So I am semi-retired, saved up a little dough and wind up taking trips every couple of months. I used Expedia but decided to try Trip for a few flights and it has been a disaster.
At times Expedia may be just slightly more than Trip, but Expedia has EXCELLENT customer service and they have bailed me out of situations before. Once in Deli, and in Bali I was in anxious situations with my completely corrupt hotels and Expedia came charging in like the Lone Ranger and slapped those folks down. Expedia will then (!) give you credits toward your next purchase if you have a bad experience through their system.
Trip has ZERO customer service, but here's what I am upset about and why I will never use Trip again:
I was booking a flight for one of my more pricier trips (ex-teacher, I do a lot of budget travel :P). I saw: Would you like to use "Easy Cancellation". Now part of this is my fault for being so gullible as to think Trip might have been ethical and sincere. No, it was totally misleading. They sucker you in with the promise of easily cancelling and getting your money back.
I clicked on this feature thinking, for various reasons, I might need to cancel this trip (I had good reasons).
It cost $73, but I thought, OK it might be worth it if I can get my money back if I need to cancel. WRONG.
So I tried to cancel and one of their "customer service agents" (not) told me I would get less than half of my money back. So I kept asking, "Wait...it said easy cancel, what did I pay for?" "Well sir, it was easy to cancel right?" "But you took about half my money...it's easy for me to cancel and easy for you to take my money?" Basically, the response was "Yeah sucker."
So please be warned - do not pay them $73 for "easy cancel" because you will lose that money and at least half your fare." Pay $10 more for your flight and get the protection Expedia gives you. Expedia acts as if they care (and maybe they do).
Trips acts like a con man.
And here's what makes me scratch my head. I was booking flights with them every couple of months. They could have made money off of me for a year, but I got a message telling me they would refund my trip money (they said the terms are you get one "free" cancellation - huh?) but they would need to (it's a natural law like Boyle's Law I guess) keep the $73.
So I am thinking, yeah, let them keep the $73 because they lose the money I will spend on Expedia now. Under no circumstances will I ever even go to the Trip site again. I have heard other horror stories about Trip - please be careful.