Does anyone have info on Ultimate Fares?

I found them via Kayak. On Kayaks flight list page they had a link on the side that said, "Cheap Flights to Rome". I clicked and they are over $300 less than the best fare Kayak listed. The cheapest flights had multiple stops and ranged in time from 18-21 hours. They had some that were one stop, around 15 hours of flight time that were still $200 cheaper.

Is this to be trusted?

Thanks,
jb

I may have answered my own question. I noticed that the fare did not include Taxes and Fees. So I clicked one link further and they add $946. Making it more expensive then the best fare listed by Kayak.

I think this practice is bad PR for them at best, and devious at worst.

Thanks,
jb

I eliminate websites that advertise this way immediately. I think it's deception. I understand it's a competitive world but for petes sake deception is not the way to get customers!

Yeah, I hate when the price quoted does not include the taxes and fees asnd you have to pretend to buy it to figure out how mcuh it will totally be. It jsut prevents real price comparisions.

It is standard for low fare airlines to have a low upfront fare to attract people, on which taxes and fees are then added.

Ryanair has been warned of this many times and the British government is finally talking of taking action against their misleading ads.

Whilst I agree that the principle of advertising a price and then adding taxes etc. certainly can be deceptive the reality (in Europe) is this is now the way driven by the dramatic growth of the "low cost" operators. Certainly I know when i see a €0.99 or even €0.01 "offer" I know it won't end up there (normally say €15-20 after taxes) and also that the prices will fluctuate dramatically (best time to book appears to be say 1-3 months before). However IMO this is now the cheapest and easiest (no reserved seats, get on/get off just like a bus) way to travel within Europe.

One thing also to bear in mind is that (I believe) that most European low cost airlines will not discount their fares through the brokerage sites preferring (for obvious reasons) that you book direct.

As a quick exercise I just thought why not have a few days in Barcelona (from Alghero, Sardinia). I looked on the Ryanair site for end June/beginning July, saying I was flexible on dates. I then selected the cheapest in a displayed range of 6 days which happened to be €0.00 and if you select the date it is then straight away displayed with taxes (in this case €9.99 out and €15 back, which is the taxes). I might even book it!

One thing to be careful of is how hold baggage is charged and weight limits etc. See things to check with low cost airlines and also bear in mind if you want to physically check in at the airport (which I guess for border control, is only available to European citizens) they will also charge (€4 per passenger/flight).

As I said I agree better if these things were more transparent but this is now the reality, I have also found on a certain unnamed "low cost" Italian airline that their taxes etc. seemed to be considerably more (i.e. they were adding some other things?) so just be savvy.
Cheers