spiggy_topes
Member
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2006
- Posts
- 161
I recently had to book a moderately complex itinerary for a forthcoming visit to the Middle East (on business, with a side-trip to see a friend in Oman) and on to Europe (privately). Most of the trip is in business class, as the client is paying, but the private flights are in Y.
I went on-line, found the flights, and noted down the quoted fares. Before booking, I sent the itinerary to a travel agent and asked if they could get a cheaper deal.
The J-class fares were about what I expected, but to my surprise the quote for the Y legs was substantially higher; for instance, DXB-GLA, LGW-DXB came in at over $2000, while the same flights were at about $1200 on the Emirates website. I queried the fare and they price-matched.
Worst of all the agent couldn't even book me on one Middle Eastern airline (Oman Air, MCT-AUH) and quoted a silly price & itinerary as they 'didn't have a contract' to sell that flight at the Web price - and I ended up booking the flight myself.
My question is: does a travel agent ever offer a better deal than I can get on the Web? This was a major Australian chain, but the convenience of using them would have cost quite dearly if I hadn't done my homework.
I went on-line, found the flights, and noted down the quoted fares. Before booking, I sent the itinerary to a travel agent and asked if they could get a cheaper deal.
The J-class fares were about what I expected, but to my surprise the quote for the Y legs was substantially higher; for instance, DXB-GLA, LGW-DXB came in at over $2000, while the same flights were at about $1200 on the Emirates website. I queried the fare and they price-matched.
Worst of all the agent couldn't even book me on one Middle Eastern airline (Oman Air, MCT-AUH) and quoted a silly price & itinerary as they 'didn't have a contract' to sell that flight at the Web price - and I ended up booking the flight myself.
My question is: does a travel agent ever offer a better deal than I can get on the Web? This was a major Australian chain, but the convenience of using them would have cost quite dearly if I hadn't done my homework.