We compare two of Australia's biggest online travel agencies to see which can work better for you.
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Flight Centre or Expedia? Both online travel agencies dominate the market, allowing you to browse, compare and book everything from flights and hotels to car hire and travel insurance.
But there must be a difference between the two, right? We peg these two agencies against each other to see which can work better for you and your travel needs. Here we go!
TL;DR: Our verdict
Expedia stole the gold from Flight Centre - but only just. It came up cheaper for the same flight, has a larger price-match incentive, doesn't charge any fees, has a 24-hour cancellation policy for flights and features fares from a larger pool of airlines.
Yes, but you can't do it yourself. You must speak to an agent for a quote.
Yes.
Both
Any features for finding the best price?
Some destination pages include a comparison of the cheapest, quickest and most popular flight options.
The flight finder search will show you a calendar of dates with low fares closest to your nominated dates. It also shows any flight and hotel deals for your dates.
Flight Centre and Expedia both offer price-match guarantees with incentives of $1 off (Flight Centre) or a $50 voucher to use on future bookings (Expedia). You could play these against each other to get the very best price.
For the purposes of providing an answer, we pegged the two against each other searching each for a flight on the same route, on the same dates and for similar, if not the same, time.
We checked these prices on 14 September 2017. See below for the quotes that came out.
The winner:
In a true like-for-like price comparison where both online travel agencies brought back the same flights, Expedia came out cheaper by $25.
Bear in mind that payment fees, such as credit card fees, were not considered in this search however we doubt this would tip the scales in Flight Centres' favour. What could however is its price-match guarantee which could see you book with Flight Centre for $1 less than Expedia's quoted price.
Who offers prices from a wider range of airlines?
Both online travel agencies work with a wide range of airlines in Australia and around the world.
Flight Centre features fares from 67 airlines worldwide. Domestically it offers flights on Airnorth, Jetstar, Qantas, Rex, and Virgin Australia. International airlines include American Airlines, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Fiji Airways, Qatar, Royal Brunei and Thai Airways.
Expedia features fares from 130 airlines worldwide. Domestically it offers flights on Jetstar, Qantas, Rex, and Virgin Australia but not Airnorth. International airlines include Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, Emirates, American Airlines, China Eastern and China Southern.
The winner:
Expedia offers flights with double the number of airlines that Flight Centre does. It offers flights with several airlines that Flight Centre does not, including Flybe, Alitalia and Air Europa.
Latest deals from Flight Centre and Expedia
Flight Centre offers deals across all kinds of travel products including flights, cruises and holiday packages. It doesn't offer deals on hotels, tours or car hire. It updates its best deals page daily. Prominent deals that Flight Centre has featured in the past include $799 return fares from Australia to London and $1 return fares on domestic routes.
Expedia offers deals across flights, cruises, holiday packages and car hire. It has a dedicated last-minute deals page as well as a daily deals page. Prominent deals that Expedia has featured in the past include Bali holidays from $699 and 30% off hotels.
Available on select stay dates when you book 60+ days in advance. Destinations include Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Darwin and more. T&Cs apply.
Available on stays within the next 14 days. Destinations include Sydney, Gold Coast, Byron Bay, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Canberra and more. T&Cs apply.
Cheap five-day holiday packages starting from $562pp
Fly and stay in Bali for five nights from $562pp. Price is based on twin share. Sample packages include flights and five nights at Legian Paradiso Hotel from $562pp and flights and five nights in The Kana, Kuta from $584pp.
Cancellation policies: Expedia offers a 24-hour cancellation window on flights. To cancel your flight, log in to your account and click "cancel flight" on your itinerary page. Flight Centre's cancellation policy differs depending on what you're booking. It's advised that you read the fine print or query your cancellation options before committing.
Sign up: To book with Expedia you'll need to sign up for an account. This is free to do but is an extra step. Flight Centre bookings don't require you to have an account. In fact, there aren't any account sign up or login options available.
Flight Centre vs Expedia: Who won?
Expedia took this one out with better price-based incentives, including cheaper fares in a like-for-like comparison, fee-free bookings, a bigger price-match return and and a loyalty scheme on hotel bookings.
Here's a list of both of their winning points:
Flight Centre
Larger variety of bookable and purchasable items including rail passes, global SIMs and foreign currency
Interest-free finance available for holidays $999+
Online chat
Accepts more payment options
Offers round-the-world fares
Doesn't require you to sign-up to make a purchase
Expedia
Cheaper fare for the same flights (taken from a sample flight search)
Better price matching incentive; $50 voucher
Loyalty scheme for hotel bookings, allowing you to earn free stays
Fee-free bookings (however you may be charged by the booking site it forwards you to)
Has a flight finder search calendar where you can see the lowest fares near your nominated dates
Features fares from more airlines worldwide
Allows for flight cancellations within 24-hours of booking
Stephanie Yip is the travel editor at Finder and has been writing about travel and lifestyle for over a decade. She has written for Travel Weekly, Escape, Showpo, The Nibbler and Hostelworld. She was also the editor of kids magazine DMAG. Stephanie has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Technology Sydney and has visited 55 countries (and counting).
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