Is it worth buying flights and hotel separately rather than using a travel agent?

Doshwaster

NoodleDoodleMan said:

My point about DIY bookings are the diificulties if something goes wrong, typically where a return flight is cancelled especially at short notice.

That happened to us last summer when Easyjet cancelled a homeward flight from Schiphol shortly before scheduled departure leaving us stranded and abandoned airside.

The budget airlines can be a bit hit or miss on what help they will offer you there and then but there should never be any cause to tbe "stranded and abandoned". A combination of knowing your rights under EU/UK law, travel insurance and an emergency credit card should get you out of immediate trouble.

 A package may give some extra protections but at the cost of reduce choice - there are some types of trip which would be impossible as a package. Personally, I prefer the flexibility and happy to take the small risk that something will go wrong. 

NoodleDoodleMan

zagfles said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

My point about DIY bookings are the diificulties if something goes wrong, typically where a return flight is cancelled especially at short notice.

That happened to us last summer when Easyjet cancelled a homeward flight from Schiphol shortly before scheduled departure leaving us stranded and abandoned airside.

Happened to me quite a few times. Last minute flight cancellations, missed connections etc. Never any difficulty sorting stuff out. 

There are many who have experienced significant problems. Not all airlines are as focused on assisting customers in difficulties as others.

zagfles

NoodleDoodleMan said:

zagfles said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

My point about DIY bookings are the diificulties if something goes wrong, typically where a return flight is cancelled especially at short notice.

That happened to us last summer when Easyjet cancelled a homeward flight from Schiphol shortly before scheduled departure leaving us stranded and abandoned airside.

Happened to me quite a few times. Last minute flight cancellations, missed connections etc. Never any difficulty sorting stuff out. 

There are many who have experienced significant problems. Not all airlines are as focused on assisting customers in difficulties as others.

Then you use your nouse to sort it out yourself. If you're capable of booking flights, hotels and transport independently then you should be capable of booking them if plans change even last minute. I've done it loads of times. It's all part of the adventure of travel. 

l.c.elliott

zagfles said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

zagfles said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

My point about DIY bookings are the diificulties if something goes wrong, typically where a return flight is cancelled especially at short notice.

That happened to us last summer when Easyjet cancelled a homeward flight from Schiphol shortly before scheduled departure leaving us stranded and abandoned airside.

Happened to me quite a few times. Last minute flight cancellations, missed connections etc. Never any difficulty sorting stuff out. 

There are many who have experienced significant problems. Not all airlines are as focused on assisting customers in difficulties as others.

Then you use your nouse to sort it out yourself. If you're capable of booking flights, hotels and transport independently then you should be capable of booking them if plans change even last minute. I've done it loads of times. It's all part of the adventure of travel. 

If this happened to me, id be more than capable of rebooking myself.  The concern would be covering the cost. Im assuming insurance policy would reimburse me later but its the upfront cost id be concerned about 🙈

NoodleDoodleMan

Presumably you've never been abandoned in a foreign airport where the airline has no service desk and any staff are totally disinterested in offering any meaningful assistance ?

The first flight back was three days hence.

zagfles

l.c.elliott said:

zagfles said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

zagfles said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

My point about DIY bookings are the diificulties if something goes wrong, typically where a return flight is cancelled especially at short notice.

That happened to us last summer when Easyjet cancelled a homeward flight from Schiphol shortly before scheduled departure leaving us stranded and abandoned airside.

Happened to me quite a few times. Last minute flight cancellations, missed connections etc. Never any difficulty sorting stuff out. 

There are many who have experienced significant problems. Not all airlines are as focused on assisting customers in difficulties as others.

Then you use your nouse to sort it out yourself. If you're capable of booking flights, hotels and transport independently then you should be capable of booking them if plans change even last minute. I've done it loads of times. It's all part of the adventure of travel. 

If this happened to me, id be more than capable of rebooking myself.  The concern would be covering the cost. Im assuming insurance policy would reimburse me later but its the upfront cost id be concerned about 🙈

I've never needed to claim off insurance for cancelled flights, the airline had reimbursed, often with the EU compensation extras on top. For other stuff, there's never been any significant cost, I've had "non amendable/cancellable" hotel reservation changed or cancelled free when stuff like transport/weather issues meant I needed to change/cancel. 

Of course there may be costs you may incur that you won't get back, same could happen with anything. Your car may develop a fault that costs a thousand to fix, but it doesn't put people off owning cars. Unexpected car trouble has cost me far more than disrupted travel expenditure over my lifetime, and I travel a lot.   

zagfles

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Presumably you've never been abandoned in a foreign airport where the airline has no service desk and any staff are totally disinterested in offering any meaningful assistance ?

The first flight back was three days hence.

Loads of times. I've arrived at airports and found transport to where I was going suspended because of weather, strikes etc. I've had flights cancelled last minute with no assistance offered by the airline. Same with other modes of transport, I've been stranded in a city due to heavy snow cutting all transport and all the hotels were full (ended up sleeping in a police cell!), I've missed train/coach connections leaving me having to make an unscheduled overnight stop somewhere. 

Some in the days before everyone had internet on their phones. These days it's easy where you can just google local hotels, restaurants, transport etc. It's not rocket science. If you can't do that, stick to packages, or maybe stay at home, even package operators don't always hold your hand for every issue. 

eskbanker

zagfles said:

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Presumably you've never been abandoned in a foreign airport where the airline has no service desk and any staff are totally disinterested in offering any meaningful assistance ?

The first flight back was three days hence.

Loads of times. I've arrived at airports and found transport to where I was going suspended because of weather, strikes etc. I've had flights cancelled last minute with no assistance offered by the airline. Same with other modes of transport, I've been stranded in a city due to heavy snow cutting all transport and all the hotels were full (ended up sleeping in a police cell!), I've missed train/coach connections leaving me having to make an unscheduled overnight stop somewhere. 

Some in the days before everyone had internet on their phones. These days it's easy where you can just google local hotels, restaurants, transport etc. It's not rocket science. If you can't do that, stick to packages, or maybe stay at home, even package operators don't always hold your hand for every issue. 

I ought to be able to remember the details as that poster's tale of being 'stranded'/'abandoned' gets posted repeatedly but my recollection is that they were on a package booking and the UK-based provider (remarkably) did actually physically send someone to Schiphol to provide face-to-face assistance, whereas the airline simply did what most would do and directed them to their app or call centre to make alternative arrangements, so while it's understandable that this was seen as a significant variance, it is of course completely unrealistic to see that as typical!

At_home_with_the_cookes

Have you considered looking at whether the airline that you're looking to book with can book hotels or car hire too?  We recently booked a trip with British Airways, we booked the hotel with them for a few days of our 2 week trip and this meant that it was considered as a package holiday and we had ATOL protection. I believe that this also applies if flights and car hire are booked together. 

NoodleDoodleMan

Some in the days before everyone had internet on their phones. These days it's easy where you can just google local hotels, restaurants, transport etc. It's not rocket science. If you can't do that, stick to packages, or maybe stay at home, even package operators don't always hold your hand for every issue.

Or maybe ignore condescending patronising "guidance", I've been flying abroad for almost 70 years. 

I'm well aware of, and competent with the mechanics of iPhones/iPads and the internet etc.