GoToGate is a flight booking site that sells cheap flight tickets from a variety of airlines. Whether you want to hop over to California or go to Paris for your honeymoon, you can find multiple flight options at affordable rates.
However, is GoToGate legit? How can it be possible for it to sell flight tickets at much lower prices than the airlines themselves?
Today, I will be reviewing GoToGate and providing more information about how it works and what you can expect your experience to be while using it.
I will also explain how it can afford to sell flight tickets for so low, the advantages and disadvantages of using GoToGate, and whether it’s trustworthy.
The short version: GoToGate is legitimate, but it’s a third-party OTA (Online Travel Agent), which means that it doesn’t operate under the same regulations as airlines and may not offer as good customer service as the airlines themselves.
Read on to learn what might go wrong when using an OTA like GoToGate.
Understanding GoToGate
GoToGate is an Online Travel Agent. OTAs are third-party companies that help you book airline tickets – and sometimes hotels and car rentals as well.
Just like regular travel agents, they are intermediaries, but they have special access to booking engines and tools that a regular person won’t have access to. The only difference is that they are online instead of in person.
There are pros and cons of using OTAs. While they are convenient, they also lack the face-to-face interaction you would get with a regular, traditional travel agent, which means getting help might be more difficult.
Using GoToGate is easy. Simply enter your location and the destination you want to fly to, and you will see all available flights – usually from multiple airlines.
When you use JetBlue, for example, to search for flights, you will only see flights operated by JetBlue. The same goes for any airline – you will only see that airline’s flights (or flights from other airlines that it has partnered or codeshared with).
However, when you use GoToGate, it will search available flights from all airlines that operate that route. In fact, GoToGate works with over 650 airlines!
When you book a flight on GoToGate, you will pay GoToGate, and GoToGate will book the flight for you from the airline, just like a regular travel agent would. You will get an email confirmation with your ticket and flight number.
How to Use GoToGate?
To use GoToGate, go to the front page and put in your current location and where you want to fly to. You can choose from three options:
- A return flight
- A one-way ticket
- A multi-city ticket, which combines several tickets (for example, you can fly from New York City to Houston and then from Houston to Los Angeles)
Then, choose your dates, how many passengers are traveling, and what class you want to book. You can check the “nonstop flights only” option if you don’t want to be shown flights with layovers.
After clicking the Search Flights button, you can view available flights from different carriers. You can see the departure and arrival times, layovers, and other information, and you can then proceed to book the best flight.
To book your flight, you’ll need to enter your personal details, choose which extras you want to add (more on that in the next section), and enter your payment information.
Once your flight is confirmed, you will get a confirmation message with your ticket number.
This is usually immediate, but it can sometimes take a few hours.
What Are the Extras and Flight Booking Options?
One of the ways OTAs like GoToGate make money, despite offering cheap flights, is through the extras it sells you.
This usually includes things like optional travel insurance or cancellation protection, premium support, extra baggage allowance, online check-in, and flexible change policies.
GoToGate itself sells a “flexible ticket” option, which is more expensive than a standard ticket. Flexible tickets allow you to change your flight up to 24 hours before the scheduled departure without any change fees, regardless of the airline’s actual change rules.
You will still have to pay the difference in airfare if the new flight is more expensive than the old one. In other words, if the first ticket was selling for $300, and the flight you want to change it to is more expensive and selling for $400, you will have to pay the $100 difference but no other changes.
GoToGate also sells optional packages when purchasing a flight:
- Standard: This gives you access to priority support from GoToGate and travel insurance that offers compensation in the case your flight was canceled, overbooked, or delayed or if your luggage was lost.
- Premium: This adds the benefit of GoToGate checking in for you online before your flight, so you get a boarding pass sent to your email address automatically.
- Premium+: This merely adds the benefit of flight updates and your booking number sent via SMS to your phone.
Again, these add-ons are entirely optional. If you decline one of these three packages, GoToGate will try to sell you individual upgrades, such as travel insurance or protection in the case of airline insolvency.
