Looking for help with booking flights to India and Australia later this year!

cactuswhale

Hi all, 

I'll be travelling to Goa, India later this year, and I'd really appreciate some help/guidance with the booking. I've spent many hours on comparison sites and I've gotten myself completely overwhelmed with the options. I'd really love to get the trip booked this weekend if at all possible.

Requirements:
2 adults and 2 kids over 12
Dublin, Ireland > Goa, India 25th or 26th October 2025
Goa, India > Brisbane, Aus - 31st Oct late afternoon onwards or 1st Nov
Brisbane Aus > Dublin, Ireland 11th, 12th Nov (12th would be preferred)
At least 25kg of checked luggage per trip
Missed connection cover due to delays/cancellations etc

1) Should I book the entire trip through a single comparison site or book the 3 flights separately?
2) I do have a decent worldwide insurance policy. Would these normally cover missed connection flights due to delays?
3) I assume better to use a credit card to pay for flights for extra protection?
4) Any other suggestions I have completely overlooked?

Many thanks for for your help!

A (very) confused traveller 

400ixl

Book the flights directly with the airline, not through a 3rd party.

Make sure that each leg is on a through ticket so that the airline is responsible for any missed connections. no one can tell you what your insurance policy covers, we can't see the terms, so read the policy.

Use a credit card to book if you can.

Voyager2002

I hope you know that you will need visas for India: even though you should be able to use the online visa, it does take a few days so don't leave it to the last minute.

(if you just want a break on a tropical beach on the way to Australia, other places such as Dubai and Malaysia would be a lot easier.)

comeandgo

Do not book through price comparison sight, you can see which of the airlines are cheaper and go direct to their sights.  If anything was to go wrong due to late flights or cancelled flights it so much easier to deal with airlines direct.  

Archergirl

Voyager2002 said:

I hope you know that you will need visas for India: even though you should be able to use the online visa, it does take a few days so don't leave it to the last minute.

(if you just want a break on a tropical beach on the way to Australia, other places such as Dubai and Malaysia would be a lot easier.)

Our Indian visas took a while, I believe you need a different size photo (or at least you used to)
You will also need Australian Evisas do this online but make sure you use the .Gov site not any other.

bagand96

cactuswhale said:

1) Should I book the entire trip through a single comparison site or book the 3 flights separately?

Book the entire trip with the same airline under the same booking (in practice it might be a mix of airlines operating - but as long as it's all on the same booking reference). That way the airline is responsible for the entire itinerary in the event of schedule changes, missed connections. 

Look at comparison sites for a guide, general advice is to book direct with an airline rather than an online agent. 

Google Flights is a good comparison site, run by ITA Matrix which has its own site that has more options. 

400ixl

bagand96 said:

cactuswhale said:

1) Should I book the entire trip through a single comparison site or book the 3 flights separately?

Book the entire trip with the same airline under the same booking (in practice it might be a mix of airlines operating - but as long as it's all on the same booking reference). That way the airline is responsible for the entire itinerary in the event of schedule changes, missed connections. 

Look at comparison sites for a guide, general advice is to book direct with an airline rather than an online agent. 

Google Flights is a good comparison site, run by ITA Matrix which has its own site that has more options. 

You don't need to book the entire trip with one airline, but will likely be cheaper and the best way to do it though.

What you do need to do is book and entire leg through one airline as a through ticket. You could book Ireland to India with one airline, India to Australia with another and Australia to Ireland with a third. As they are all at least a day apart the risk would be minimal.

cactuswhale

Thanks for all the advice!

Booking direct with the airline directly seems to be the emphasis here. I never would have thought twice about booking with a reputable comparison site, especially if they offer transfer guarantees. I also checked my insurance policy and it does cover missed connections, but that's probably more hassle than it's worth.

I did do a couple price comparisons for the whole trip with a single airline and it was a bit too expensive. So I think @400ixl is correct. Booking each leg with the same airline seems a good compromise. Thanks.

@Voyager2002 @Archergirl thank you for mentioning about the Visas! I will get on to that as soon as I get the flights booked. 

Voyager2002

400ixl said:

bagand96 said:

cactuswhale said:

1) Should I book the entire trip through a single comparison site or book the 3 flights separately?

Book the entire trip with the same airline under the same booking (in practice it might be a mix of airlines operating - but as long as it's all on the same booking reference). That way the airline is responsible for the entire itinerary in the event of schedule changes, missed connections. 

Look at comparison sites for a guide, general advice is to book direct with an airline rather than an online agent. 

Google Flights is a good comparison site, run by ITA Matrix which has its own site that has more options. 

You don't need to book the entire trip with one airline, but will likely be cheaper and the best way to do it though.

What you do need to do is book and entire leg through one airline as a through ticket. You could book Ireland to India with one airline, India to Australia with another and Australia to Ireland with a third. As they are all at least a day apart the risk would be minimal.

Usually a return ticket costs more than two singles, so I would try to book this as a return to Australia with a break of journey in India.

eskbanker

Voyager2002 said:

400ixl said:

bagand96 said:

cactuswhale said:

1) Should I book the entire trip through a single comparison site or book the 3 flights separately?

Book the entire trip with the same airline under the same booking (in practice it might be a mix of airlines operating - but as long as it's all on the same booking reference). That way the airline is responsible for the entire itinerary in the event of schedule changes, missed connections. 

Look at comparison sites for a guide, general advice is to book direct with an airline rather than an online agent. 

Google Flights is a good comparison site, run by ITA Matrix which has its own site that has more options. 

You don't need to book the entire trip with one airline, but will likely be cheaper and the best way to do it though.

What you do need to do is book and entire leg through one airline as a through ticket. You could book Ireland to India with one airline, India to Australia with another and Australia to Ireland with a third. As they are all at least a day apart the risk would be minimal.

Usually a return ticket costs more than two singles, so I would try to book this as a return to Australia with a break of journey in India.

Haven't you got that the wrong way round?

bagand96

400ixl said:

bagand96 said:

cactuswhale said:

1) Should I book the entire trip through a single comparison site or book the 3 flights separately?

Book the entire trip with the same airline under the same booking (in practice it might be a mix of airlines operating - but as long as it's all on the same booking reference). That way the airline is responsible for the entire itinerary in the event of schedule changes, missed connections. 

Look at comparison sites for a guide, general advice is to book direct with an airline rather than an online agent. 

Google Flights is a good comparison site, run by ITA Matrix which has its own site that has more options. 

You don't need to book the entire trip with one airline, but will likely be cheaper and the best way to do it though.

What you do need to do is book and entire leg through one airline as a through ticket. You could book Ireland to India with one airline, India to Australia with another and Australia to Ireland with a third. As they are all at least a day apart the risk would be minimal.

I would still reccomend having everything on the same reference for a big trip like this (or at least the outbound and inbound legs from Dublin) . If there's cancellations/schedule changes etc you could end up with a useless leg that's no refundable.