When I first heard about eDreams Prime, I thought it could be an awesome service. For a fee, the company promises to get you great deals on flights, car rentals, and hotel rooms. But is the annual travel subscription all it’s cracked up to be?
In my research, every blog post I came across about eDreams Prime was sponsored. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re not true, I wanted to write an honest and unbiased review of whether eDreams Prime is really worth it.
Here’s what I liked, what I hated, and how you can (potentially) save money on your next airline ticket. Let’s go!
Disclosure: This post is not sponsored by eDreams. Some of the links below are affiliate links. When you purchase through links on my site, I may make a small commission (at no extra cost to you!).
What is eDreams Prime?
eDreams is an online travel agency (or OTA) that provides travel booking services on flights, hotels, and holiday packages. They operate throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
If you’ve searched for a flight on eDreams, you might have noticed that there are two prices available: non-discounted and Prime.
eDreams Prime is the company’s annual subscription service. For a flat fixed annual rate, an eDreams Prime subscription claims to get you discounted prices and exclusive deals on plane tickets, car rentals, and accommodation bookings.
What does eDreams Prime cost?
An eDreams Prime membership will cost you €54.99 a year. For €64.99 a year, you can opt for Prime Plus, which lets you share your discounts with up to 9 friends (even when you’re not traveling).
You can try out Prime for free with their 30-day free trial. If you don’t want to continue your subscription after your trial, make sure to cancel it because they will automatically charge you.
Is eDreams legit?
Yes, eDreams is a fully accredited online travel agent. They’re owned by parent company ODIGEO, one of the largest European companies in the travel industry with more than 17 million yearly customers.
While eDreams is completely legitimate, it’s still a third-party booking platform.
That means that instead of booking directly with the airline or hotel, you’re using a middleman to coordinate your booking. eDreams takes a small cut from every transaction in exchange for being the main point of contact if an issue arises.
Third-party booking companies aren’t inherently bad, but they can lead to issues if the company doesn’t follow up on its customer service promises. You’ll need to decide whether booking the cheapest price on flight tickets is worth the administrative hassle if something goes wrong.
Benefits of eDreams Prime
Savings on flight, hotel, and rental car bookings
The biggest advantage of booking with eDreams Prime (or any other OTA) is getting the lowest prices on flights, hotels, and car rentals.
In my opinion, these additional discounts are the only reason it would make sense to use third-party travel booking sites. These lower prices can often come with risks — customer service can be finicky, rebooking can be a hassle, and fares are often nonrefundable. If the price is right, though, the risks can be worth it.
In the screenshots above, booking on eDreams Prime would save you €4 compared to booking the same flights directly with Jetstar. eDreams’ non-discounted fare of €120 is €36 more than Jetstar’s fare, which makes no sense for anyone to book.
During my research, I found that the eDreams Prime price was usually only a little bit cheaper than booking directly with the airline. More expensive long distance flights often came with the best deals.
If you’re keen to book the lowest possible flight prices no matter what, then eDreams Prime could be beneficial. Personally, I’d rather pay a bit more for the peace of mind that comes with booking directly.
Discounts extend to travel companions
If you have an eDreams Prime subscription, you’re able to share your discount with up to 9 other travelers without them needing their own Prime account.
This benefit could be especially useful for families and groups of friends. If you find a particularly good deal on a flight, the combined discount across the whole group could be enough to pay for the annual subscription with a single trip.
30-day free trial
If you know that you’ll be booking a bunch of flights and hotels all at once for your upcoming travel plans, the 30-day Prime free trial could be a great option.
Simply book your travel to get the Prime discounts before canceling your free trial! To cancel your trial, go to the eDreams app or website, navigate to “My Prime account” and click on “Cancel my Prime subscription.”
What are the average savings with eDreams Prime?
Based on the original cost of the flight, here are the extra discounts that eDreams claims you can save with a Prime membership:
| Price of flight | Average Prime savings |
| €0 – €149 | €20 |
| €150 – €299 | €30 |
| €300 – €499 | €40 |
| ≥ €500 | up to €90 |
As the price of the original flight increases, so does the amount of money you can save.
What is eDreams Prime Day?
eDreams Prime Day is a sale on flights, hotels, rental cars, and holiday packages that runs a couple of times a year for a few days. During the sale, eDreams adds extra travel discounts up to 60% off their Prime prices.
