One of the main reasons, why a lot of people choose a travel agency
They…
- are unexperienced of booking flights
- are afraid, that additional costs will apply without knowing the amount
- don´t know what happens, when missing a connecting flight
- don´t know what to do when a flight is cancelled (and they might miss another connecting flight)
- are unsure about costs regarding baggage
- …
Travel agency or self-organization?
Travel Agency
- you always have a contact
- they have to check on your itinerary and book alternative flights in case of missing a connecting flight
- usually all costs incl. baggage are inclusive at time of booking
- if you have multi-stopp flights the data is usually fixed ahead of the trip
- some agencies offer flight rescheduling services for a fee
If you book a trip with various countries/ cities, usually the ticket if only valid for one year.
The same applies to open-return-tickets.
self-organization
- your respective airline is your contact
- you check on your itinerary
- the airline has to refund your flight or book an alternative in case you miss a flight and it´s the airline´s fault
- same applies to cancelled flights
- when booking flights on your own, you can choose between differente price categories (with/ without baggage, insurance/non-insurance, flexible flight/ fixed flight date, meals/no meals, …)
That´s the way I plan our trips
First, I always search on Skyscanner for flights.
Thus I get an overview of
- the big hubs
- operating airlines
- price ranges for each routes
Flying to Australia, there are following popular routes:
Fly over Bangkok / Singapore / Hongkong / Kuala Lumpur
Example:
If I type in : March 6th
- Departure: Berlin
- Arrival: Sydney
Current lowest fare: 752€.
25 hours of traveling. ..10 hours stay over in Hong Kong.
- That’s quite expensive
- 10 hours in Hong Kong means 10 hours at the airport.
My recommendation: always book flights separately to
- Avoid such high prices
- Avoid annoying ineffective stay overs
- you are more flexible on dates, price and additional services
- you don´t have to stick to one year, but can travel as you want as long as you want
example route ~540€:
Berlin – Oslo – Bangkok
Stay in Bangkok as many days as you like (we stay 3)
256€ (inkl. Bag 20kg ~300€)
Bangkok – Sydney
210€ (inkl. 1 Bag 20kg 260€)
3 reasons why booking separately is better…
- You can decide where to stop
- You can use a stop over for sightseeing and really use the day(s) for yourself instead of being stressed at the airport for many hours
- You can save a bunch of money
The money you save – you can use to have a nice stay at a hotel in e.g. Bangkok or whichever place to stop by.
Our route by the way looks like that:
Berlin – Oslo – Bangkok (2 nights) – Ho-Chi-Minh (4 nights) – Phu Quoc (9 nights) – Hanoi (5 nights) – Singapore (2 nights) – Sydney.Price altogether: ~600€.
one way to happiness 