BobbyDazzler

If you know where you want to go, when you want to go, where you want to stay and flight times etc, is it better (cheaper) to book flights & accomodation directly with the airlines and hotels or better to book via an established travel agent such as Travelbag, Trailfinders etc?

Logic would say that booking direct would be cheaper, however I suspect that Travel agents would have access to group discounts and also allow you to pay a deposit initially followed by the balance x weeks before you go. Not sure whether you have this option if booking direct

Trip is in March 2006

Any advice appreciated

Thanks

BD

moneypenny20

Don't know about package type stuff cos I have always done my own but when I was booking my flight to Brissie the other week, to fly with Singapore Air was far cheaper through one of the travel bag/e bookers type company than direct with the airline. You would imagine direct would be cheaper but it's not.

I don't think, from what I could see on the sites, that you can pay in bits with these companies. Obviously if you were buying a package from Thompson I imagine you can but there didn't seem to be the facility with the on-line guys.

Probably not much use but best I can manage

karenjc

It's strange how they must vary as we booked ours 2 weeks ago and it was cheaper to go with Singapore on line than it was with travelbag. When we did a round the world trip i found it a lot easier booking with travelbag as it takes a lot of stress knowing that professionals are doing it and we could book transfers to and from the airport with them as well.

Juliecabs

My parents did a Round The World trip a few years ago and booked the lot through a company called Quest Travel in Kingston, Surrey. They were really helpful, especially as the trip coincided with 9/11 Their flights had to be changed etc but the agent was great. They had a fab time. Not sure if it would have been a bit cheaper to do it direct but they still got it for a pretty good price and obviously didn't have the hassle of changing things themselves.

Julie

playbunny75

Hello

We did a round world trip a couple fo years ago and used Flight centre and they were pretty good.I know of quite afew other people that have used them and I think they offer "price match" so if you do find it cheaper after at least you won't lose out.

Have fun planning your great trip

steve99

We did a round the world trip 3 or 4 years ago, I worked everything out that we wanted to do (I ended up with a huge spreadsheet, with every day listed where we'd be, accomodation, flights, day trips etc) I chose the exact flights,accomodation etc that we wanted, hunted around for the best prices I could get, then got talking to someone at Travelbag and ended up being able to send the whole spreadsheet to the guy, he managed to get the flights and probably about a third of the hotels cheaper than me, plus did me some deals on multiple day trips etc.
So we booked that lot with him and did the rest ourselves.
All worked out fantasticaly, so much so that after a weeks visit to Perth we decided to go home sell up and move here
Steve

BobbyDazzler

Steve PMSL!!!

The huge spreadsheet thing is SO me and this is exactly what I have done so far. I guess all I have to now is hand it over to a Travel Consultant and ask them to sort it!!!

Many thanks to you all for your helpful advice

Thanks

BD

steve99

Great minds think a like
You'll be wanting an A3 printer for christmas then