Booking Flights. Airline or Travel Agency?

[1DC]

I am about to book some long haul business class flights. The cost is about the same booking direct with the airline or with the travel agent i normally use.
Is it better to go direct to the airline or via a travel agency?

[ExXB]

Don't think it matters, except for one thing. If you do go with an agency make sure they pass along your contact details (cell phone, email) to the airline. Many won't do so unless asked. If they won't, or if you think they haven't call the airline yourself and give it to them.

If the airline can only contact you via your agency, you could be disadvantaged should things go pear shaped.

[Metro man]

If flying on the Middle East airline which cannot be named, book directly with them as they aren't interested in sorting out any problems if you went through an agent.

Check to see if you get the same number of FF miles with agent tickets, sometimes they sell a different booking code with fewer miles.

[Dannyboy39]

If the prices are relatively similar, go through the airline itself.


From general experience however, the travel agency is cheaper and gets you to exactly the same place with the same product.

[Peter47]

I generally book direct. However agents can be useful for complex itineraries. Last time I flew UK to Oz (in Y) with stopovers in both directions (plus two domestic sectors) Trailfinders pointed out that I could save £200 by shifting one sector by 24 hours. Can also useful if an intinerary involves trips on different alliances (don't book separate tickets for different legs if you have a tight connection).

[Hotel Tango]

I would recommend exactly what Peter47 said.

[Phileas Fogg]

Should "every little help" then via a particular "top cash back" c/o uk site the recognised travel agencies, and quite a few airlines also, offer a percentage of cashback and on business class bookings that could amount to a few beers or a meal or few.

I generally search via such a search engine such as "fly dot com" and then I investigate how much cashback I may get from each of the vendors and from one particular travel agency that Alan Whicker advertised, besides cashback, one gets Nectar points also.

P.S. Just need to clear cookies before re-entering said site via cash back site

[1DC]

Many thanks for your replies. The trip involves stopovers and a side trip and became a bit complicated for me when i tried to do it so i have gone to my agent..

[OverRun]

My experience with long-haul business flights is that it is better to use a travel agent rather than the airline.

This is especially so with the Middle Eastern airlines. Their booking systems often (usually, and in the case of an airline that should never be mentioned, always) fall over at the critical bit of paying. Never mind that I have spent the last 10 minutes working through the booking process to get to the pay point. Crash. Start again. Another 10 minutes. Crash. Another 10 minutes because I am getting desperate to make the booking. Crash.

So I have learned to use a travel agent for the ticketing despite the seeming attraction of direct access through the airline’s web site. In my case (using Australian credit cards), I use an Australian online travel agent even though I am often booking from all sorts of countries around the world. I simply go online through the Australian travel agent and they are operating 24/7 (shouldn't say which one, but at least they are nice and always say hello). The travel agent is also very good for the more obscure airlines such as some of the ex-Eastern European ones, again because it means the paying part is done using the travel agent’s rock-solid IT technology.

I must make it clear and say that I am using a travel agent with an online presence, rather than an online-only discount cheapest fare bucket shop. This is a real and long established established travel agent that I use. Some of the discount bucket shops might be OK – but read reviews of say ‘e-dreams’ before choosing to buy the very cheapest ticket on offer.

BTW I have been paying or trying to pay with credit cards and Paypal, and both have the ‘crash’ problem with airline websites. I use these credit cards and Paypal for transactions all over the world, so I know they are all working. I suspect the problem is booking business class air tickets themselves, because they are a lot of money. So the credit card and Paypal transactions for air tickets attract a lot more attention/difficulty because of the high value and ethereal nature, leading to more problems paying.

[edi_local]

I, personally, tend to use the airlines directly. At least then if they screw up my booking then I can go to a desk and sort it out at the airport on the day of travel. I don't much fancy being stuck on the phone while check in is closing behind me, as I've seen happen countless times.

Of course if you book with a good, solid, reputable agent then you will usually have no problems, in deed I often check them first and now and again their prices are too good to turn down. Complex itineraries using airlines across multiple alliances or airlines which aren't aligned are a lot easier to book with agents, no doubt.

Some of the online only ones, however, even the big names can cause major problems and fail to deliver on their promises or totally misinform people. I've lost count of the number of times "cheapoholidays.com*" have sent people to the wrong terminals at airports, or totally lied about baggage allowances and seat allocations!

I don't always think the agents are the cheapest option either. Recent personal experience showed me that a package being offered on a popular online agency (which was being advertised as the cheapest deal) was almost £30 more per person than booking the whole trip directly with the airline and then booking the exact same hotel on their website directly.

*not a real travel agency

[Metro man]

Be careful of going through an unknown agency, margins are razor thin on economy fares and whilst you have some security if you pay by credit card, it's not unknown for the company to go broke without having passed on the fare to the airline. Which leaves you having to buy last minute tickets at top price.

[fa2fi]

For me I book direct as I know the airline has my details and it makes things like selecting seats, paying for bags or any extras that bit easier. Plus why pay a third party to do something that takes a couple of minutes and something I'll be full in control of?

[Heathrow Harry]

as others say if it's a straight out and back to civilised parts on a major airline you book direct

If you want multiple stops, in the more obscure parts of the globe on multiple airlines and you have a little flexibility on dates/times/class of travel an agent wins every time IMHO