Is it best to travel with a travel agent?

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  tanoshiiki on 20/02/2013 - 11:14

  +2

  As someone new to booking travel and it sounds as though you're not sounding very confident, it might be best to go through a travel agent, to ease your mind. If it was a small or very direct trip, I'd recommend by yourself, but I'm presuming this might be a big Europe trip?

  You can still do your own research. Just print out everything that you are interested in and would book yourself and bring that to the travel agent and see what they can do.

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  retiredfeline on 20/02/2013 - 11:15

  +1

  No, leave him in the travel shop and travel with a partner, reli or friend. :) But seriously…

  This was asked before, and my opinion remains the same. If your arrangements are straightforward, there's no need for a travel agent, you can do your own bookings.

  Baggage limits are clearly stated on airline sites and tickets. Get yourself a portable scale to weigh baggage.

  A travel agent will not be able to save you from any additional payments for changes in dates, they pass on carrier charges. Only if you have not finalised the booking they can redo a tentative booking, but most TAs require payment fairly soon.

  A travel agent will not save you from forgetting to get insurance or visas, they can only remind you of that. But for the Schengen Zone you don't need a visa for 90 days.

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  mskeggs on 20/02/2013 - 11:16

  +1

  I haven't booked with a travel agent for 15 years.
  Things can go wrong with them too.
  If you are on this site you are presumably web savvy enough to do your own research, and conscious of saving some dollars, so I say, go for it.
  Ideally, you will book using a gold credit card that includes free travel insurance (most do).
  A nifty web site for keeping all the info together is tripit.com
  If you need to change dates, you will either pay more up front to buy a more premium type of ticket (called something like flexible) or be prepared to pay penalties.
  Better to make sure you know your dates before you book.
  All that said, you might do well to get a more experienced traveler to look over your plans before you book. For example, my sister-in-law did her own thing for a working holiday in the UK and unthinkingly booked a one-way ticket. This cost very close to the return fare anyway, and gave her extra grief at UK immigration. Smarter to get a return as an almost free trip home after a year.

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  evol on 20/02/2013 - 11:44

  +1

  http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

  And then book the fares yourself on the respective carrier website and save the hassle. Or if you can't find those fares online take the provided codes to a travel agent.

  • 

    T Info on 10/04/2013 - 08:33

    Matrix software finds airfares that either don't exist or are from other sales and ticketing areas so are often of very little use locally. All local selling airfares are loaded into most GDS or the agents have tariff advices from the respective carriers in the case of nett fares. Not all travel agents are equal … biggest is often not best.

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  siraitken on 20/02/2013 - 12:09

  +1

  My fiance & I have just booked our honeymoon to Africa for 7 weeks.

  We have booked all flights ourselves as it was cheaper and more convenient. (Paid $1900 and was quoted $2300/2400)

  We chose to use a travel agent in Africa, go2africa.com, as they have greater local purchasing power for tours than the ones in Australia becuase you pay local price not tourist price. Our tour costs $2300 not $3400 for the exact same product you book here.

  Another benefit of using a local travel agent is they book the tours all the time so they know the reps and can speak the language.

  Do your research and pick what works for you in terms of time/money/stress.

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  Foxtail on 20/02/2013 - 13:32

  +2

  Not used a TA for 20 years we always book direct with airlines too, if you buy cheap seats usually restrictions making changes can be false economy. Don't know why the OP is stuck on those airlines?.

  Can use these sites to find flights then book direct.

  http://www.bestflights.com.au

  http://www.skyscanner.com.au/?gclid=CIWKyLqXm7UCFcQkpgodC2IA…

  Look up Malaysian Airlines they have some real good deals via KL as does Cathy Pacific from OZ.

  • 

    riley94 on 20/02/2013 - 20:15

    Thanks for the tip, I'll look those airlines up and play around with dates a bit.

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  donga100 on 20/02/2013 - 15:12

  +1

  I don't normally recommend booking through a travel agent but I think if you proposed that combination of airlines to them they would try to talk you out of it. It sounds like a bit of a disaster waiting to happen. Are you aware that if one of those flights are delayed and you miss your next flight your ticket will be forfeited? I suppose it would be ok if you allowed a long time between flights or an overnight stay in Singapore but it's a bit of a risk or inconvenience/extra expense. If you purchase the entire journey with one airline they will usually rebook your for free if there are any missed connections due to their delay.

  Try using www.skyscanner.com and unselect the "non-protected transfers" option.

