Купил билеты в Москву! Возвращаемся в самом начале июня как раз в лето (я надеюсь оно наступит). В Москву полетим через Гонконг, где пробудем несколько дней, так дешевле всего билеты вышли. Я там уже был, до сих пор под впечатлением: Пик Виктории, Большой Будда, люди, город…

Но я хотел не об этом поговорить. Как думаете, что лучше Авиасейлс или Скайсканнер? 🙂 Мне что-то интересно стало, кто чем пользуется в основном, да и полезно будет собрать в одном месте всякие нюансы. Тем более я хотел как раз рассказать на конкретном и свежем примере результат своих поисков авиабилетов.

Aviasales или Skyscanner
От себя скажу, что пользуюсь обоими агрегаторами в равной степени, и Авиасейлс, и Скайсканнер. И приложения на телефоне стоят тоже от обоих систем поиска. И я в корне не согласен с тем, что они сильно отличаются друг от друга по ценам или принципам работы. Всю разницу, как пользователь, вижу только в интерфейсе, поэтому что-то гляжу в одном, что-то в другом.

Последние 3 месяца приходилось много мониторить различных билетов. Искал билеты из Москвы в Китай, в Сочи и Тиват, недавно вот смотрел из Китая и Гонконга в Москву, и из Москвы в Симферополь. До этого неоднократно мониторил билеты в Таиланд и Польшу…

Максимальная разница в стоимости на билеты, мною обнаруженная, рублей 500, а часто она вообще совпадает до рубля, если смотреть в одинаковых агентствах.

И ни разу пока (ни в последнее время, ни раньше) не замечал, что сервисы запоминают кукисы и начинают увеличивать цену на билеты, чтобы человек скорее купил. Специально открывал другой браузер, чистил весь кеш с кукисами (или включал режим инкогнито) и цена была той же самой. Откуда эта инфа про кукисы, понятия не имею. Может по каким-то особенным направлениям, по которым я никогда не летал? Или это просто миф?

В Скайсканнере больше всего нравится поиск по месяцу, на мой взгляд самое удобное, что там есть. Можно открыть календарь и сразу увидеть, в какой из дней месяца перелет будет подешевле. Правда, это касается только популярных направлений, иначе календарь будет пустой или полупустой. Не нравится в Skyscanner устаревание данных, когда ты переходишь на сайт агентства, и, либо вообще такого рейса нет, либо цена уже другая. Натыкался не раз уже. Как бронировать на Skyscanner.
В Авиасейлс мне нравятся, прежде всего, технологичность что ли (всякие не очень нужные, но прикольные фишки)…и дизайн. Но не спорю, это все на любителя. Из функционала — составные маршруты и поиск по 3 дням сразу, когда сервис выдает самый дешевый билет в диапазоне +-3 дня. Актуально, когда привязан к датам, иначе проще уже календарем от Skyscanner пользоваться. Хотя… У Aviasales на самом деле два календаря: один в результатах поиска и он визуально не совсем очевиден (не нравится он мне), а второй — отдельный календарь на главной странице, который как раз, наоборот, по-удобнее скайсканеровского будет. В целом суть этих всех календарей, конечно же, одинакова. Как бронировать на Aviasales.

Пример, когда оба сервиса на высоте
К сожалению, у меня нет скриншотов под рукой, так что придется проверить на слово 🙂 Да, я бы сейчас мог поискать что-то в поисковиках, но это был бы не совсем реальный пример. Так вот, а реальный заключается в том, что билеты в Китай в феврале и марте были куплены как раз в агентствах (а не через сайты авиакомпаний), так выходило дешевле.

В феврале я купил билеты на прямой рейс Москва-Санья через Aviasales (в агентстве Onetwotrip), а в марте на рейс с пересадкой Москва-Гонконг через Skyscanner (агентство Связной Тревел).

Пример, когда оба сервиса налажали
Никогда не стоит забывать проверять цены на билеты на сайтах самих авиакомпаний! В этот раз так получилось, что я купил билет Гонконг-Москва именно на сайте авиакомпании, потому что там были такие тарифы, о которых поисковики не знали.

Честно говоря, первый раз с таким столкнулся, когда разница довольно большая. Но возможно акция какая-то, о которой поисковики-агрегаторы не в курсе.

Санья-Гонконг
А вот с билетом от HongKong Airlines по ходу нет ничего удивительного. Видимо китайские авиакомпании частенько не отдают самые дешевые тарифы в поисковики. А разница значительная получилась, 8500 руб вместо 20000 руб.

Поисковики повели себя по-разному. Авиасейлс просто не знал о дешевом тарифе, а Скайсканнер на момент покупки не знал, а когда делал скриншот, то почему-то начал показывать его, только хитро. Если посмотреть на скриншот, то там видно, что он предлагает купить в агентствах аж от 7291р. Только если перейти на любое агентство, то окажется, что это цена за одного человека! То есть суммарно по цене все как и у Авиасейлс. Не честный подход.

