Cheaper to book through agent but bad reviews...

meeshpeesh

I need some advice on who to book my flights with.

I'm going on a trek with TrekAmerica which will go from New York to LA over the course of 3 weeks.

I've tried a lot multi-city search engines and the cheapest I've found by far is with STA travel. The flights are direct and with Virgin Atlantic and will only cost me £770, which is £100 cheaper than quoted on every other site.

However, the reviews for STA travel are terrible. People are saying that they have tried to contact their customer services and have just been ignored and some even ended up stranded due to the company's ignorace. There's the occasional good review but the negative ones outweigh the positive ones by an overwhelming amount.

The one thing that I find reassuring is that most of the bad reviews are from people who tried changing their flights after opting for STA's flexi ticket. I don't want/need that so I'm hoping it'll be more straight forward.

Do I risk it and book with the company and save over £100 or do I fork out and book direct with Virgin/another agent?

blindman

meeshpeesh wrote: »

I need some advice on who to book my flights with.

I'm going on a trek with TrekAmerica which will go from New York to LA over the course of 3 weeks.
The flights are direct and with Virgin Atlantic and will only cost me £770, which is £100 cheaper than quoted on every other site.

book direct with Virgin/another agent?

Booking airfares through an agent IMHO only complicates things. Go direct with an airline.

When are you going? Only £770 sounds a lot:eek:

mpkirkland

www (dot) airtransat (dot) co (dot) uk - Book a flight from Manchester to Toronto (Right now it's £189 coach) and then pick up a cheap flight or train to New York... cheaper travel for you!

meeshpeesh

blindman wrote: »

Booking airfares through an agent IMHO only complicates things. Go direct with an airline.

When are you going? Only £770 sounds a lot:eek:

I'm going at the beginning of August, so was always expecting it to be expensive! But the multi-city adds to the cost because it's not just simple return.

I did look at getting in direct flights and making my way to new york but if there are any delays with getting there I'll be screwed as my tour will leave without me!

I have already got insurance and if they were to steal my money and mess me around I'm sure that I'd find some advice from Martin :money: on here to make sure I get reparations! I think I'm gonna go for it, but confirm with literally everyone (Virgin, STA, Heathrow, the Pilot!) that my booking exists.

jackieblack

Open-jaw flights only usually cost about £30 more (admin fee) than the cost of each separate leg of a return flight for each destination added together.

£770 for direct flights at the beginning of August is about what I'd expect to pay for most destinations in USA.

budgetflyer

For a £100 saving I would book with the agent.
STA are an established company with branches all over the UK
see http://www.statravel.co.uk/find-a-branch.htm

So you can pop into one and discuss your requirements face to face with a real person.
Complaints are rarely how people on review sites say they are. ie booking a non refundable or non changeable ticket and then asking for a refund or change etc etc