  • 

    evol on 20/02/2013 - 16:53

    +1 for Jetstar, Flyscoot and Air France being a terrible choice of airlines to mix together in the same trip.

  • 

    riley94 on 20/02/2013 - 20:14

    Thank you for the advice, especially the non-protected transfers thing from skyscanner… I'd never noticed that before. If I did go with non-protected flights, I'd definitely be planning on leaving plenty of room for late/cancelled flights.

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  retiredfeline on 20/02/2013 - 15:14

  +2

  I'd be travelling with Jetstar, Flyscoot and Air France.

  Is there a reason for that combination? Jetstar to get you to the city where Scoot leaves and then Air France from Singapore? Did you want a stopover in those cities? Have you tried looking for a more direct route?

  BTW a travel agent isn't going to save you if you go ahead against their advice with tight transfers; you'd still have to pay for any fallout yourself. In the end a TA is just that, an agent, booking on your behalf.

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  riley94 on 20/02/2013 - 20:14

  Thank you for all the replies!

  I actually can't do the deal I found, as I've been reading and Air France doesn't allow date changes, which is a requirement of mine (I'm going for 6 months, so I need a flexible ticket so that if I decide I don't like travelling for a long period of time I can come home without too much extra expense.)

  The reason for the combination was that I found what I thought was a pretty good price (less than $1200 return) going via Singapore (the $99 one way deal).

  • 

    retiredfeline on 20/02/2013 - 20:22

    Are you going to the Schengen countries? You can only stay 90 days in any 180 days. Unless you have a non-tourist visa, dual citizenship or some different circumstance.

    • 

      riley94 on 20/02/2013 - 22:24

      I know. It's annoying, I wish I could stay longer in the Schengen Area… I'm looking into visa options, but right now I'm planning on spending 90 days in the Schengen Area and 90 days in the UK and Eastern countries not in Schengen.

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  wako on 05/04/2013 - 09:40

  In my experience travel agents have done nothing but make mistakes… Every time I have used one…

  The best part about doing it yourself, If you make a mistake, no one to blame exept yourself, But In my case I check things 3 times to make sure i get it right.. Can always clarify things with people in tripadvisor or other forums should you have a question…

  I stil get quotes from Travelagents tho when wanting to go somewhere. To find out package prices, and routes.

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  Firejelly on 05/04/2013 - 11:54

  +1

  I've only just booked a trip to Europe with student flights 2 weeks back for the same reason, just wanted a peace of mind, and because I haven't booked multiple flights together before. My travel consultant made multiple mistakes in my booking (charged us wrongly, made 4 separate mistakes in our name - on our invoices, and travel insurance cover, covered us for the wrong dates of travel) and the flights he booked was $1000 more expensive for the exact same flights I could've booked on line, and falsely told me my quotes I brought in for price beat wasn't genuine. I'm sure it's all very dependent who you get, but I would suggest triple checking everything even if you go to a travel agent, and keep a hard copy of all documents and all correspondence on e-mail so you have evidences to back you up if mistakes happen. I would go to the travel agent, just to have a look at some suggestion of routes and flights they have, and do a bit of research when you get home. If you do go with the travel agent, most likely won't get a bargain, since they only price beat out, and not back.

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  lach stock 144 on 09/04/2013 - 22:17

  I am a travel agent, and I'm pretty up front with people around price. I completely understand that people like the research their own holiday and often find prices that they like. Some people like to let us plan their trip completely, some people like us to offer advise and help book portions of their trip, and some people just want to use us for peace of mind o flights or product that they have already found themselves.

  I am lucky that i work for Flight Centre, so we can beat airfares out of Australia.. sometimes we can beat these significantly, and sometimes we can only beat these by $1 (budget airlines usually). Some of the big areas we can save you money are:

  • More complicated airfares (that you may not be able to do online)
  • Tours (we have power to discount on touring that the companies don't have if you book it Direct with them. For example high end touring such as APT and Scenic Tours are companies which we can often give you significant savings that you may not get by booking it online or through their reservations teams.
  • Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about your travels: [email protected]
    i have a work email address but i didn't think it was appropriate to list this in the forum.

  Other benefits with travel agents (the company i work for especially)
  - we have 24 hour assistance on your bookings
  - we sell everything - airfares, transfers, hotels, tours, insurance - the works

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  altomic on 15/04/2013 - 21:00

  +1

  www.wego.com.au is pretty good for prices.

  check out reviews with trip advisor.

  provide your dates here and ask people to find the best flights and suggest hotels.