Flights through agents

roseview

Having decided on my route and flights, I'm now concerned about some of the companies so wanted to have any feedback from recent experiences.

Carlton Leisure
TravelUp
Flightcentre

We are looking at flights only, using Cathay Pacific and then an internal flight in Oz with Qantas. Booking direct makes them rather more expensive, somehow.

richardw

Do a comparison booking the CX flights on Cathay Pacific without the internal QF flight.

Are you looking at the flights from LGW?

roseview

Heathrow. Price on Skyscanner is £722 LHR - HK-SYD-Perth_LHR. Cathay Pacific direct, minus the Sydney-Perth flight is £678 and the best Sydney to Perth I can find is £90 which makes it about £50 pp extra.

jpsartre

Can you not book all the way to Perth with Cathay? Separate tickets isn't ideal unless you are planning a longer stop-over since you'll have to buy a new ticket should you miss your flight (although Sydney to Perth might not be too bad pricewise even for lastminute flights).

Nothing wrong with going through a 3rd party per se (assuming they're actually cheaper, the prices they show aren't always live), just be aware that you'll be stuck dealing with the agent should you require any changes to the itinerary.

Edit: Just saw you've got a couple of weeks between flights to the worry about separate tickets obviously doesn't apply.

richardw

I don't trust those agents to give accurate pricing on skyscanner.
If you fancy a stopover in Hong Kong call Trailfinders and ask about a flight and hotel deal.
Btw Cathay Pacific are using new A350 aircraft from LGW which may be quieter.
Do you have any Avios or tesco club card vouchers, if so the internal Qantas flight might be available with Avios.

roseview

We are going from Heathrow. We don't have enough points to use.

Kernow666

I have used agents before and used Travelup and Flight Centre on the basis they have been a lot cheaper


couple of recent examples


London to Melbourne - £433 with travel up - £698 direct with airline
London to LA - £379 with flight centre - £524 direct with airline


I know a lot of people say always book with airline but I don't see a problem if its a reputable company and the saving is decent enough to warrant it

bagand96

A lot of people here will advise never to use agents and always book direct. However I'm of the view that if a real saving can be made then its worth while.

Couple of points:

- Make sure the itinerary is booked and ticketed within 24 hours. You want an airline reservation locator that you can access on the airline's own site to ensure you are properly booked. If you don't get this within 24 hours start being suspicious and chase them.

- Any amendments to the reservation will have to be done by the agent. This includes if the airline change the itinerary and you need an alternative. Some agents can be better at this than others. It depends on the airline, some will point blank refuse to discuss with you, whilst others will at least discuss your options with you, although the actual changes will need to be done by the agent.

Personally I would do it, although I try to pick the agent carefully.

benjus

I just booked some flights with Iberia. They were showing up as being several hundred pounds cheaper with various agents compared with the airline. So I tried Iberia's Spanish site, and the flights came up at about the same price that the agents were charging. So I booked it there. Could be worth a try...