Book direct with Airline or Agency

Susan1942

I am wondering whether to book direct with Airline or through a Consolidator ie Netflights The flight with Netflight is £614 With Emirates is £649
I have made bookings through them and Trailfinders previously with no problem Do I have any advantage booking direct with airline ? Would appreciate advice

Sue

Caz3121

the advice is usually to book direct with the airline due to the number of dodgy third party sites around that advertise fares that do not exist
The advantage of booking direct with the airline is if you need to make changes as the airline will send you to deal with the agency who will likely have their own fees in addition to any fees charged by the airline

Alan_Bowen

Agreed, it can be better at times to book direct with the airline but Netflights has been trading for more than 30 years and is owned by an offshoot of Emirates itself so I imagine the relationship between agent and airline would be pretty good

Susan1942

Thanks for the information but as the difference is so little I would prefer to deal direct with the Airline In times past I have book with Trailfinders and Netflights (Had a different name then) Trailfinders were more expensive I had booked with them when I wanted to travel Manchester Singapore then after a stopover to Auckland then cruise back to Sydney did a flight with Qantas then flew back from Perth to Manchester
At that time I didn't see how I could do the different destinations I now see that there is a multi trip button that would let me do all this with Singapore other then the flight from Sydney to Perth
All could be a change of plan as I am thinking about a cruise out of Singapore to Hong Kong It is still doable but the Hong Kong bit is expensive as it is 20th December no direct flts to Perth but SIA will fly us from Hong Kong to Singapore and then from there to Perth
My SIL would fly from Perth to cruise with me
EXPENSIVE I would pay this amoung but my SIL may not want to spend as much !
All will be revealed If I Don't do this I will just fly with Emirates at £645 as opposed to Singapore Airlines
I do appreciate all the input from MSE Forum members Either way I will book the flights or the flight/cruise ASAP
Thanks again Sue

Susan1942

I have now booked my flight only to find that the price had increased by £50 from yesterday but it was still a good price The origional question has been answered It is definately book early than later I was thinking of booking with Singapore Airlines which would still be £216 more I have been encouraged to book with Emirates as the aircraft is newer seats more comfortable and best in flight entertainment something called ICE Had a look and free wifi a new one for me on a flight I had also been considering a cruise out of Singapore but in the end due to only getting to Perth 3 days before Christmas I have saved a lot of money by not doing this Also the 30K baggage is great as this is always a problem for me I have flown in the past about 10 years ago and there was a problem with seating on the way out on the Manchester to Dubai leg but I sent a fax direct to head office in Dubai I received a letter whilst still in Perth and my Sister and I were very well looked after on the return flight including a couple of glasses of champagne |Head Purser came and spoke with us so at the end of the day we were very happy Still trying to sort out travel insurance Looks like the least I can pay will be around the £200 mark but I need to make some further phone calls I have existing medical conditions that need to be declared The money I saved on my flights will pay for this
The Aircraft is the new A380 so have been reading some reviews Used Seat Guro and able to see what some have to say about bad and good seats I have a long time to go but once I have everything in place I can forget it until nearer the time Flight times are good 12 30pm out of Manchester Arrive Perth 5 25pm the following day 21 hrs in total Layover 2 hrs 50 mins
Return 22 10 out of Perth 2hrs layover in Dubai and arrive 11 20 Manchester All in all I think I have done all my research Thanks again for all the good advice Sue
Sue