Lighthouse by Cyrus Blogprojects, thoughts & personal

The AIPP has a deal with Flight Centre to provide 5% discount for international flights and a whooping 20% off insurance. Wow! …not exactly

After the honour of being selected by a good friend of mine to do his wedding in a castle in the UK I happily went about trusting Flight Centre to give me a fantastic deal.

It took me a while to grasp that something fishy was going on here, and that’s even before I started shopping around.

To make a very long story short (took me nearly a week to realise I was being screwed)  it’s plainly dishonest to tell someone that you are giving a discount when the price is inflated in the first place! This is what Flight Centre did.

THE ISSUES I EXPERIENCES

Everytime I needed to communicate was told that there’s a 24 hour waiting period for an answer.

Got the invoice/itinerary only to find that this was addressed to some other guy in Queensland, I hope Flight Centre does not share my name and address to a stranger!

My instructions were simple: cheapest flight, not Air Asia. I like Malaysian, Singapore, BA,  Qantas,  whatever, just not the super discounted airlines because I actually don’t want the remotest chance that my flight might be delayed for the sake of saving a few hundred dollars!

The quote I got with the 5% discount was over $2450, I made a random call to Aus World Travel and got instantly a quote for $2090 via Singapore Airlines.

Flight Centre are smart cookies, they even have a promise to get the cheapest flight or “You fly free!” I am sure I can get them to match the offer but what’s the point. Loyalty is earned and I like to reward honest business with my business. It’s a shame the AIPP, of which I am a paying member can’t make a deal with a more honest broker.

****Update**** Just got an email from another AIPP member with a similar story about Professional Gear Insurance. Same story.