Scully Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 How difficuilt is it to plan,book flights and accomodation abroad on-line directly without going through a travel agent?Anyone done this?Advantages(price obviously)?Disadvantages?Things to look out for. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DNS Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 It is simple - but if you're just going to replicate a 'package' holiday you may well find it's cheaper through an agent - the tour operatiors have massive buying power and get decent prices. You will also have some protection vs the operator going bust and all the organisation's done for you typically with transfers to and from airport and acommodation. If you're doing someting other than a straightforward package-replica, it is easy enough to sort yourself. Flexibility is probably the biggest advantage rather than price. You also have to make all the arrangements yourself. I prefer the DIY option, but I suspect it costs me more than getting an agent to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danddo Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 Have done the DIY many times but have found that if you get the price of your holiday online then go to the travel agents they will 9 times out of 10 try very hard to match it. If having a travel agent gives you that piece of mind. If they cant match it there is nothing lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88b Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 A lot depends where your going. We have done it ourselves many times you just need to spend some time doing research. The only place I've found a travel agent was cheaper was doing island hoping in Hawaii. There are many places for flights I find e bookers good but saying that I've just booked flights to Italy directly with BA and got very reasonable car hire too. Booking.com is good for hotels, although not so good in America, just make sure the hotel is rated over 7.5 and read the customer reviews on the site. Trip advisor I find so so but helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaedra1106 Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 (edited) Never used a travel agent for the last 15 years. We try to get to Florida twice a year and always book our own flights, car hire, hotels, villas etc. Usually around the same price as a cheap package deal but with better flights (extra leg room and better luggage allowance), bigger car and a 3 or 4 bedroomed villa instead of a hotel room. For the US we mainly use Netflights for flights and car hire or the First Choice Florida flight only deals can sometimes be good, we've had Premium Economy for under £400 each a couple of times. For hotels Hotels.com or Travel Republic and for Florida villas HomeAway.co.uk are pretty good plus the odd Ebay bargain. Edited August 23, 2013 by phaedra1106 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsdad Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 I have never used a travel agent-just go online and book direct, easy with the Internet. Get indepent reviews from tripadvisor and then go from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalconFN Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 I have never used a travel agent-just go online and book direct, easy with the Internet. Get indepent reviews from tripadvisor and then go from there.+1 but it depends on what holiday you are after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimfire4969 Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 Never used a travel agent for the last 15 years. We try to get to Florida twice a year and always book our own flights, car hire, hotels, villas etc. Usually around the same price as a cheap package deal but with better flights (extra leg room and better luggage allowance), bigger car and a 3 or 4 bedroomed villa instead of a hotel room. For the US we mainly use Netflights for flights and car hire or the First Choice Florida flight only deals can sometimes be good, we've had Premium Economy for under £400 each a couple of times. For hotels Hotels.com or Travel Republic and for Florida villas HomeAway.co.uk are pretty good plus the odd Ebay bargain. As said above when we go to the US we always book everthing ourselves. We have also done this to Antigua, but i am sure some places it would be a lot easier and cheaper to book though an agent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted August 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 Many thanks everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piebob Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 One thing to watch out for (although I'm not sure you can avoid it anyway) is that each trip / flight / purchase will likely be seen by insurers as an individual purchase, rather than a single trip / holiday. So if you have to cancel for any reason, you cop for the excess on each and every booking. I learnt this the hard way after booking all international and internal flights, as well as a few hotels etc for a month long Oz trip. Then I snapped my Achilles (ooja bassa) so had to cancel as I was in a full leg cast. Got most of my money back, but still lost a fair bit by having to pay all the excesses. That was an expensive five-a-side game! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpkiller Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 always done it myself on the internet all you are doing is the same job as the travel agent themselves. You can meet half way and use a website such as onthebeach icelolly or travelsoon (used them last time) they are basically a website that pulls in all the individual parts like flight times, hotels which you just pick yourself your never stuck with some 3am flight, you choose everything and it only works out a couple of quid more than literally doing it yourself and will be classed as a whole package because its all through one agent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaxiDriver Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 i've just spent an hour trying to find flights to Sharm el egypt and got no where fast. All I could come up with was flights taking 2days plus, flying with multiple airlines costing over £2k per person Didn't get as far as the hotel (I know which one we want) I did manage to book a rather nice campsite in Cornwall earlier in the year without the aid of a travel agent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laird Lugton Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 (edited) Easyjet fly to sharm from Gatwick, I think daily. Edited August 23, 2013 by Laird Lugton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpkiller Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 just had a look on travelsoon cheapest £229 most expensive £400 ish gatwick to sharm thats around end of August / begining september Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVB Posted August 23, 2013 Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 I always book flights direct (normally with BA). For hotels I book direct with hotel by phone or e-mail. I might do research on Internet but don't book via Expedia etc. have found that I can normally negotiate a better deal direct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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