travel agent question...

[Ban Hammer 13,442]

if I have to use a travel agent its either myself.

or Carlson wagonlit travels.

yeah, give "southwest shon" a shot at this travel biz

[MHandMB 0]

I don't know about Australia, but I know when I've gone to Europe, flights get a little cheaper about 4 months prior to the departure date. I can be looking at something that's $900 8 months out, and then when I look again a few months later, I can find it for $600. I'm sure you've probably thought about all of that, though.

I know that travel agents can find good deals, but I think whatever you save in buying the ticket, they'll probably get back in commission.

The cheapest flight I've seen is for $1705 leaving from LAX flying United.

Priceline might be a good choice for you, if you're not picky about departure times or airline. I've had nothing but good experiences through priceline, with hotels and airfare.

Good luck!

[CarolineM 0]

I am totally fleixble...trying priceline right now I always start with something totally unreasonable...cause hey, you never know!!

We got a five star hotel in Sydney through them for SUPER cheap and it was AWesome.

Priceline is laughing at me and my cheap cheap request.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

ooo those are tough dates. right over chrismas and NYs.

[tomica52 0]

WIith internet and all the information you can find on there trave l agents are completely useless... Unless you want something really special, and don't have time to look for it.

[Alex+R 0]

ACTUALLY I wouldn't say travel agents are useless. In college I worked in the student travel center (helped people pick study abroad programs, sold Eurail passes, etc.) and we were attached to a few travel agencies (we didn't handle flights, we had agency affiliations instead). I had always thought they were obsolete before I tried one. Sometimes they've got ridiculous fares, and they know a lot more than the average person about when flights are going to get cheap.

Are either of you a student or under 26? STA Travel often has some amazing deals to Australia (I know because I'm always dreaming about going there! )

[ajames79 0]

try

www.kayak.com

I've just discovered it..

but it may be helpful

[sugarcane 0]

I personally use travel agents. I always check for flight schedules using expedia or travelocity, get an idea of the cost, and then call a travel agent. I have ALWAYS gotten lower prices useing a travle agent. If they couldn't get you good deals, they wouldn't be in business!!!

P.S. I also like having my tickets in hand, which is slowly going away due to e-tickets though.

[dark faery 0]

If you can book the tickets yourself, I'd suggest doing that. My husband and I used travel agencies for our flights, and they did nothing spectacular for us- not to mention they repeadetly did a pretty decent job of messing things up for us (i.e. not sending my flight itinary to me until one day before I had to leave). The prices weren't any cheaper than what we could've gotten on orbitz.com or expedia.com, either.

The cheapest flight I got to Australia when I went once was $1,400 and that was a direct flight from LAX to Brisbane in the off season. For the days you want, you're probably looking at a pretty hefty fare. My advice is to check Air New Zeleand, though. You'd have a stopover in NZ, but whenever I'd check airfare, they seemed to have some pretty good deals and ran a couple hundred dollars cheaper than Qantas.

[CarolineM 0]

Under age 26?? Ooooh you do have a sense of humor don't you

Thanks for all the help guys. I have a good idea of fares and will now call a TA. I mean a consultation is free, right?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Under age 26?? Ooooh you do have a sense of humor don't you

Thanks for all the help guys. I have a good idea of fares and will now call a TA. I mean a consultation is free, right?

Should be free. I have no problem with paying a fee if they take care of you.

Have you looked into ticket consolidators? (google it)

[babybunny 2]

The advantage of using a travel agency is the agent will know the CO share partners. where as travel o city agents wont know this. example:

say if you are traveling on PIA airlines. and wanted to travel on say American airlines too. Travel o city is not able to tell you the airline that these to are co share with. A travel agent can. The common airline is British airways. if you know anything about ticketing. AMerican airline is very picky about who makes tickets under them. soo british airways is ok by PIA and ok by American airlines.

how would Travel o city handle this situation? they would tell you.

" sorry sir we cant ticket this reservation".

[hampster 0]

Hi Karo,

I found this and prices are for 2 adults

I hope this helps.

Cheers

Paul

P.S .. will you be stocking up on Vegemite for your return to U.S.A. lol

oooh I like that one mawilson....

turns out FF won't work - they are already all booked.

haha Agent Smith....

Hi Karo,

I found this and prices are for 2 adults

http://www.airfare.com/APIFlights/roundairline.asp

I hope this helps.

Cheers

Paul

P.S .. will you be stocking up on Vegemite for your return to U.S.A. lol

oooh I like that one mawilson....

turns out FF won't work - they are already all booked.

haha Agent Smith....

[Tim and Bethanie 1]

http://www.australia.com/deals/nat_geo_meg...er:airpass:text Not sure if this is any good or not, figured would send it your way.

[CarolineM 0]

aww thanks I think that is for travel within Oz only. Thank you so much though!! You guys are great.