Charter Travel

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote: We have used Charter Travel a few times as they gave us cheaper deals than booking directly with the airlines online. [/quote]

In my earlier post I conceded that agencies used to be able to book seats at a cheaper price and indeed I have booked flights thro' agencies - Trailfinders etc - as well as on-line companies such as Opodo, Expedia etc.

However the airlines have hit back lately and again as stated earlier I haven't recently found any flights cheaper than the airline's own website.

I tried to call Charter several times last year but only once managed to speak to anyone.(trying to arrange flights for son and daughter) and they were no cheaper.

I am not saying that Charter(or any other agency) cannot provide cheaper seats now, although I have my doubts. If they can, obviously one should buy from them. However I suggest that people should check the airline web-sites that same day.

[Benny24]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:[/quote]I would be interested if anyone has recently obtained cheaper flights from an agency for scheduled flights.

Re above quote.....

I have just booked a Virgin flight for 30/4 return with Expedia for £318. Exactly the same price as the Virgin web site. And also on checking the BA flight was cheaper with Expedia than on the BA web site.

[Katys Grandad]

A couple of points on this:

1. Comparing on price alone can be misleading. There are many fare classes, so factors such as the ability to change, cancel without penalty and earning frequent flyer miles (to name only a few) can be different from one ticket to another. You may be paying less on the face of it but it might be for an inferior product.

2. I do fly a fair amount and have to agree with Robert that, as a general rule, airline's own sites are most likely to give the best pound-for-pound value even if an agent's base price may occasionally be lower. I have also found that they are much better placed than agents to sort things out when problems arise. After all, an agent has to go through the airline to do that on your behalf.

[solanasunshine]

We've booked our flights through Charter Travel to fly with Virgin this August and it did work out cheaper than booking direct with Virgin. We have also been able to choose our seats on the Virgin site as we have done in the past when we have booked direct with Virgin.
Good point about them not sending reminders as I had forgotten! (Though I daresay Gareth hasn't!)

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Katys Grandad
A couple of points on this:

1. Comparing on price alone can be misleading. There are many fare classes, so factors such as the ability to change, cancel without penalty and earning frequent flyer miles (to name only a few) can be different from one ticket to another. You may be paying less on the face of it but it might be for an inferior product.

2. I do fly a fair amount and have to agree with Robert that, as a general rule, airline's own sites are most likely to give the best pound-for-pound value even if an agent's base price may occasionally be lower. I have also found that they are much better placed than agents to sort things out when problems arise. After all, an agent has to go through the airline to do that on your behalf.
[/quote]

I agree totally[clap][clap][clap][clap][clap]

[ellie]

Charter have been most helpful in the past few days, organising flights for my June guests. Dawn has been splendid, as it was a complicated booking, with numerous changes, and she did manage to better the best price they had found.

We have used them ourselves several times, and they are usually cheaper, but the main advantage is that they do all the spade work and usually come up with several options.