I am coming to the cafe for some advice from more experienced people than I. I usually use a local travel agent when booking tickets, and it’s usually a round trip from here in Asia and she can usually find good deals when originating here. My husband and I want to fly our daughter and her boyfriend here from college for Christmas break. She is unable to get me good deals with a stateside origin. I’ve been looking online at various websites, and getting some reasonable prices, but I am nervous about buying from sites like Orbitz, or CheapoAir, or others. Which of these types of sites are reliable and good to use for purchasing tickets? Any that I should avoid?
Also, I want to get travel insurance for their trip, especially since it is wintertime, and they will be orginating from the Northeast. Any recommendations?
You may want to try https://www.kayak.com , which searches airline and travel agent web sites. You may also want to check the airline web site to see if the same deal is available there if you find a deal on a travel agent web site.
The general reputation of the online travel agents is that it is ok to book through them, but managing your flight (selecting preassigned seats, changing flights, dealing with weather delays and misconnections) may be more difficult through them than if you book directly with the airline.
I use Expedia but I am elite status… so they probably treat me a bit better. I was able to reschedule an international flight for kiddo an hour before departure by calling them… I also successfully canceled a few flights (refundable fares). That said, I always check what airlines have to offer… if they will sell me a ticket in USD, I will usually buy directly from them. If they insist on charging in local currency for flights originating abroad, I go to Expedia and pay in $$.
As far as travel insurance, try squaremouth.com. I got some very comprehensive, inexpensive and highly rated insurance from RoamRight on their site. They let you compare insurance carriers directly, with the reviews. Hoping I don’t have to use it!
Thanks so much. I don’t know why I am so nervous about buying the tickets online. I’ve checked the airlines directly but I am getting savings of 300 to 500 dollars per ticket on the other “bargain” travel websites. I need to wait another week or so before actually buying them, hopefully the prices won’t go up too much.
I prefer to book directly with the airline I am going to be flying with, even if it may be slightly more expensive so any changes are again directly with the airline. I have had few problems and have rarely had to rebook. My credit card (chase sapphire preferred) provides SOME travel insurance and I have NOT tried to make any claims on it, so am not sure how that would work). I only bought travel insurance for my honeymoon when we were planning to go to Europe over 3 decades ago and we cancelled and lost very little–perhaps a deposit or two.
I’ve used Kayak for years with zero problems. Usually it will kick you over to the individual airline’s site. If not once you find the fare you want, you can then look for it on that airline’s site. Kayak is a metasearch engine and aggregator.
Thanks @HImom, DUH! I have the Chase United Explorer card which provides travel insurance. It may be worth the extra few hundred to book through them. They are coming in the least expensive at the moment.
Well, not Asia, but. It’s been a few years, but for a trip to visit D2 in a 3rd world country, my travel agent couldn’t get less than 3500 each. The airlines were hardly better. Expedia got two of us there and back for under 1400 each.
Now, they may do it by routing in crazy ways. We flew Boston to Detroit to Amsterdam, before the final leg. Coming back, via Rome, Paris. 4 different airlines. But from booking through finish, no issues other than a long layover going and coming.
Just called Chase, we get the travel insurance by using the card. However, only get the free luggage benefit through United, but since it’s international not an issue.
I am an elite flyer with one of the Asian carriers. I always book direct with that airline and other Asian cartiers when my preferred carrier won’t work for my route. I use the flecible dates optiob and get a grid of available fares for a 3 day range of date combinations.
I can tell you, I am flying the same roundtrip route ito Asia n late November and then back again over Christmas and New Years. The difference in my fare for thise dates is over $1000. Christmas is not a good time to fly. I did similar dates last Christmas with a similarly high fare. FYI, summer is also higher than other months.
I know folks who use those secondary sites to book tickets online…but beware. If there is an issue at all…the airlines will take much better care of you than if you book through a third party vendor.
I once made reservations using Travelocity. My reservation was fine for me…but I guess it wasn’t for them. My flight time returning was changed from 1 pm to 7 am. I didn’t want to leave at 7 am. But worse than that…they had me on a flight arriving at my connection airport AFTER my connecting flight left. I couldn’t even get any communications through Travelocity. The airline was first VERY unwilling to work with me…but I begged to speak to a supervisor…and luckily…she understood the connection issue…and rebooked me on my original itinerary. Say what?
I use the third party folks to look for,flights and airlines…then check Southwest which isn’t ON those third party sites.
What I like about Kayak as an aggregator is that often the cheapest and most convenient choice is a combo of 2 different one way fares on 2 different airlines. That’s happened a few times lately and it’s saved me $$ over booking through one airline site. It still kicks me over to book directly through the airlines, but comes up with flight combinations I probably would not have pieced together otherwise.
Funny (sort of) word of warning if you book yourself. The Asian carriers I use show flight times using a 24 hour clock. For instance, 2 PM displays as 14:00. Twice, I have been about to push the button on a 2 AM (2:00) flight thinking, “Oh that’s great. I can check out of the hotel after a pleasant sleep and breakfast and still be at the airport early.” Wrong!
I often use Orbitz to find and book flights. My daughter recently went to southeast Asia and her flights were codeshared by United and ANA. We’ve received great customer service from ANA despite not booking directly with the airline.