Travelocity is an online travel agent that sells flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises, and packages. If you’re familiar with many online travel agents (OTAs), you’ll notice that Travelocity is very similar to websites like Orbitz, trivago, and Expedia.com. This is because all of these companies, including Travelocity, fall under one parent company called Expedia Group. This is also why you’ll find similar deals and features between them all.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to use Travelocity to find cheap flights. We’ll cover its strengths and weaknesses, and show you how to take advantage of Travelocity’s lesser-known features.
What Travelocity is good at
Booking a flight on Travelocity has its benefits. Here are some features we like:
- Easy upgrades at checkout: During the booking process, Travelocity will show you the cost of upgrading your flight from basic economy. It’s easy to compare the benefits versus the cost of the upgrade and weigh whether an upgrade is worth it.
- A clear cancellation policy: Throughout booking and at check out, Travelocity shows you the extra fees associated with your booking class and outlines the cancellation policy for your flight.
- Useful flight scores: Travelocity features a flight score next to the flight search results. These scores account for the flight length, amenities, and aircraft type.
- Save on car and hotel bundles: If you’re going to book a hotel or hire a car anyways, bundling them with your flights can save on the overall cost of your trip.
- Customer service: Since Travelocity is part of Expedia Group, a large company that has decades of experience selling flights and travel packages, they tend to be more reliable than some of the newer or smaller online travel agents.
What Travelocity is bad at
Here’s where Travelocity falls behind:
- No multi-city search: While other flight search engines, like Google Flights, allow you to search for multiple cities at once, Travelocity only lets you search for multiple airports within one city.
- No option to book directly with the airline: Travelocity keeps travelers within Travelocity. If you see a flight you like, they don’t show an option where you can book directly with the airline.
- Not always the lowest price: Travelocity does not feature flights from all competitor OTAs, so the flight might be found cheaper elsewhere.
- Missing map functionality: For years, other online travel search engines have had a map where you can see the cheapest airport to fly into within a region. Travelocity has yet to include this.
Travelocity Tutorial
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to book a flight on Travelocity.
How to set your flight type on Travelocity
Before you search for flights, click on the “Flights” icon at the top of the screen. Here, you can choose between roundtrip, one-way, and multi-city flights.
How to set departure and arrival locations on Travelocity
In the “Flying from” and “Flying to” fields, type in your departure and arrival destinations. You can either type in the city, which will include all airports within that city, or you can include one specific airport. For example, if you want all airports in Los Angeles to be considered, your search will include flights from LAX, LGB, BUR, SNA, AVX, and ONT airports. If you solely want LAX to be the airport you depart from, type in LAX.
You won’t be able to select a large region or multiple cities in this section, so if you want to search for many destinations, you’ll need to run separate searches.
How to set the dates for your trip on Travelocity
In the “Departing” and “Returning” boxes on Travelocity, select the dates you’d like to travel. You can also put in the number of adults and children traveling within your group.
How to select advanced options on Travelocity
Once you’ve selected your dates of travel, look for the “Advanced options” menu. It can be easy to miss since this menu isn’t obvious or bolded. In this section, you can select your preferred airline, cabin class, and whether or not you want a nonstop or refundable flight.
One of the frustrating things about this feature is that Travelocity will let you click on airlines that don’t service the route you’re searching for. If you’re unsure of what airline to choose, click on “No preference” so that you’ll be shown all possible options.
How to add extras like hotels and car rentals on Travelocity
Packaging your flight with hotel or car rental is easy. Click on the “Add a hotel” or “Add a car” boxes just above the search button.
Check the information you’ve typed in and click the green “Search” button when you’re ready to see your flight search results. You can also click on the “Packages” icon at the top of the search box. If you click on the “Packages” button, note that Travelocity will adjust your number of adult travelers from 1 to 2.
Understanding Travelocity’s flight search results
Once you search for a flight, Travelocity will redirect you to a page that features all of the flights they have on offer.
On the top of the screen, check that your flight route and dates of travel are correct. Travelocity will list the cheapest flights first (starting with their Travelocity Bargain Fare, if available). On the left side of the page, you can sort and filter your results even further.
If you click on the dropdown 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.
Note that the flight results only show the first leg of your journey, though the price shown is roundtrip. Once you select an outbound flight, you will then be taken to a page where you choose the return flight or next leg of your journey.
How to filter your flight search results on Travelocity
On the left side of the screen, you can filter the search results by price, flight duration, departure time, and arrival time. You can also select airlines or maximum number of stops.
At the bottom of the sort and filter section, you can choose a general time of departure and arrival (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’ll have the option to choose if you want all airports in the results, or just a few.
All flights are assigned a flight score that ranges from 1 to 10. As a general rule, flight scores ranked 7 and above are considered good flights. Travelocity factors in the length of the flight, amenities offered, and the aircraft servicing the flight into its flight score.
At a glance, you can see the airline, length of flight, and number of stops, and whether it comes with entertainment, a charging port, and wifi. Click on the “Details and baggage fees” menu to see the type of aircraft, luggage allowance, and distance traveled.
To select your return flight, first click on the outbound flight that works best for you. Then, you’ll be taken to a page that shows all return options for your 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.
What is a Travelocity Bargain Fare?
At the top of your 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. You won’t see the details like the airline or flight times until after you pay for the flight. If this fare is significantly cheaper than all other flights featured on Travelocity, it could be worth it. However, if it’s just slightly less than other flights found, it might not be worth losing control over the flight times or airline choice—especially if you are part of a frequent flyer program.
How to book your flight on Travelocity
After finding a flight that works for you, click on the green “Select” button. Here, you’ll be able to see the complete picture of your flight along with any baggage restrictions. Travelocity will also note whether you’ll be able to select your seat at no extra cost, or if the airline will assign seats.
Enter your personal information (note that all sections marked with an asterisk are mandatory). Click on the “Frequent flyer, TSA PreCheck, redress and more” dropdown menu to input extra details and an emergency contact for your trip.
How to upgrade your flight on Travelocity
Some airlines and routes allow you to upgrade your flight at checkout, such as from basic economy to main cabin, or from economy to business class.
How to see extra fees and charges on Travelocity
Travelocity clearly labels extra fees and charges. Though you’ll see this on the “Trip Details” page on the right-hand side of the screen, it’s featured again at the end of the payment and booking information page.
Travelocity’s cancellation policy
Travelocity’s cancellation policy for each flight is made clear while booking and at check-out.
Generally, you can cancel your booking free of charge within 24 hours on flights booked at least 7 days before travel. Of course, there are restrictions. If the itinerary includes multiple tickets (e.g a round trip on two different airlines), the terms apply to each ticket separately. Also, the policy does not apply to Travelocity Bargain Fares or on flights with certain airlines such as Norwegian Air, Eurowings, Frontier, Spirit, AirAsia, EasyJet, Volaris, and several others.
Travelocity also offers a flight price guarantee. If you notice a price drop within 24 hours of purchasing a flight, Travelocity will refund the difference.
While Travelocity lacks a lot of the features we love on more advanced sites like Google Flights, if you’ve got set dates and prefer going with what you know, this legacy OTA remains a reputable site for simple flights searches and its clearly outlined fees and policies make it easy to know exactly what you’re getting when you book.
