lufcgirl wrote:Traveller2 wrote:Please do not book a ticket with Gotogate!! They are a very, very, shonky third party booking site. I often visit the Trip Advisor Air Travel forum and it is awash with complaints from people who have booked with them and had dreadful problems....usually prices are a lot higher as they are not "live" or their tickets are cancelled. You are also putting another layer between yourself and Virgin which is never a good idea. You might want to visit Trip Advisor and just read a few of the posts about Gotogate.
Thank you for that traveller2, having looked at reviews i will not book with them. thanks for the heads up.
Even though what I said turned out to be OK , I'd go along with everyone else's advice about not booking them. I've been a member of travel forums since 1998 and of V-flyer since 2004. My circumstances in booking gotogate were extreme and one I would have not taken in normal circumstances. The situation was that my brother and his wife in South Africa had celebrated their golden wedding on Easter Sunday of that year and family members had gone over to celebrate it including his daughter who lives in Dublin. (I had gone earlier knowing I had to work on Easter Sunday) They returned after Easter week and I flew out the same week to Chicago and when there learned that my sister-in-law was very ill. I flew back in to Dublin a few days later and on the train from Dublin to Cork learned that my she had passed away and I knew that I had to return the next day and bring my niece with me. Given that the major airlines were asking for silly money in economy for a next day departure, I threw myself on the mercy of kayak and skyscanner. gotogate was what was thrown up and at that stage, beggars can't be choosers and I threw myself on the mercy of them.
The negatives: The uncertainty surrounding the booking procedures. I was never really sure I was booked - especially when they were giving numbers which didn't really correlate to any recognised numbers such as PNRs especially as I still had to travel back to Dublin. It was scary! The add-ons suggested which put Ryanair in the halfpenny league. Baggage, sitting together, cancellation (which in effect was a higher bucket). Having to print off a sheet of paper not knowing which is your PNR (in spite of being an experienced traveller)
The positives: Arriving in DUB with a sheaf of paper and having it waved and asking just for passports.
After that all the negatives disappeared and for the rest of the trips you must read them in Trip Reports but they no longer refer to gotogate. Even on the return.