P.S. В любом случае билеты (рейсы) удобнее искать именно в метапоисковиках, а не на кривых сайтах авиакомпаний. Некоторые такие, что замучаешься просто, ужас! Да и быстрее гораздо получаешь представление о том, какие авиакомпании летают в нужный тебе город. Я ведь нужные мне рейсы нашел именно в поисковиках. А уж, где выгоднее покупать, вычислить не сложно.

Link: Aviasales

Fast fashion is taking over our lives and feeding our online shopping addictions. Convincing us that we constantly need new outfits, drawing us in with sales, and tempting us with their low prices and luxury fashion knock-offs. With so many trying to grab our attention, we need to decide which one deserves our hard earned money (or student loan) and deserves to be the queen of the Student Boutiques. Now, Missguided, boohoo, and PrettyLittleThing (PLT) all have unique selling points, and they all try to address a different kind of girl.

1. PrettyLittleThing (PLT)

I have decided to end with these because I feel like they are just on a completely different level. Yet again, they offer sales and offers galore, gorgeous prints and use beautiful gals to draw you in. A little pricier than the others but this is because you’re paying for good quality! They love the glitz and glam and cheeky side boob shots, but also commit themselves to cute cover-ups, flattering flares, and luxurious long length gowns. PLT is always money well spent, boosting our self-confidence to level 100.

2. Missguided

Out of all three, Missguided offers the biggest student discount at a whopping 30%! How could you say no to that? They definitely appeal to a certain group of gals, that’s for sure. If you’re rebellious, a bit of a biker chick, in love with black and looking for something particularly seductive, Missguided is definitely the winner for you! They pride themselves on stripped down and black styles, revealing what makes a woman, a woman and generally ensuring you look as sexy as hell! They have the balance just right between showing off your best assets in a mature way while releasing your true personality tastefully.

2. boohoo

With such a huge array of products they offer, you can’t go wrong no matter the occasion or your personal style choices. At the most affordable prices out of the three, boohoo is sure to sort you right out and keep your bank balance in check too. If you label your style as the ‘girl next door’ then Boohoo can tick all your boxes, as I believe that this is the kind of girl that they are mainly designing for. Keeping up with constant sales, offers and new releases mean boohoo is doing everything in their power to ensure you can keep it classy and conservative, but a little bit cheeky also.

So, whether you’re the girl next door, a feisty one or someone that’s all about the glitz and the glam, all three are perfect choices. They obviously know what we students like and continuously get their trends and pieces on point. Where would we all be without our quick fix online boutiques? Probably a lot poorer than we currently are.

Out of PLT, boohoo and Missguided, which boutique is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

Have you heard about Omaze? Are you wondering what the deal is? Is Omaze legit? Why do they collect money, and where does that money go? Do people really win? Find the answers to these and other questions here.

What Is Omaze?

How would you like to get the chance to win a major prize or have a once-in-a-lifetime experience while helping a worthy cause at the same time? That’s the principle that drives Omaze.

According to Omaze, Inc.’s About Us page, Omaze was founded to challenge the idea that charities shouldn’t market themselves like for-profit businesses do, and should instead rely on expensive and exclusive galas to bring in funds.

Instead, Omaze incentivizes donations by giving people a chance to win prizes, and many more people can participate.

Founders Ryan Cummins and Matthew Pohlson also wanted to take once-in-a-lifetime prizes that, in a typical celebrity auction fundraiser, could only be afforded by the rich, and make them attainable by almost anyone, while simultaneously raising more money for worthy causes.

How Much of Your Donation Goes to Omaze’s Charities?

Fundraising with Omaze has fairly high overhead costs. For prized-based giveaways with chances to win a car or a house, only a little more than a tenth of each donation goes to charity. 

However, Omaze claims that the higher level of donations makes up for this shortcoming. After all, 10% of a million dollars is significantly more than 60% of $100,000.

Omaze’s experience-based giveaways have significantly less overhead since the prizes don’t cost as much. They deliver about 60% of their donated funds to their associated causes. 

The overhead also means that charities don’t have to pitch in any money for the fundraiser; the giveaways are self-funded. Part of every donation that comes in goes toward the giveaway’s costs, including prize acquisition and advertising. So while the whole donation doesn’t go to the charity, the charity doesn’t have to spend money out of pocket, either.

What Kinds of Prizes Can You Win From Omaze?

Omaze doesn’t offer run-of-the-mill prizes. Instead, you’ll have chances to win unique experiences with celebrities, massive amounts of cash, homes, cars, and more.

Some past Omaze giveaways have included chances to:

• Attend the Game of Thrones finale with actress Emilia Clarke
• Win a Lamborghini blessed by Pope Francis
• Have your likeness drawn into an episode of BoJack Horseman

How to Enter Omaze’s Sweepstakes?

