Travel agent v online flight booking?

Frankie56

I am planning to travel to Australia in September to visit my daughter and family. I've been 3 times. Twice I booked myself through a travel agent, once my daughter booked online. She is pushing me not to use a travel agent. It involved a 3 hour train journey (from a 10 minute walk from my house right into the airport) and 2 flights. 

Would it be cheaper to book online or would a travel agent find cheaper flights? Also which method would give me more protection if something goes wrong? I'll be buying insurance as soon as I book the flights.

Apart from once when the train dropped me in the middle of Manchester and left me to find my own way to the airport (fortunately the flight was delayed and I got there as they were boarding), and once when my suitcase arrived 2 days after me, there were no problems.

Now, with the problem of the trains either being cancelled or delayed, I'm trying to work out the cheapest way to get to the airport, without relying on them. I don't drive and, although my son said he'd take me, he has just started a new job and will sometimes be in another part of the country.

There is an airport about a half hour drive away which will mean a taxi and 3 flights; another about an hour/hour and a half away, again a taxi (or possibly bus) and 2 flights; (or the one I'm used to, 3-4 hours away so again a taxi/bus and 2 flights). I've contacted several taxi firms and they've either not replied or told me to book the flight then contact them again.

DullGreyGuy

Cheapest single ticket often is just booking directly with the airline online and avoiding middlemen.

If you are comfortable having split tickets (which means you are on your own if your first flights delayed and you miss the second flight) then you have to use a middleman to find such tickets but there is rarely much price difference between then booking with that middleman or going to the different airlines to book each ticket. Certainly the middleman adds no additional protection for having paid for the different tickets on one booking. 

Many will say book direct and in many cases I would agree. If you do use a middleman only do so if they are either 1) top notch customer service or 2) save you a ton of money... the saving of a £5 will look very bad in the round when you discover there is a problem with a flight or such. 

The one time I was happy to have gone with option 1 above was when AirFrance cancelled our flights. Friends had booked direct, we had used an agency. Our agent were easy to get on the phone and within 20 minutes had got AirFrance to agree to rebooking us onto a BA flight at their expense and we were sat on the plane a little over an hour later. At that point in time our friends were still 2,324th in the queue waiting to speak to AirFrance

Newbie_John

There are two parts to your journey:
- flight
- how to get to the airport

Flights, definitely cheapest if purchased online. Although don't go to airline website first - choose multi search tool like Kayak/Google Flights/Skyscanner to find cheapest airline flying the dates/destinations you want and then book with airline directly - the same flight, the same dates. Sometimes it can be few £ more than what wesbites above showed, but you avoid a lot of other problems which I will skip here.
In majority of cases it's cheaper to buy return flight (even if the return is 6 months later) then two separate one way flights.

Regarding getting to the airport, taxis, trains, buses, not really sure where you live and what to advice.

Feel free to post dates and destinations here and we could help with getting cheapest flight.
 

Frankie56

DullGreyGuy, thank you. I'm going to book a return ticket. I usually book with one airline so that if there's a problem with the first flight being delayed, I'd be put on to the next available flight. I'm not confident enough to book separate ones. I thought booking with a travel agent, both they and the airline could help with any problems. My daughter said the agent might only be able to help Monday to Friday 9 till 5 but surely the airline would still help outside of those hours? I was thinking of using the agent because of circumstances such as yours with Air France. 

Newbie_ John, thank you. I did check on Skyscanner. Will look at the others too. I'll definitely buy a return ticket. Thanks for offering to check flights. I live about half an hour's drive from Teesside airport (MME) but would need to use Air France (apparently run by KLM) to Amsterdam, then 2 flights to Brisbane. I'm worried that if the Air France flight is delayed or cancelled, I'd be stuck, but the other flights would be with the same airline so would be ok. My other choice is getting a taxi to Newcastle (about 45 miles) then 2 flights. 

Edit: I've found Rome2Rio. According to that, it'll be about £100 for a taxi from Teesside to Newcastle so thinking it might be cheaper to get the 3 flights, starting from Teesside.

Newbie_John

Wouldn't be it easier if the daughter bought you a flight? 

If you book directly with the air line (and you buy in one purchase the entire journey from Newcastle to Brisbane), let's say Air France, and one of your flights is operated by KLM, Singapore Airlines etc. it really doesn't matter - if Air France is late and you miss your next flight - the airline will put you on next available flight sometimes even different route.
Agent couldn't really help much here - better to speak with airline member at the check in.

This doesn't apply if you miss your first flight though because of late train, taxi etc.

