Beat My Quote! Travel Agents Thread

crabbman2004_2

Transfer are apparently not included and are £85 per person. Therefore total cost is £2967...

minxtress

Incapuppy wrote: »

That is a very good question. I have certainly contacted people with better quotes, as have others on here. This board relies on people being polite enough to come and update their post but sadly, that rarely happens.

It would be interesting to know as I have given some highly competitive quotes to people on here, they reply with a few questions then they are never to be heard from again!

MrsChips

Has anyone had their quote bettered

I'm fairly new to this thread but in a short time I have been here I have responded to quite a few questions with a better Quote. However Most tend to get back and say that they have already booked. Whilst they should update their post to say its booked I dont think anybody seems to.

Has anyone booked from a quote they have been given on this thread??

delwynshd

hi mrs chips

i have had a booking from here yeah only the one though

thanks
Del

casevlloyds

I have done quite a few bookings from beating peoples quotes on here.

Although having said that at least 80% of the people I PM don't even bother replying!

tafer2uk

jetskidia wrote: »

Has anyone had their quote bettered

I only got one quote which was much more expensive.

I was recommended a couple of websites to try but the web sites are so poor to search, i.e. have no advanced options, so I couldn't get flights that matched my criteria.

Does anybody know where you stand from a legal/consumer rights point of view if you were to book flights from a travel agent not based in the uk/eu?

Also does anybody know if it is worth phoning the airlines direct to try and haggle/negotiate a deal. I am wanting 6 adult tickets to fly premium economy which is going to be nearly £6k worth of business.

Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for any help anyone may have.:beer:

Moonchild

tafer2uk wrote: »

I only got one quote which was much more expensive.

I was recommended a couple of websites to try but the web sites are so poor to search, i.e. have no advanced options, so I couldn't get flights that matched my criteria.

Does anybody know where you stand from a legal/consumer rights point of view if you were to book flights from a travel agent not based in the uk/eu?

Also does anybody know if it is worth phoning the airlines direct to try and haggle/negotiate a deal. I am wanting 6 adult tickets to fly premium economy which is going to be nearly £6k worth of business.
Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for any help anyone may have.:beer:

Tafer - a couple of comments. Although i'm not a travel agent, i'm very familiar with EVA Air!

I'll say a couple of things. Flight onlys give Travel Agents nothing to play around with, it's generally a waste of time posting them as with a modicum of research you can find the best prices. Actually, just as you have done. If you were to say 'I'm also looking for this hotel in Bangkok and 7 nights in Koh Samui' etc etc then you might start to find people will quote you better prices.

Flight onlys? Don't bother posting.Margins are so incredibly low (ebookers used to mark up 3-5%).

I was travelling at a similar time to you, so checked out your link. That price is cheaper than anyone else on the market has at the moment. You should book it. It is an excellent price. Book it. If it's too much, then book economy, Premium Economy under 1k is currently a very good deal.

Negotiate with airlines? No disrespect, but 6k is no business at all, especially when the only competition - BA & Qantas are double that price. Wouldn't bother.

I might be booking that offer myself, so thanks for posting it!

3430lee

The Quote itself: 832pp
Who the quote is from: caribbeancancellations.com
Is there a booking fee: No
The Tour Operator/Airline/Hotel: not sure
The departure Airport/Post: Birmingham
The Holiday Dates: 20/01/09 @ 11:10 - 14 nights
The number of people travelling (inc kids ages): 2 Adults
The Hotel (or * if it’s allocate on arrival): Club Ambience, Runaway bay, Jamaica
The Board (self catering/half board etc): All Inclusive
Any specific requirements: no
Is an in-flight meal included: yes

Can anyone beat this quote, i am now ready to book something!

i have my card ready to book.

simonkirkland

HI,

Please can you see if you can do anything to improve the cost this last minute break:

The Quote itself: £998
Who the quote is from: telextext (through qwerty)
Is there a booking fee: no
The Tour Operator/Airline/Hotel: ??/??/Fortina Hotel 4*
The departure Airport/Post: Birmingham
The Holiday Dates: 8th-15th (can do any departure between these)
The number of people travelling (inc kids ages): 2 adults
The Hotel (or * if it’s allocate on arrival): Fotina Hotel, sea view room
The Board (self catering/half board etc): All Inclusive
Any specific requirements: no
Is an in-flight meal included: ?

Many thanks

Simon

tafer2uk

Moonchild wrote: »

Tafer - a couple of comments. Although i'm not a travel agent, i'm very familiar with EVA Air!

I'll say a couple of things. Flight onlys give Travel Agents nothing to play around with, it's generally a waste of time posting them as with a modicum of research you can find the best prices. Actually, just as you have done. If you were to say 'I'm also looking for this hotel in Bangkok and 7 nights in Koh Samui' etc etc then you might start to find people will quote you better prices.

Flight onlys? Don't bother posting.Margins are so incredibly low (ebookers used to mark up 3-5%).

I was travelling at a similar time to you, so checked out your link. That price is cheaper than anyone else on the market has at the moment. You should book it. It is an excellent price. Book it. If it's too much, then book economy, Premium Economy under 1k is currently a very good deal.

Negotiate with airlines? No disrespect, but 6k is no business at all, especially when the only competition - BA & Qantas are double that price. Wouldn't bother.

I might be booking that offer myself, so thanks for posting it!

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I hear what you are saying about being a good price with Eva, however the tight optimistic Yorkshireman in me can't help but hope the price may come down for the following reasons.

1) Credit Crunch
2) I think latest figures for European tourist numbers travelling to Thailand are showing a drop of 15%
3) Having just recently flown the route in this class, unless our flights were unusually quiet then Eva are only operating at approx 50% capacity.
4) Eva are currently discounting there economy fares at approx £100 cheaper than earlier this year. Whereas the premium economy is approximatley £100 dearer than earlier this year. Hoping this might level out a bit.
5) The price of oil has fallen sharply

You are probably right about £6k being nothing to the airlines. It is also true that travel agents work on tight margins too, however Eva have obviously released blocks of discounted economy seats to the TA's as they are discounting at £40 less than Eva's special online offer price. This year we picked up premium economy flights for £835 from a TA, £50 cheaper than Eva's online offer price. Hoping Eva will release some bargain premium economy seats for next year to the TA's soon.

I always find buying accommodation through TA's more expensive than I can source myself online, thus wiping out any savings on flights plus a bit more, otherwise i'd happily use them.

Good luck with the booking if you go ahead, also for info if it's any use, BA flights are currently on sale at £1070, and I did manage to get one TA to quote £920 pp all in, with only an £85 deposit flying with Eva. I think i'm going to wait a bit longer and appeae the Yorkshireman inside, after all the offer is not scheduled to end until December. :cool: