Normally I’m one to avoid using a third-party booking engine when it comes to buying airfare (especially after the Travelocity NFB2012 fiasco), but I stumbled upon an interesting offer earlier today that lead me to do some additional research.
Cash back site, TopCashBack is advertising a today-only deal of $18.00 cash back per air ticket booked through CheapTickets.com. My first thought was something along the lines of, “wow, this could be a lucrative way to save on short-haul one-way travel!”; but those dreams were quickly shattered.
Here’s why:Â
When I book my airfare, I usually run a search through Google’s ITA Matrix Airfare software, and then book my ticket directly through the airline. Naturally, I ran a few sample routings through ITA and came up with some great results to potentially help others take advantage of this “seemingly-great” cash back opportunity.
My first example was EWR to BOS, which was pricing out for ~$50 one way during several dates in February. I figured this would be a great way to potentially be able to fly for just $32 on United when the $18 cash back gets factored in.
The next example I came up with, for my west coast readers, was a simple SFO to LAX routing, which priced out at $59 one way for several dates over the next 30 days. A $41 fare between those two cities on United after the cash back is factored in sounds appealing to me.
Here’s where this “deal” gets deceiving:
Now that I had did my “homework” and found out what United was pricing these fares at, I automatically assumed that the same fares would be available on CheapTickets.com, since other 3rd-party booking sites such as Orbitz.com, were also showing the same price as United.com.
Nope, that was not the case at all. In fact, both of my sample fares that I pulled up on CheapTickets.com were showing up at a substantially-higher price than the airline, making this $18 cash back deal not worth it at all.
EWR to BOS priced out at $71.89 on CheapTickets.com… Ew.
SFO to LAX priced out at $80.89 on CheapTickets.com. No Thanks.
Now, I bet some of you are thinking, “What about their best-rate gaurentee policy? Could that potentially make this deal worth it?”
Nope, sorry; their BRG policy only applies to hotel bookings.
Bottom Line:
Don’t get too excited over a deal before doing your own research!
Happy Travels~
Let’s connect:Â 
I hate when companies try to scam you. I always run my flights through ITA Matrix too. It’s my fave app on my phone.
My friend has a fiasco with a third party site as well. I think it was Orbitz but I’m not 100% She booked a flight to Malta with a stopover in London. When she went to JFK they informed her that there was no connecting flight in London to Malta. She had to go home and scramble to find a new flight.
In my experience, TopCashBack is the Cartera of cash back sites. I used them for two separate transactions a few months ago. In one case the cash back never posted, in the other I only received 1% when 4% was advertised. Submitted customer service claims for both, with no results. The amounts are small so it’s not worth my time to follow up further, but lesson learned. I’m sticking with ebates; they may pay a lower % but at least they do as promised.
Good Evening Angelina, thanks for the information. Could you please write a post explaining how to use the Matrix site? I would love to be able to find flights like you do :)