Frankie56

Thanks again Newbie_John. Hmmm, would save me the hassle if my daughter did book it but, last time, I ended up walking round Dubai airport for 10 hours. lol I'm leaning more towards Teesside airport as it is quite close so more likely I'll get there on time, and if, like you say, I buy one ticket for the full journey, it makes more sense. I've been checking KLM's website as they fly from there, but they've got a technical problem at the moment. I paid £800 in 2019. Looks like around £2000 now, although some are quoting around £15.000. 

DullGreyGuy

Frankie56 said:

DullGreyGuy, thank you. I'm going to book a return ticket. I usually book with one airline so that if there's a problem with the first flight being delayed, I'd be put on to the next available flight. I'm not confident enough to book separate ones. I thought booking with a travel agent, both they and the airline could help with any problems. My daughter said the agent might only be able to help Monday to Friday 9 till 5 but surely the airline would still help outside of those hours? I was thinking of using the agent because of circumstances such as yours with Air France. 

Our agency is 24/7 but aren't open to the public (the mainly deal with corporates or those associated to their corporate clients) which makes things easier.

If the airline will help directly or not really depends on the problem etc, there are plenty of stories of people on here being on hold for 2hours and when they finally got through to the airline they said they had to speak to their booking agent. This where they then have trouble contacting their internet only overseas agency which they only used to save a couple of quid.

Frankie56

Right, I've gone ahead and booked with Air France directly, leaving from my local airport, so fingers crossed. The prices I was looking at were all pretty much the same, so I went for reasonable flight times. Thank you both so much for your help.

CKhalvashi

Frankie56 said:

DullGreyGuy, thank you. I'm going to book a return ticket. I usually book with one airline so that if there's a problem with the first flight being delayed, I'd be put on to the next available flight. I'm not confident enough to book separate ones. I thought booking with a travel agent, both they and the airline could help with any problems. My daughter said the agent might only be able to help Monday to Friday 9 till 5 but surely the airline would still help outside of those hours? I was thinking of using the agent because of circumstances such as yours with Air France. 

Newbie_ John, thank you. I did check on Skyscanner. Will look at the others too. I'll definitely buy a return ticket. Thanks for offering to check flights. I live about half an hour's drive from Teesside airport (MME) but would need to use Air France (apparently run by KLM) to Amsterdam, then 2 flights to Brisbane. I'm worried that if the Air France flight is delayed or cancelled, I'd be stuck, but the other flights would be with the same airline so would be ok. My other choice is getting a taxi to Newcastle (about 45 miles) then 2 flights. 

Edit: I've found Rome2Rio. According to that, it'll be about £100 for a taxi from Teesside to Newcastle so thinking it might be cheaper to get the 3 flights, starting from Teesside.

For the part in bold, that is NOT how low cost carriers work and you're only covered under a single PNR. Some airlines allow multiple PNRs on a single booking now for different elements, so be careful for this.

For MME to Australia, you'll probably be better off as an inexperienced traveller (I will advise choosing a cheaper airport for some and self-positioning, this is not likely to be correct advice in your case) flying with KLM to Amsterdam, then connecting to either KLM or a Skyteam carrier to wherever and a Skyteam carrier to Brisbane.

Air France don't (to the best of my knowledge) fly to Teeside, so the flight will be operated by KLM, although may be sold on an Air France flight number. A colleague had a ticket to the US yesterday which was sold by Air France, marketed on a Virgin code (which is the one on the booking receipt) and operated by Delta, which was the cheapest way to book it.

Rome2rio's estimates are quite rarely accurate.

For flight only, you're almost always in the event of something going wrong better booking directly with the airline, who won't be able to deal with you directly on an agency ticket.

Frankie56

Thank you CKhalvashi. Yes, it said Air France operated by KLM. I decided it was probably better to cut out the middle man. I did think using an agent would give me extra protection if something went wrong but now I know they'd have to contact the airline anyway. Might as well do that myself.

CKhalvashi

Frankie56 said:

Thank you CKhalvashi. Yes, it said Air France operated by KLM. I decided it was probably better to cut out the middle man. I did think using an agent would give me extra protection if something went wrong but now I know they'd have to contact the airline anyway. Might as well do that myself.

Your rights for flight only are actually stronger booking with the airline.

AF/KL will ticket on one itinerary with formal connections even if you see the interior of 3 different airlines each way. The issuing carrier will be the one responsible for the entire booking, in this case probably Air France, despite the face you're unlikely to fly with them.