Round the World Trip- book flight direct or use trailfinders usit etc??

louiepip

HI, i'm wondering if anybody can help me with a question i have with round the world trip route and how best to book flights...via air asia etc or trailfinders etc

Heres the plan, myself and my boyfriend are planning to go next February (if we can save up enough!) We're hoping to go to South east asia, most likely flying into Bangkok, heading up North Thailand, entering Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and back into Thailand again, heading down to visit Thailand's islands (staying by the East coast as the west coast will be monsoon season when we'll be there!) then down through Malaysia and either flying out of kuala lumpar or singapore of if we have time go to Bali on route to Cairns in Aus. Try and get a job in Aus for a short while to get enough cash and fly home from either sydney or New Zealand, depending on when the cash runs out! .....heres my dilemna though.....

I have been reading various posts on some people booking flights via new cheaper airlines directly, air asia, jet air, tiger airways etc. Some other people say thats its best to book through say an agent trailfinders, STA ( probably cheaper to fly from London i would be thinking) which is the better option? Air asia, jet air etc are probably not the most comfortable, however since we dont know how long we'll be spending in each place it might be the better option, especially since the likes of usit, trailfinders etc charge for every change thats made to flight dates.......i'm really confused as to which is the better option??!! has anybody got any recommendations??

Thanks

cashback

Myself and my friend booked with STA travel last year as they were much cheaper than either USIT or Trailfinders. Just needed to book cheap flights to London.
Also although it states it costs to change dates, often if you call the airlines directly they will not charge you. We called Qantas while we were in Australia and they didn't charge us for changing our flights to NZ. I think if you do it with STA they may charge.

Ritchi

cashback wrote: »

Myself and my friend booked with STA travel last year as they were much cheaper than either USIT or Trailfinders. Just needed to book cheap flights to London.
Also although it states it costs to change dates, often if you call the airlines directly they will not charge you. We called Qantas while we were in Australia and they didn't charge us for changing our flights to NZ. I think if you do it with STA they may charge.

Qantas dont charge the first time, but charged us $120 the second time.

I can see no advantage of booking with a travel agency, once you've borded your first flight, you can't get any help from them, which I assumed you would be.
I haven't met anyone on my travels who would book with Trailfinders again. But I'm sure there are some...
Best way, in my opinion, is to actually set aside your flight money, and book as you go when you need to. Your plans will change all the time, if you're anything like us, and having to fly from certain cities can be annoying, when you figure you can actually spend longer in a continent, or less, and want to visit more countries. The variables of your travels will be huge if you're travelling for a long time, so having the options as open as possible is the best way.

OriginalSinner

I'm just home from SE Asia and didn't book a round the world type ticket. We had freedom to just go where we wanted as the mood took us.

Air Asia's flights are really quite comfortable. We flew with them nearly every time. I even got an Air Asia flight from KL to London when coming home.
Also, when you are travelling through Thailand-Laos-Vietnam-Cambodia you can do all of your travelling overland for really cheap and comfortable enough (for the most part!) You can even get a train from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur if you wanted!

On the way home I paid, in total, only 15euro for a flight from Bali to Kuala Lumpur with Air Asia. My friends got really reasonable flights from Bangkok to New Zealand.

I wouldn't recommend booking a round the world ticket. I'd just go with the flow! It's more fun that way!
We never paid more than 120euro for a flight within SE Asia.

louiepip

Thanks guys for the help, much appreciated:)

mickoneill30

Ritchi wrote: »

I can see no advantage of booking with a travel agency, once you've borded your first flight, you can't get any help from them,

Wrong. I was due to travel through Bangkok to Sydney last year during the time the Bangkok airport was taken over by the protestors. When we were in London, Qantas told us our flight from London would go in 4 days. Our travel agent got us through Singapore instead for no extra cost (and we didn't have an expensive ticket to start with). That saved us a lot of hassle. Qantas didn't give a crap when we rang them ourselves. It wasn't Qantas's fault I'm sure but I preferred spending those 4 days in Sydney rather than London.

Travelling inside Asia is pretty easy to arrange while you're there and cheap enough. But for the big flights I always use a travel agent. If I were you I'd go in and get a quote from Usit / Trailfinders anyway. You don't have to buy from them and you can compare to online. I got a ticket to Bangkok in a travel agents earlier this month with Air France. It's waaay cheaper than what the Air France and other airlines websites quoted me (even Air Asias, by the time you add the cost of getting to London). Now's a good time to book. With the recession flights seem to be a lot cheaper than last year.