The classic way to enter Omaze’s giveaways is by making a donation. Every $10 in donations made through the Omaze entry form will give you one entry. Donations are rounded up, so a $20 donation will give you two entries while a $22 donation will give you three.

Of course, you do not have to make a donation to enter; each giveaway also has a non-purchase entry method. To use it, scroll down the sweepstakes page until you see the “Free Alternate Method of Entry” link. Click on the link and follow the instructions for your free entry.

Entering through the alternate entry method gives you 200 free entries. Whether you use donations or the AMOE to enter (or a combination of both), each person is limited to one million total entries per giveaway.

When it comes to who can enter and how, Omaze has a set of rules for all of their giveaways, but individual sweepstakes can have exceptions or expansions to those rules listed on their pages.

For example, Omaze giveaways are usually open to residents of most countries, with the exception being countries that are embargoed by the United States. If more regions are restricted from entering, that information will be listed on the sweepstakes page.

Is Omaze Legit?

Omaze is not a scam. It is a legitimate company that really does raise money for charity while giving away impressive prizes. And the funds they raise are impressive. For example, in August of 2019 alone, Omaze raised over $1.2 million for 43 different charities.

There are, however, some important things to keep in mind. Omaze helps charities, but it is not a charity itself; it is a for-profit company. It keeps about $1.50 of every $10 donation as income and spends another part of each donation for marketing and other expenses.

Furthermore, Omaze’s documentation says that it is unclear whether you can deduct your donations from your taxes. Some regions won’t let you deduct a donation that you make in return for consideration, and a grand prize counts. If you’d rather get a sure-fire deduction than a chance at a dream prize, donate directly.

On the other hand, if you like the thought that your good deed could also win you a prize like a Porsche with a trunk full of cash, Omaze is the way to go.

Do People Really Win Omaze’s Sweepstakes?

If you’re wondering whether Omaze’s sweepstakes are legit, rest assured those prizes really are awarded. And remember, although donations help good causes, they aren’t required to enter.

If you’d like to know more about the people who have been lucky enough to win Omaze’s fun prizes, check out their winners’ page. It not only includes the winners’ names but also photographs and descriptions of their experiences.

Current Omaze Sweepstakes to Enter

If you’d like to try your hand at being an Omaze winner, you can visit the Omaze Experiences page. Good luck!

So we know the retailers to look at when finding where to buy a PS5 in the U.K. but the challenge is actually finding any that have PS5 stock. This is made all the more difficult when many retailers also haven’t updated their buying pages on if and when we can expect PS5 restocks for January. 

But a major PS5 restock has been tipped to arrive soon. But we’ve not seen retailers suddenly announce they have new PS5 stock in, and Argos took to Twitter to note that people should ignore the rumors that it has more PS5 stock in. 

As such, this week might be a bit of a bust to get either a £449 PS5 or £359 PS5 Digital Edition this month. We’re regularly checking retailers for their latest stock updates, so make sure to check out the selected stores below and keep refreshing this page.

We’ve collected a list of U.K. retailers to check for PS5 stock, as well as our handy widget that’ll surface any PS5 bundles. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for stock updates as well, so make sure to keep checking back for updates.

Where to buy PS5 UK: Quick links and stock updates

• Very
• Currys
• Argos (out of stock)

Where buy PS5 in the UK: Tips and tricks

Get prepared: Make sure you have all the right payment card details and two-factor authentication available and to hand when you find a PS5 ready to buy. Units can go so fast that if you’re rushing around trying to find your credit card you could miss your chance to secure a PS5 order.

Select a retailer: As you can see from our list above, there are plenty of retailers to choose from, which can actually make the whole process of buying a PS5 a bit complicated. We suggest you select a couple of major retailers like Walmart and Amazon and keep an eye on their PS5 landing pages.

Sign up to stock alerts: Plenty of retailers offer to alert you to when they have PS5 stock in. We suggest you sign up to those services for the retailers that are offering them.

Find the right product page: It might sound obvious, but make sure you’re on the actual buying page for the PS5 or the PS5 Digital Edition. If you’re on a landing page, you might end up missing the moment new stock arrives.

Sign in to retailers: Make sure you sign in to any retailers you might already have an account with. This will make things a lot faster when buying a PS5 if you spot one on sale. And speed is of the essence today.

Keep refreshing and don’t give up: It can be a little demoralizing trying to find PS5 stock when everywhere looks sold out. But regularly refresh product pages to see what pops up; you might get lucky. And also keep checking back here for any PS5 stock updates. 

If you still haven’t had any luck getting a console, you can always check our stock widget below. If any other retailers get PS5 stock in throughout the day it’ll show up there. So if you see something jump on that opportunity as soon as you can.