eurostylin

Since they have not replied to any of the questions, and they left their advertisement up, I'll help you out.

From the looks of it, I am sure they are using the other search engine sites for "hacking", and then sending the user who submitted the trip request an affiliate linked itinerary to make their money. Think of it as the chacha.com of search engines.

This is good for people who do not know how to search the normal websites and put together a plan, especially elderly or non-savvy internet users. This is not good for anyone who uses the internet a lot, and is fluent in travel deal searches, because historically when people see a "price guarantee" they are less likely to continue a search once one has been acquired. Prices also change daily, and sometimes hourly, so if you have the exact trip you want set in stone, you can start checking the good sites often to find the best deal.

As an avid traveler who also makes money on the internet via referral links, this is a great business model if you can find enough inept people to continuously use it, and return when they book their next trip, but I suspect the COA for new customers is ridiculously high. If they don't use the affiliate route, then they probably charge you on a per basis search or monthly subscription. Both are huge red flags because they do not have access to any special purchasing, but are using tools available to everyone.

One of their first questions on their flight request form is " I can fly with carry-on luggage only ". I'm sure they are using a reddit user designed site called skiplagged.com. In fact I just used it this morning because I need to go to New York for 1 day, and round trip tickets from my home airport are $571 on the dates, but using skip lagged, I'm now flying to Fort Lauderdale with a layover in LGA, and I have a flight to Chicago, with a layover in my home airport, all for the price of $158. Then I used the AMEX points trick right now and got 50% of my points used back, so this trip that could have cost me $571 if I was lazy ended up costing me 7900 points...

For anyone looking to start their research on their own (which you should, because it's really easy to do) I would suggest these sites:

flyertalk.com forum ---> everything flight/hotel/credit cards without people trying to sell you shit by talking it up, even though it's not that great.

thepointsguy.com --> great explanations of tips and tricks while using reward points from credit cards (heavily affiliated website)

google.com/flights --> where most people should start to see if their trip is in the price range for the location and dates they are available.

skiplagged.com ---> hidden city search for flights, just no checked luggage.

adioso.com ----> great website for ticket alerts.

matrix.itasoftware.com ---> where I go to get the best price once my trip has been established and narrowed down to a very small window of time for a particular destination.

edit: I've received a ton of messages about the 50% points back on amex, I explained it in a post below. I really hope this isn't just targeted at Centurion card holders, but I've read enough about it on flyertalk, and I am sure it is for every amex card holder.

edit of an edit: /u/browserz has posted you must be a platinum business card holder or above for the 50% points back setup. sry. On a side note, any avid traveler should have a platinum or business platinum card anyway. They usually offer 50,000-100,000 mile signup bonuses too, so that would be anywhere from $750 - $1500 of travel value on your airline. You can also cancel the card after you use those perks. Don't be afraid of the $500 annual fee, as you will get at least $200 of that back on airline purchases, 50% off for point purchases, and access to centurion, priority pass, and delta sky lounges. They also will pay for your tsa precheck, which I think is $150 or so.

I have used skiplagged for booking no less than 30 times. Most of these flights on Delta. I am a delta platinum medallion member, so the only issues I run into is lets say I have a flight booked from hometown --> LGA --> Atlanta, they will try to put me on a direct flight to atlanta instead of my layover city, but I always deny those changes.

I always notify the desk at my layover city that I will not be continuing my flight to the final destination, and they usually seem pleased because these days almost every flight is at max capacity or overbooked.

I have never been notified by any airline about using this trick.

It's nice to have one available. If I need a last minute change for some reason, and I'm tied up at work, I fire off a text and magically my problem is fixed :)

Since October, AMEX allows you to select one airline per year for your "main airline". If you book any tickets with this airline with points for the next year, you will receive 50% of your points back. If you book business or first class with any other airline, you also receive 50% back.

Amex claims you will receive the points in 4-6 weeks, but in the 7 flights I've had since october, all the points have "kicked back" in a few days.

This setup is great for people who have a lot of points, or who can cycle huge spending to an AMEX card to build up points before a trip.

I guess this trick only works great if you are near a hub for a major airline. I happen to live close to a delta hub, so 90% of my flights are on Delta or a partner carrier.

Just go to the airline that you found and book through them. The site is just a very powerful search engine that doesn't build a price cache that gives you real time pricing.

It also spits out a travel agent booking code, and you can use a travel agent. My agent loves me, as I send her the info in an email, she books it in 5 minutes, I get my tickets, and she gets her commission.