While I do recommend getting travel insurance, what a lot of people don’t know is that if you book the flight with your credit card, you may already have some sort of travel insurance for missed flights, delays, lost luggage, cancellations, and medical emergencies.
Most of the major credit card providers include travel insurance, at least on some of their cards – if you buy the ticket with that card. You can find more information by looking at the welcome pamphlet that came with your card or contacting your credit card company and asking them about travel insurance benefits.
How Can OTAs Sell Such Cheap Flights?
Often, you will find that flights on GoToGate are significantly cheaper than what the airlines are charging for the same flight. For example, buying an American Airline flight might be cheaper from GoToGate than American Airlines itself.
In the screenshot above, you can see a one-way flight from New York to Paris selling for less than $230!
How is that even possible?
Here is how OTAs in general can sell flights for so cheap:
- They earn back the money from other things, such as add-ons, travel insurance, and car and hotel bookings bundled into flight purchases.
- They make a lot of money from charging cancellation and change fees. OTAs tend to offer less flexibility than airlines when it comes to rebooking a flight.
- The airlines give them access to special discounts and low prices.
- OTAs earn commissions from airlines for selling flights, and they may pass on some of that commission to the consumer in the form of savings.
- Some OTAs may purchase or reserve several seats on a flight upfront. As the departure date nears, they may lower their prices in an attempt to sell out all those seats they have already purchased.
Pros of Using GoToGate
There are many advantages of using GoToGate instead of booking with an airline directly. Here are some of the pros of using GoToGate.
Advanced Search Engine
If you buy online from an airline’s website, you will only be shown flights operated by that airline (or its partners).
If you want to see more flight options, you would have to check multiple websites. This can take time and be quite a hassle.
Meanwhile, if you use GoToGate, you can use a single flight booking engine to search through flights from multiple airlines.
Cheaper Prices
As I already mentioned, GoToGate often sells flights at less than what the airlines are charging.
This allows you to save money.
However, it’s not always the case. That is why, before you book a flight, I recommend double-checking the official website of the specific airline in question.
For example, if you’re booking a United Airlines flight on GoToGate, head to United’s website and check how much United is selling that flight for. If it’s around the same price, I usually recommend booking directly with the airline to avoid the cons of using OTAs.
You Can Combine Tickets From Different Airlines
When searching for multi-city flights or for regular flights with a layover, GoToGate may combine tickets from different airlines. For example, you might fly from New York to Paris with American Airlines and then from Paris to London on Vueling Airlines.
This gives you more flexibility and allows you to find the cheapest prices. When you search on an airline’s website, you might not find any connections that fit your schedule and budget, or you may not find any connections at all.
Note that for these kinds of bookings, you might have to check in again during your stopover. If you are flying on two separate airlines, you can’t usually check in all the way through at your first departure point.
You Can Change Your Ticket With Flexible Tickets
When you buy a flexible ticket, GoToGate allows you to change your ticket until 24 hours before departure, regardless of the airline’s actual change policy.
In practice, though, this might not be as great as it seems on paper. Customer support from GoToGate might not be the quickest, and most airlines have flexible change rules anyway.
Cons of Using GoToGate
Here are the downsides of using GoToGate. Before you decide to buy from GoToGate, read this section carefully.
It Will Be Harder to Change Your Flight
When you buy from the airline directly, it’s usually pretty easy to change your flight. Most major airlines allow you to change your flight in the app or website in the booking management section – all you need is your booking reference number or ticket number and last name.
Of course, it does depend on the airline’s change policy. Some airlines allow changes for free, while others charge a small fee; it may also depend on the ticket class you bought.
Many airlines are now selling ultra-cheap tickets on an “economy saver” type of class, which is cheaper than economy but doesn’t come with free changes or cancellation.
In any case, it’s almost always harder to change your ticket when you buy from an OTA. Usually, you won’t be able to change your flight in the airline’s booking management system – when you buy from a travel agent, most airlines will tell you to contact the travel agent or OTA to make any changes.
