Air Fare Savings (YAPTA)

[omegaet]

Community Members..several months ago, we were introduced to an interesting web site which has allowed us to enjoy some air fare savings (actual refunds). The site is www.yapta.com and apparently it has been operational for a year or so. The concept is simple and the number ofparticipating airlines have increased since we signed up. Even, if the present eleven participating airlines are not typically used in your travel plans, you might wish to save the site and check on it periodically, since growth appears inevitable. It takes a few minutes to load up your regular flights and destinations of choice, but we can confirm, from our personal experiences,that savings can be generated.

[Syrene-1]

I've never heard of this one (and I thought I knew 'em all). Thanks so much - I am planning on a vacation soon (haven't decided where yet) and I will definitely check back on this site when the plans come together.



Appreciate you sharing your find!

[claassenam]

Hi O,

It sounds like an interesting concept, but I'm confused as to how it works. It seems simple regarding as-yet-unpurchased tickets but how can you get a refund on a ticket you have already purchased? Can you just call the airline and ask for the difference in price? I thought that once a ticket is purchased it is a done deal?

[omegaet]

claassenam.....the following quotesfrom the Yapta web site originally attracted us:



Yapta has been saving money for people on air travel since May 2006...
Our purpose is to make it easy for you to secure the best airfare deals available on the Web. We do this by giving you a tool to "tag" the trips you like while shopping online, then we track prices on these trips and alert you when prices drop. Yapta also gives you a single place to keep all of your trips online. It's a pretty simple concept, but for some reason, no one has done this before.Yapta continues to track prices even after you buy a ticket. Did you know you could get a refund or travel credit when prices drop after you.ve bought a ticket? Most people don't. The airlines offer this policy only if you buy on the airline website (and they want you to have the confidence to buy early). Yapta alerts people when prices drop so they can get these refunds and credits from the airlines.

[jashermd]

This is brilliant! Thanks O! While there aren't any Europe-based airlines yet, hopefully there will be some soon.

One thing that's a bit puzzling to me is whether you have to buy a fully flexible ticket to take advantage of the refunds. Most people buy discounted tickets with a lot of restrictions on them, notably 'non-changeabe, non-refundable.' Do you know if the site's terms apply to discounted tickets as well as fully flexible ones?

Does it work for business and first class as well as for economy?

Cheers,
Julian

[omegaet]

jashermd...as a result of using yapta, we have received one refund in the form of a travel credit certificate. We received notification from yapta of the reduction of the fare, which we had booked on-line and we immediately contact the carrier by telephone. We have no idea of yapta future plans for inclusion of carriers outside of the US. May this link will help provide you some answers:

http://www.yapta.com/faq/

[bonniejoy03]

Omegaet. Thanks for sharing. I spend so much time watching the fares. When you have a few trips going on at one time, it becomes tiresome. Thanks for showing us yapta. I will be inputting my next two trips. Hopefully I will save also. We have had a few problems in the past with US air and receiving credits. Sometimes they tell us no credits allowed! (even though we have done this numerous times in the past.) I sometimes have to go through a supervisor. For our trip in September, I spent close to 5 weeks trying to work to get a credit. They kept saying it was either coming or not allowed!!!!No consistency! We finally found a supervisor who actually apologized for our run arounds. We then went to the airport to use the credit. Are you aware that you can only use maximum two credits for each person for each flight???At first, the supervisor told us three. The airport told us one! Again, we stood at the airport counter for over an hour to negotiate two credits! Wish there was some consistency. Anyone else have this experience?

[omegaet]

bonniejoy03...for business, we typically fly a couple of US Legacy carriers and a couple of low cost US carriers..they offer us the best service selections and allow us to build the most air miles in their frequent flyer programs. As such, it is simply to keep track of these flights in Yalta, since we almost always use the same flight at regular intervals. We dont mind calling back to speak with another supervisor, if we dont get the answer we want on the first couple of calls. It does seem to be a common practice to receive different answers from different personnel, maybe kyshel can speak to that practice, since both she and her husband or employed by one of the largest US Legacy Airlines. One of my least favorite things is to attempt to get a problem resolved at an airport ticket counter..almost without fail, it requires getting one or more supervisors involved and you can bet on a long delay.


Message Edited by omegaet on 06-02-200712:05 PM

[bonniejoy03]

Hi Omegaet. I registered my next two trips. I am excited. The one trip on USAir saiid the service was unavailable. Couldn't figure out why but it is ok. The 2nd trip on AA is still the same price however, I think this price might go down. Great tip to use. Thanks again. I can also start watching prices for our January trip that isn't booked yet. It is quite handy when you are watching flights out of a smaller vs. larger airport. We love to use our local airport however, the price seems high most of the time. We also go to Anguilla twice a year so this allows us to watch the different combinations to get there. Thanks!

[jashermd]

Hello O and Bonniejoy,

Would you mind explaining what you mean by 'travel air credit'? I've never heard of this, and I've been flying for a long time. Is it something that you can only use with the issuing airline, or can you use it with their partner airlines (e.g. on a codeshare flight)? What about other airlines -- is the credit transferrable? Does it have an expiration date, or any other strings attached like many 'travel certificates' (e.g. must buy a full economy fare, must fly on Tuesdays under a full moon)?

Thanks!

Cheers,
Julian