You’ll need to be an eDreams Prime subscriber to take advantage of the Prime Day sales. (That would be the perfect time to sign up for their free trial!)
Drawbacks of eDreams Prime
OTA (online travel agency)
As an OTA, booking with eDreams can come with a few drawbacks. These include:
- Lack of customer support: According to some customer reviews, eDreams can be difficult to contact and/or slow to respond when problems arise
- Expensive change or cancellation fees: In order to offer lower prices initially, OTAs may charge expensive fees if you want to alter or cancel your flight
- 24-hour rule may not apply: The 24-hour rule is a protection guaranteed by the federal government that lets you cancel your flight without any penalty within 24 hours of purchase. This only applies to flights booked directly with an airline, meaning eDreams does not have to honor it
- Not earning airline status: If you’re loyal to a particular airline, you won’t accrue any status or perks by booking through an OTA
Besides these negatives, I’ve also noticed that the eDreams website often uses deceptive patterns to mislead or deceive the user. These include things like misdirection when booking extras (like seat assignments) and urgency to accelerate purchases.
Aside from confusing the customer, these deceptive patterns also make the website more difficult and annoying to use.
May not be the cheapest option
In my research, I found several cases where the price of flights on eDreams Prime was more expensive than booking directly with the airline.
In the screenshots above, you can see that booking directly with Air New Zealand would save you €76 over booking on the eDreams website. eDreams’ non-discounted fare of €1,338 is even more expensive than the regular fare.
Taking the other OTA drawbacks into consideration, there is no benefit to booking with eDreams if the price is not significantly lower.
Confusing subscription model
eDreams’ subscription model is a bit unique: you need to actually book a flight before being able to subscribe to eDreams Prime.
This model has apparently confused a lot of customers who believe that their credit card has been wrongfully charged. When booking a flight on the eDreams website, you need to manually opt out of adding on a Prime subscription.
This means that if you’ve come to the website to book a cheap flight without realizing that there’s a subscription attached, you probably won’t notice in time to cancel the free trial. Having a surprise transaction on your card does not lead to a happy subscriber base.
Does the largest travel subscription programme in Europe really need to be misleading customers into subscribing?
eDreams alternatives
eDreams is a super popular travel booking site, but it’s not the only option!
Other popular online travel agencies for booking flights include Skyscanner, Expedia, Kiwi.com, Momondo, Orbitz, Travelocity, and Hopper. Booking.com and Hostelworld are excellent options for booking cheap accommodation.
Is eDreams Prime worth it?
Based on everything that I’ve researched, eDreams Prime is not worth the €54.99 annual subscription fee.
Many of the flights I searched for ended up being more expensive to book through eDreams than with the airline itself. Without a hefty discount on the flight price, there’s no benefit to using the Prime service over just booking a flight on your own.
If you do choose to book with eDreams Prime, make sure that:
- The price of your flight or accommodation is heavily discounted,
- You’re not likely to change or cancel your flight in the future, and
- You buy travel insurance.
That way, you’re more likely to have a positive experience.
You’ll also love:
- Is Business Class Worth It? Confessions From A Budget Traveler
- 18 Free (& Cheap) Things to Do in Christchurch: South Island on a Budget
- How I Fly For Free (An Explanation of Flight Attendant Travel Benefits)
Thanks for reading this eDreams Prime review! If you’ve ever used it to book cheap flights, I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below.
xoxo Niki
Wrongful charge on my credit card.I did not want to be on edreams.Please refund to my credit card.
edreams prime is a real scam. I paid 444 CHF (swiss francs) a flight Rio de Janeiro – Foz the Iguazu for 2 persons, I had to cancel, and I was refunded 7.84 CHF each (so 15.68 CHF). It’s a nightmare to get the helpline of edreams wich tells me to contact the LATAM company.
Edreams is the WORST travel agency I have ever used. Impossible to contact; charge you for prime membership after cancellation of same within free period. Add $10 at pay point point because airline increased fee. Offer credit on future flights but nowhere to add credit at payment point. Airline emailed me to advise tickets are sold by an unauthorised agency and I had to satisfy airline purchase was genuine.