I was planning my weekend getaway with my girlfriend. While she was flying into Rome from another…read morepart of Europe, I was flying in from the other side of the world. Obviously, this made for some logistical problems.
I first tried Google Flights, which churned out itineraries that were ridiculously long (48-56 hours long, are you kidding me?), impractical (due to my clinical rotation schedule), or almost the price of a private jet ride. Other travel sites proved to be the same. I was getting ready to consider actually renting a private jet, which would have been over the top for two days in Rome, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
A buddy of mine from undergrad, who grew up in Europe, told me about eDreams. I never heard of it before, but I went to their website and checked it out.
To my pleasant surprise, I was able to find an itinerary that fit my schedule perfectly, was not unreasonably long, and was worth the price they charged. So I went ahead and booked my travel to and from Rome.
I was advised to sign up for their Prime membership, which I did. This got me priority support.
Not until after I bought and paid for the tickets, and my girlfriend's, did I realize about all the negative reviews from this place. Needless to say, this left me a bit worried. So I called the support line to check and see if my flights were indeed reserved with the airlines. FYI, my weekend getaway had me travel on four different airlines.
Customer service was quick to answer me, and they were able to send me my flight itinerary. They also gave me reference codes, which I cross-referenced by calling the actual airlines. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my reservations were indeed made, and I was good to go.
I made it to Italy without any problems. I also made it back to my clinical rotation site, and I was able to go in on time and well rested.
I had a great experience with eDreams. But I do want to give you some tips on how to ensure a great experience.
1. Be proactive. Once you book air travel with them, it will be pending for some time. They say the itinerary will be confirmed within 24 hours, but I would call anyway. Close to the 24-hour marks is when I called their Prime-member phone number, and the customer service rep was able to get my flights confirmed within minutes.
2. Cross-reference the confirmation code/number with the airline, if you need further peace of mind. Please keep in mind that the confirmation number/code eDreams gives you may be different that the one provided by the airline.
3. eDreams is great for longer and more complicated itineraries. Be sure to plan for possible flight delays, and also keep in mind that a check-in bag might prolong your transfer from one airline to the next, especially if you're touching down in several different countries. I kept it simple, and just took a backpack.
I guess I'm going against the grain with my 5-star review. My best guess is that they had a rough start, but they are improving because they were able to make my weekend trip to Rome possible. I had a great experience with eDreams, and I will be booking with them again in the near future.