Finding cheap flights online is no longer a challenge these days. Nowadays, you can easily find discounts on airfares on several flight search and booking websites. Among these websites, there is also one called Travelocity. Travelocity (Travelocity.com) is a Dallas-based popular online travel agency (OTA) having its presence in the travel industry since the late 1990s. However, the website is now owned by Expedia, another very popular travel agent.
In this travel guide, we will provide you with detail on how to use Travelocity to find cheap flights for your trip.
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A Step-by-Step Tutorial on How to Use Travelocity to Find and Book Cheap Flights
Here are the steps required to find cheap flights on the Travelocity website.
Step 1. Go to Travelocity Website/Mobile App
On your desktop/laptop computer or tablet device, open a web browser and visit the website Travelocity.com. Alternatively, if you are using Travelocity’s mobile app, you can also easily book flights from there. The process remains quite the same.
Step 2. Select Flights and Choose your Flight Type
When you are on the Travelocity.com website, you will see a couple of menus that allow you to select hotels, flights, rental cars, cruises, packages, etc.
Here, you will need to select the Flights option and from below choose your flight types, such as Roundtrip, One-way, or Multi-city.
Step 3. Choose your Departure and Arrival Airports
After selecting your flight type, the next to do is choose your departure and arrival airports from the fields below. You can choose your departure and destination locations by typing the name of the city or airport.
When you start typing the name of the city or airport in the “Leaving from” text field, you will see a list of auto-complete suggestions appearing in the drop-down list box. This makes it rather easy for you to select the exact name of the airport/city for your departure.
Similarly, when you start typing the name of the city or airport in the “Going to” text field, you will see a list of auto-complete suggestions appearing in the drop-down list box.
For example, if you are flying from Los Angeles, just typing the name of the city will show a drop-down list box with names and IATA codes of all airports in the region. Thus, if you want to see all airports in Los Angeles, your search will include flights from LAX, LGB, BUR, SNA, AVX, and ONT airports. This makes it easier to select the appropriate city or airport for your departure and arrival as well.
Step 4. Choose your Travel Dates
After having selected your departing and arrival airports/cities, the next thing you will need to do is choose your travel dates.
Right next to the “Leaving from” and “Going to” input fields, the Departing, and Returning fields provide an in-built calendar, where you can choose the dates of your travel.
Step 5. Select Passengers and Travel Class
Just above the Departing and Returning input fields, you can select the number of passengers (and whether the passenger is a child or adult) and travel class (aka cabin class) i.e., Economy/Coach, Business, or First class cabin.
Some airline carriers also offer Premium Economy class cabins on their flights. Therefore, the availability of this travel class will depend on which airline carrier you wish to travel with.
Step 6. Using Advanced Options
Travelocity website also provides a link to the Advanced options, where you can customize your preferences as needed. Here, you can choose your preferred options, like nonstop flight, refundable flight, preferred airline, and preferred class of cabin.
However, there is one caveat about this feature. Travelocity will let you click on airlines that do not service the route you are searching for. So, if you are not sure of what airline carrier to choose, you can simply select the “No preference” option from the drop-down list box. Selecting this option, you will be shown all possible options.
Step 7. Add Extras to Your Travel
An amazing feature about Travelocity is that it lets you add extras, such as hotel reservations, rental cars, packages, etc. to your travel booking.
Just below the Leaving from the text input field, you are provided with two add-on options, which are “Add a place to stay” and “Add a car”, respectively. If you wish to add any or both options to your travel booking, simply put tick marks on the options.
Step 8. Begin Flight Search
After you have provided the necessary details and selected your required preferences and add-ons/extras, it’s now time to start searching for flights.
Click the Search button once you are certain of the details you have provided on the website. The search will begin querying your request and display flight results that match your preferences. This could take from a few seconds to a couple of minutes.
When the search is complete, Travelocity will automatically redirect you to a page that features all of the flights they have on offer. For example, on your screen, you will see a list of flights that are available based on your chosen flight route, travel dates, etc.
Travelocity will display the list with the cheapest flights first (starting with their Travelocity Bargain Fare, if available). On the left side of the page, there are options that you can use to sort and filter your results even further and to your liking.
When you click on the drop-down menu that says “Nearby airports”, you will also see a list of the closest airports and their distances from the airport you originally entered. It can be worth running multiple searches on nearby airports to see if one route is cheaper than another.
