage

Captain's Pack Value

- Planting for the Planet - 2x trees planted with Reforest

- Change Fee Waived (2 x directional changes). Supplier fees may apply.

- Lost Baggage Tracking Service - Receive a $750 cashback per bag if your checked in luggage

is not found after 96hrs

- Price Drop Protection - See a cheaper price on your flights within 30 days, we'll give you the

different in a Flight Centre voucher up to $50

- Cancellation Fee Waived (Supplier fees may apply. Max savings of $1000 per booking applies)

- Travel Insurance Discount - Receive a 5% discount off the cost of your Cover-More policy with

your Flight Centre Travel Expert

heavenlywild

5091 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 901

Trusted

#3179381 9-Jan-2024 14:39

The captain's pack sounds like BS to me. All these "supplier fees may apply" basically means you will pay what the airline will charge you. What used to be offered as "part of the service" is just described in the pack to look like it's something special.

Their marketing department is trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

I could have misinterpreted this wrongly and if I have let me know.

Update: I don't disagree that they should charge a fee for booking tickets - $100 or so sounds about right. Not sure about the Captain's Pack. A pack of fees!

sir1963

3428 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3756

Subscriber

#3179384 9-Jan-2024 14:44

heavenlywild:

The captain's pack sounds like BS to me. All these "supplier fees may apply" basically means you will pay what the airline will charge you. What used to be offered as "part of the service" is just described in the pack to look like it's something special.

Their marketing department is trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

I could have misinterpreted this wrongly and if I have let me know.

Update: I don't disagree that they should charge a fee for booking tickets - $100 or so sounds about right. Not sure about the Captain's Pack. A pack of fees!

The captains pack can be removed, but it was embedded in the quote

We can also save $3000 if we fly internally back to LA from SF.

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

wellygary

8810 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5287

#3179393 9-Jan-2024 15:15

sir1963:

The captains pack can be removed, but it was embedded in the quote

We can also save $3000 if we fly internally back to LA from SF.

Which they should present to you as an option....

If they don't I would as them why they didn't

I've done a number of trips to North America where I've returned from a different western exit port due to price, (VYR, SFO, LAX)

LAX is usually the cheapest to leave from as its seen as a lesser option for international transfers,

Lias

5655 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3978

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3179399 9-Jan-2024 15:30

I've never really understood why travel agencies still exist.. I mean sure i can understand why they existed pre internet, but now?

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

networkn

Networkn
32864 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15454

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3179400 9-Jan-2024 15:32

We haven't used a travel agent for anything other than flights that were only available through a travel agent, for 25 years.

They have their value, but if you are comfortable booking direct, you'll almost always save money.

Having said that, $115 PP service fees doesn't seem unreasonable.

heavenlywild

5091 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 901

Trusted

#3179425 9-Jan-2024 16:11

Wasn't there a thing about Dick Smith adding their First product to all sales by preselecting that option? They got caught out and have now unticked it by default.

Looks like Flight Centre is doing a Dick Smith.

SATTV

1670 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 658

ID Verified

#3179428 9-Jan-2024 16:24

There were talking about this on the Radio on the weekend ( Newstalk ZB )

Airlines no longer pay comissions to travel agents so they are now charing for flight bookings.

I know enough to be dangerous

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

heavenlywild

5091 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 901

Trusted

#3179429 9-Jan-2024 16:24

Let's analyse this for what it is.

Captain's Pack Value

- Planting for the Planet - 2x trees planted with Reforest

There's plenty of places where you can do this yourself through the airline or through an organisation of your choice.

- Change Fee Waived (2 x directional changes). Supplier fees may apply.

I can see some value here but your supplier (aka airline) fees will basically stop you from doing so!

- Lost Baggage Tracking Service - Receive a $750 cashback per bag if your checked in luggage is not found after 96hrs

This is what travel insurance is for. And to be honest, 96 hours is 4 days and it only says "if not found". So it could be found 95 hours later but take another 24 hours to get to you. Anyway, not great.

- Price Drop Protection - See a cheaper price on your flights within 30 days, we'll give you the different in a Flight Centre voucher up to $50

$50 is nothing when you've just paid $472 for the "Captain's Pack".

- Cancellation Fee Waived (Supplier fees may apply. Max savings of $1000 per booking applies)

So you want to cancel, and Flight Centre will do this for you for free. But the airline is still going to charge you based on your ticket type. It takes Flight Centre a minute to cancel the flights.

- Travel Insurance Discount - Receive a 5% discount off the cost of your Cover-More policy with your Flight Centre Travel Expert

This is crazy - because the Captain's Pack is not enough they now want you to fork out more money. Use the $472 towards your travel insurance is a better all round deal. And it covers a whole lot more.

heavenlywild

5091 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 901

Trusted

#3179431 9-Jan-2024 16:28

SATTV:

There were talking about this on the Radio on the weekend ( Newstalk ZB )

Airlines no longer pay comissions to travel agents so they are now charing for flight bookings.

Look I understand why they are doing this because their revenues are drying up. Charging $100 or so per international ticket is appropriate. But anything else like the Captain's Pack seems like they are out of ideas.

And to be honest, I can't see these travel centres with a shop front being around in a couple of years.

mattwnz

20515 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4795

#3179439 9-Jan-2024 16:46

With that Captains pack, why is planting trees the number 1 listed feature of it? Is it supposed to make people feel better about the CO2 produced from air travel?

sir1963

3428 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3756

Subscriber

#3179440 9-Jan-2024 16:48

we just booked our Cruise with Carnival by calling their toll free phone line.

Talk to a person In Houston Tx for ages as we were trying to shuffle 9 of us around on a certain date/destination.

She was VERY helpful, cost us nothing and we get a "if prices drop you will get it" service which is not offered by any agents.

We have previously done all our own internal flights in the USA ourselves as well as ones in Europe, all of our Hotels, etc etc etc.

I had hoped we could get a "broken return" price so we could fly into one destination and out of another, but apparently not now.

So we will go though this tonight and decide what we do.

1 | 2 | 3