Travel Agent Recommendation

Would appreciate recommendations on local travel agents who are able to find those exceptional fares and experience in booking international travel. My spouse is coming to visit me soon (Yeah!) and due to the location it's not feasible to book through the web.

I try to check in every few days but also please feel free to email your suggestions either to me or my spouse directly: carol.fleming@lincolngroup.com or abdula57@yahoo.com

Thanks!
Carol

 

Strange but I would see a travel agency on every corner many years ago and now that you bring this up I honestly can't say I noticed one in years. Where are they???

Lee J Buividas

 

Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia...

 

All kidding aside the online sites usually don't give you the best fares.

A study was done on this and reported in the W Post that calling the airlines directly usually give you the best prices and I have found this true myself. I have never gotten the cheapest price from orbitz or any of the others ever. A second problem is if these online places make a mistake the nightmare begins to change it. I have had friends actually lose money because of this.

Lee J Buividas

 

I wasn't really kidding. These sites may not provide the best value or the best service, but a lot of people are using them. I don't know for sure, but I would imagine that the shift of customer base to the Internet has really hurt traditional travel agents, putting many out of business and discouraging new entries to the market.

 

^ I agree one hundred percent with you that online travel is and has taken over. Personally I don't have a problem with it. The internet has made my life much much easier from work to play, inspite of any draw backs which are easy enough to work around most of the time. It also helps having two kids that have grown up with it and can find anything at the absolute best price. Example one of my kids got a set of head phones for 9 dollars including shipping these same head phones cost about $40 at Best Buy.

It's like anythging else, it is a great tool and time saver when used wisely.

Long Live the Internet

Lee J Buividas

 

Actually - instead of using Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity - you can find great deals thru the online websites of the individual airlines

 

you can use a site like SideStep which is an aggregator and searches all of the individual sites for fares. Also, if you want to find the best hotel deals, check out http://www.travelaxe.com/NewSite/Information_Overview.asp - it's a program you install, but has saved me alot of $$$.

 

try kayak.com too!

 

Carol,

Were you able to locate an agency in the message I sent you?

 

I forwarded your message onward to my spouse since it's easier for him to make the calls given my being in Pakistan now. I did view the link you gave me and it is quite comprehensive!

Greatly appreciate the assistance!

Cheers,
Carol

 

I agree that the online web sites like Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity et al are great for online booking and good fares for straight forward routine US, Canada travel...but if it comes to international travel then the options are very limited. For some, I can't get quotes as I guess Pakistan is blocked in their system or something. And when I did succeed in getting quotes, the fares were exhorbant so spouse is going to call some of the travel agent recommendations to see what they offer.

I also checked the airline sites directly but again, the same...for some when the destination is Pakistan, I get a message that you need to call the airline directly. c'est la vie!

 

How about AAA? I've never used them for international travel but we had an awesome experience with them just this month for our Disney World trip. I've got the name and number of an awesome agent if you're interested.

 

For direct travel to south asian countries, your best bet would be to go to what are known in the Travel Agency circles as "Fare Consolidators". These are generally travel agents that specialise in working with (partnering with) certain airlines that fly to specific markets like Pakistan, India, etc. one example is www.makemytrip.com.

One easy way of finding these types of agents is to visit the websites of local newspapers from the country you intend to visit. I find quite a few advertise there, since they realize that expats want to keep up with local news from these areas, and obviously plan trips there too.

Bear in mind that these are agents that provide just direct air travel tickets to and from the said country. They do not generally specialize in 'travel experiences' for tourists. (i.e. Hotel, local transport, etc.)