Keep in mind that the flight results only show the first leg of your journey, though the price shown is round-trip, for instance. Once you select an outbound flight, you will then be redirected to a page where you can choose the return flight or the next leg of your journey.
Step 9. Use Filters to Customise your Flight Search
Travelocity provides filters that you can use to further customize your flight search. On the left side of the page, you will see a couple of filters. For example, you can filter the search results by price, flight duration, departure time, and arrival time. You can select airlines or a maximum number of stops as well.
Also, at the bottom of the “Sort & Filter” section, you can choose a general time of departure and arrival (such as early morning, morning, afternoon, or evening). If you type in a search that includes a city with multiple airports rather than a single airport, you will have the option to choose if you want all airports in the results, or just a few.
At a glance, you can see the airline, length of flight, and the number of stops, and whether it comes with entertainment, a charging port, and Wi-Fi. Click on the “Details and baggage fees” menu to see the type of aircraft, luggage allowance, and distance traveled.
Also, to select your return flight, click on the outbound flight that works best for you. After that, you will be redirected to a page that shows all options for your return flight. Once again, you can sort and filter the results. The results are automatically sorted from cheapest to most expensive. Any extra fees are listed on the right side of your results.
Step 10. Booking your Flight at Travelocity
After having found a flight that is best suited to your travel, it is time to book the flight. To do that simply click on the “Select” button. You will be able to see the complete summary of your flight details along with any baggage restrictions. Travelocity will also note whether you will be able to select your seat at no extra cost, or if the airline will assign seats to you, depending on availability.
Now, in order to carry out the booking of your flight, you will need to provide your personal information. There will be sections marked with an asterisk that is mandatory. After entering the required details, click on the “Frequent flyer, TSA PreCheck, redress and more” drop-down menu to enter additional details along with an emergency contact for your journey.
(a) Upgrade Flight at Checkout
Some airline carriers and flight routes will also allow you to upgrade your flight at checkout. For example, you can upgrade from basic Economy to the Main cabin, or from Economy to Business class of cabin.
(b) Extra Fees and Charges
Extra fees and charges are clearly labeled on the Travelocity website. Though you will see this on the “Trip Details” page on the right-hand side of the screen, it is featured again at the end of the payment and booking information page.
(c) Completing Flight Booking
Now, the final step here is to complete your flight booking process. After you have provided all the necessary details for your travel, a final summary will be displayed on your screen. If you wish to make any changes or upgrades to your travel, you can do it before checking out to process the payment.
Once you are sure of your flight, it is now time to book your trip at Travelocity. To do this, simply follow the on-screen instructions, provide your method of payment and wait for the process to complete.
After the completion of your flight’s booking, you will receive an e-mail (that you provided at the time of booking), and a text message as well. The e-mail will contain information about your trip. You can also print a copy of the e-mail, in case you might need it at the airport.
What is a Travelocity Bargain Fare?
After querying flight search, at the top of the results, you might see a box that says “Travelocity Bargain Fare”. This is often the cheapest fare offered by Travelocity and comes with a handful of restrictions. However, you will not see details, like the airline carrier or flight times, until after you pay for the flight.
If this airfare is significantly cheaper than all other flights featured on Travelocity, it could be worth it. But again, if the airfare is just a little less than other flights found, it might not be worth losing control over the flight times or airline choice, especially if you are a member of a frequent flyer program.
Flight Cancellation Policy at Travelocity
Travelocity also includes its cancellation policy for each flight, while booking and at check-out as well. Their flight cancellation policy is pretty straightforward.
As per their policies, you can cancel your flight booking free of charge within 24 hours on flights booked at least 7 days before travel.
Of course, there are restrictions, too. If the itinerary includes multiple tickets, for instance, a round-trip on two different airline carriers, the terms will be applied to each ticket separately. However, the policy does not apply to “Travelocity Bargain Fares” or on flights with certain airlines, such as AirAsia, EasyJet, Eurowings, Frontier, Norwegian Air, Spirit, Volaris, and several others.
Again, on the good side, Travelocity also offers a flight price guarantee. For example, if you notice a fare drop within 24 hours of purchasing a flight, Travelocity will refund the difference.
Conclusion
Travelocity may lack a couple of features that are often included on other advanced sites, like Google Flights. But, if you have got set travel dates and prefer going with what you have planned, this OTA still remains a reputable site for simple flights search and booking. Also, it has clearly outlined fees and policies that make it easy to understand exactly what you are getting when you book your trip at Travelocity.
