The International Schools Review Forum

Greetings!!

Thank you for all that answered my questions in regards to credit cards. My next question is in regards to airlines. Do most people book flights directly with the airlines, or do they use things like Cheap Flights, Expedia, etc.. Also how reliable are these afore-mentioned companies in regards to flights to and within Asia and other parts of the world?

Thanks!!

I almost always book directly with the airline (though with the card I discussed, I use its travel center a lot now). I've never trusted those third-. sites; there have been too many cases that when something goes wrong, the airlines will only refer you back to that site to let it straighten things out.

I have used Expedia a lot and it is very reliable. I have also used local travel agencies here in Saudi and had no problems.

I have also booked trips to Japan, India, and China online, and had great experiences!

I find both Expedia and Travelocity reliable. Booking directly with an airline can be useful. Since I move with pets, I always go through the airline. But, if you can find a good travel agent, they are priceless. I have one that is a friend of the family and she has gotten me great pet deals, and even notified me of an airline strike and already had me rebooked before I new it was an issue. A good travel agent is worth their weight in gold.

We narrowly avoided a very expensive flight debacle this past Christmas because of the help of Expedia. I would highly recommend them. Of course that doesn't stop me from checking all the other sites or going directly to the airlines' website as well :)

I have had a lot of luck with Expedia and Kayak.

I will chime in here as well and say that I have always used Expedia, unless my school is booking and paying for the tickets. I find booking directly with airlines to be outrageoulsy expensive compared to what one can find on the internet. I have booked flights on the internet from some pretty obscure places for good prices. Give it a go and compare prices.

For my 2 last major trips I've booked directly on KoreanAir and found that their prices were actually lower than what I saw on Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. However for Turkish, I've booked on Orbitz because their site was unreliable. I guess it depends on the airline's site.

I mainly use Expedia for booking airline tickets, though I'll also check certain airline sites directly. If you're booking tickets from within China, either for international or domestic flights, I've had a lot of luck with Elong.

For flights within Asia and Australia, try Air Asia's website. You can get really great deals with this low cost carrier.

I use Kayak and Skyscanner to check available routes etc, then book directly with the airline. Most of the time I have found it's cheaper to book directly on the airline website.

I always book with the airline directly. If there is a problem, its one less person/agency to deal with in the case where you use an internet travel agent (such at Orbitz, Expedia, etc).

The exception to this is when I find a good deal using STA, which is a student travel online agency. Only because the student/teacher fairs tend to have fewer restrictions and they provide a number of secondary agency benefits. I only do so when the fairs are really close.

I agree with Psyguy and Heyteach. I prefer to book directly through the airlines because of the potential problems already mentioned. It's just simpler to deal with the airline if there's a cancellation.

I haven't found airlines' websites to be more expensive than 3rd . sites. I like to use websites like Kayak to find the flight schedules and prices, then I use the link to airlines' websites rather than the links to sites like Expedia.