Even if you buy the flexible ticket option, it might be hard, as customer support from GoToGate isn’t the best.
Getting a Refund Might Be Difficult
Even if you are eligible for a refund, it might be difficult to get one from GoToGate. A CBS News report states that many people were complaining about GoToGate to the Better Business Bureau and elsewhere.
OTAs can really drag their feet when it comes to issuing refunds, and GoToGate is no different.
That’s why it’s best to purchase a flight from GoToGate with your credit card instead of your debit card. That way, if you are eligible for a refund because GoToGate isn’t issuing it, you can dispute the charge with your credit card provider and get your money back that way.
Customer Support Isn’t the Greatest
That brings us to the next con, which is customer support. OTAs save money by saving on customer service, which is why they charge extra for “premium support.”
Without paying for premium support, you might have a difficult time getting someone on the phone.
However, even if you do pay for premium support, you might find that customer support isn’t what you expected. Airlines generally offer better customer support than OTAs, especially non-budget carriers.
At the very least, GoToGate offers phone and chat support options, which other OTAs do not. See more options on the contact page.
There’s No 24-Hour Rule
The US Department of Transportation has a rule that applies to all airlines, foreign or domestic, that operate in the United States. Any flight purchased in the US that either arrives or departs US soil (or both) must comply with the 24-hour rule.
The 24-hour rule states that airlines must offer 24 hours of free cancellation after booking. Even if the flight is going to Europe, for example, if it originates in the US, it must comply with the rule; the same applies if it is leaving Europe or Asia and arriving in the US.
An alternative to the 24-hour free cancellation is the 24-hour hold option. Airlines can allow customers to hold a flight and reserve a seat for 24 hours without any additional price increase, thus giving customers time to think about their booking or double-check their plans.
Customers would then have 24 hours to pay the fare. If they don’t, the reservation will expire after 24 hours.
Either option is acceptable, but here’s the catch: This rule does NOT apply to OTAs.
Some OTAs, like Expedia, do honor it anyway, even though it’s not required. It’s simply something Expedia does to ensure customer satisfaction.
You can see more information about the rule on the DOT site.
GoToGate, on the other hand, doesn’t honor the rule.
That’s how it makes money – by charging extra for flexible tickets and for cancellations and changes when you don’t buy a flexible ticket. It has no incentive to offer 24-hour free cancellations when not required to.
Is GoToGate a Scam?
No, GoToGate is a legitimate website. It is owned by Etraveli Group AB, a Swedish travel group, and millions of people buy tickets from it every year.
It’s not a scam, but it does have issues with customer service.
Nevertheless, depending on your situation, it might be a good idea to buy a ticket from GoToGate.
When Should You Use GoToGate?
I recommend using GoToGate (and OTAs in general) when the following conditions apply:
- You don’t expect to make any changes and cancellations. Perhaps you’re booking the flight for the next day, for example, and are unlikely to have a change of plans.
- If you do need to change the flight, you’re okay with the possibility of simply buying a new ticket and losing your money. This can apply if the price of the ticket is very low and it’s an amount you can afford to lose.
- The flight is significantly cheaper from GoToGate than the official airline. Otherwise, I always recommend buying from the airline directly when possible.
OTAs are awesome, and I use them a lot. I’ve even used GoToGate itself to purchase tickets, but that’s because I know the limitations of using OTAs.
I buy tickets from OTAs when I have no doubt that I’ll use the flight as-is. Furthermore, I am okay with the lack of flexibility and customer service – it’s an “as-is” kind of thing, which is a good deal for some savings.
When possible, though, I always buy from the airline directly, especially if the price difference isn’t much. It’s just easier to manage your flight, get quality support, and change your ticket when you buy from the airline.
Final Word
GoToGate is a legitimate website, and it lets you save a lot of money on air fares.
However, it’s important to recognize the pros and cons of using a site like that before making a choice.
