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0 sats \ 4 replies \ @spiderman 6 Jan \ parent \ on: Travala experience? bitcoin

Just checked, Singapore to London (one way) on Valentines day. Travala charges about 8% more than the British Airways site itself for the same flight.

I don't know if their algorithm differentiates based on customer profile, but I gave so many details so that you can try to check for yourself.

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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @clr 6 Jan

It used to be that a flight would cost maybe 50% more than somewhere else. That's what I understood by ridiculously high.

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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @spiderman 8 Jan

Just a heads up, I came upon this agent called Destinia, which shows a much more reasonable fare compared to Travala.

Disclaimer: I have not booked, just checked the fare, not sure if it is a scam. Use at your own risk.

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @clr 8 Jan

I think they were the first travel site to accept bitcoin. I used it once years ago. Not a scam. But they use BitPay to process payments, which now requires KYC even for the tiniest amounts. Shameful.

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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @spiderman 6 Jan

Being a TPA is a competitive business with cutthroat margin, and agencies themselves have very little pricing power. So 8% for the exact same seat is ridiculously high. It may be because they don't have the volume of Expedia and trying to make up by premium.

I mean if you take crypto out of the equation, I suspect no agent will survive by charging an 8% premium for the same seat. But may be travala finds some crypto lovers who will pay the 8% to not off ramp via an exchange.

I know some bitcoin maxis who absolutely have no asset other than bitcoin (maybe just like $100), so they have to spend their bitcoin. Probably Travala is for them.

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