Canadian OTA offers free price drop protection plan

Jul 12, 2011

Oakville, Ontario-based online travel agency FlightNetwork.com has launched its Price Drop Protection plan, a free programme that allows consumers to track flight price drops after they buy and, when a price drop occurs, it allows them to lock in the savings.

Published: 12 Jul 2011

Oakville, Ontario-based online travel agency FlightNetwork.com has launched its Price Drop Protection plan, a free programme that allows consumers to track flight price drops after they buy and, when a price drop occurs, it allows them to lock in the savings.

The programme is free and exclusive to FlightNetwork.com customers on all economy flights.

The OTA says it researched 521,000 international, USA and domestic flights and found that 34 percent dropped at some point before the date of departure.

A recent FlightNetwork.com online poll of 793 Canadian consumers showed that respondents are educated, aware and concerned about airfare price drops and gains:

  • 96.8 percent of respondents do not believe that everyone pays the same price on the same flight.

  • 87.4 percent believe that prices fluctuate after they've made a purchase and 70.5 percent indicated that they've checked to see if the cost of their flight went down after a ticket purchase.

  • The poll also showed that Canadian consumers are early shoppers; 55.7 percent indicated that they purchase their tickets well before the travel date. Specifically, 45.4 percent indicated that they purchase airfare tickets 3-6 weeks in advance and 39.0 percent responded that they purchase tickets months in advance.

Naman Budhdeo, CEO of FlightNetwork.com, said, “Our customers clearly told us their number one airfare booking worry is price fluctuations after they make a purchase, and the Price Drop Protection plan is our response.”

“While the travel industry has offered occasional, complicated, and limited time discounts on travel; our free Price Drop Protection programme is all about offering our customers a permanent, simple and automated solution to know that they are getting the best prices when they book flights on FlightNetwork.com,” added Budhdeo.

The OTA says its customers can now book with confidence and be assured that they have either secured the lowest price, or have the opportunity to lock in the best price deal and be credited for the difference.