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The notes
on this page have grown out of submissions and suggestions
from seasoned travellers, travel agents, and from experiences
reported by travellers. Thanks to those who have contributed
their expertise. These notes will grow as more information
comes in.
Charging
your tickets to a Credit card
1. Charging
your tickets to a credit card is safer. However, many travel
agents charge about 3% to 4% more to use this facility. Ask
your agent. Also insist on getting the credit slip (customer's
copy) after you pay by credit card. This will help you with
the paper work with the credit card companies, Better Business
Bureau and so on in case you are owed a refund and the agent
gets nasty. The practice of charging extra for credit cards
may or may not be legal. You can report it to the local business
authorities and the credit card company but I don't know if
they will (or can) do anything.
To avoid
paying extra on the credit card or for agents who don't accept
cards, you may want to send the payment using the transaction
cheques that credit card companies provide, sometimes without
charging any transaction fee. If you do this, check with the
agent beforehand if they will charge extra or not. Also, many
credit card companies treat these cheques same as cash advances
- you start paying finance charges the moment it is cashed.
You may want to check with your card company as to their policies.
2. There
is a lot of misinformation about surcharge on credit cards.
First of all, there is no way a "good" agent can
give you a competitive price for paying cash if they charge
same price for cash or charge unless, the ticket is a "regular"
ticket. In case of a regular ticket, the airline eats the
cost of credit cards. When you use the credit card, someone
has to pay a fee. When you want the cheapest possible ticket,
you have to be willing to pay extra for the credit card. It
is a cost simply passed on to you. Otherwise those who don't
want to charge are paying higer price because the cost of
credit card processing will be added to every ticket.
3. Some
agents charge you full fare if you pay by credit card, and
then reimburse the difference between full fare and discounted
fare. But be cautious.
Scouting
For Tickets
1. Don't
call every agent and give them your passenger list. You will
find yourself in a jam because many agents will book you on
the first airline you mention. This can result in multiple
bookings which are automatically cancelled by the airline,
through no fault of the agent.
2. Difference
between a regular ticket and a consolidated ticket: A regular
ticket is a ticket issued by any agency using the airline
ticket pricing system. Your ticket comes directly out of the
airline ticket pool.A consolidated ticket is a ticket that
comes from a special pool. The airlines know that they cannot
sell every single ticket on every plane. So they reserve a
block of seats for "consolidators". A consolidator
is an agency that has a contract with the airline to sell
these tickets. Many agents claim to be a consolidator because
they know that the word consolidator sells ticket. There really
is no good way to check if an agent is a consolidator for
an airline. All consolidators sell to other agents. It doesn't
make any difference if an agent is a consolidator or not.
Most times the price of a ticket from a consolidator and any
other agent is the same. These tickets are much cheaper than
the regular tickets unless the airline is running a sale on
the regular tickets.
3. Can
you book yourself with the airline? If you want to purchase
a regular priced ticket then booking it yourself is no problem.
But you usually can't book your ticket with the airline if
you want to buy a consolidated ticket. However, there is no
harm in trying to make a booking and then check if an agent
can pick up the ticket. No guarantees about fares, though.
4. You
may be able to make your own reservations with the airlines
directly, and contact a travel agent just for the tickets.
This may not always work, since airlines may be overbooked
during peak periods. Some travel agents buy blocks of seats
from airlines.
5. In
case you are just shopping for a price, and already have a
booking, do not tell the agent about the reservations you
made with the airlines directly. Just get a price quote. Otherwise
you leave a chance for a not-so-honest travel agent to take
over the ticketing without your authorization. On the same
subject, you should find out if the price is for the booking
you made, or for one the agent needs to make.
6. Just
because an agent quoted you a price, do not expect that price
to be guaranteed unless you actually finalized the purchase,
i.e. you agreed to buy the ticket from the agent, at that
price. Ticket prices can change, and most agents will quote
you their current price, which may be higher or lower than
what you were quoted earlier. You can, of course, mention
the previous quote and see if the agent will honor it. No
harm in trying.
Waiting
Lists
1. If
one agent says that there are no seats available but he is
waitlisting you, please don't call 15 other agents and do
the same thing! Here is what happens: One agent has you as
#20 on the waitlist; another #34 and so on. When your name
comes up for confirmation, most airline computers detect your
name more than once and auto-cancel you. So, now you have
lost your chance altogether. If you do have to go onto the
waiting list, make sure the airline confirms that the flight
is indeed full, and then have one agent you trust put you
on, and then just wait it out and take the chance. Many airlines
don't allow multiple waitlists anyway.
Buying
Tickets
1. Once
you have booked your ticket, ask the agent to fax you the
itinerary. If for some reason they can't fax you right away,
ask them to read it to you so you can be sure that your name
is spelled just like it is on your passport and you are getting
the dates/times that you want. Airlines are very strict and
they don't allow name to be changed without a fee if it is
incorrect. Sometimes if the error is minor enough (like a
letter is left out or incorrect) they may make an exception.
If an error is made and you already have your ticket, contact
the agent about the error.
2. In
most cases you need to keep calling the agent to remind him/her
to mail you the tickets in time.
3. Insist
that the agent give you confirmed tickets.
4. Insist
that the travel agent mails you the tickets by certified mail
or another express service to avoid the inconvenience if tickets
get lost in mail. Many agents will do this automatically.
Clarify who pays for it. It is to your advantage to pay the
extra $10-$12 for the service than to be chasing the mailman
for your ticket. Most agents do not take responsibility for
tickets sent by regular mail. Express Services are available
from, among others, US Postal Services, UPS, FedEx, AirBorne,
DHL etc. An Overnight or 2nd Day delivery may be a good idea.
5. Make
sure that the address on your cheque is your current address,
or cross the old address off. This way the agent would know
not to mail the tickets to the old address on the cheque.
Or, include definite instructions with your payment as to
where the tickets should be mailed to.
6. Insist
on a computer-generated ticket. There has been at least one
report recently of a hand-written ticket that was not honored
by the Airline. Check the box marked Status. If it does not
say 'OK' then you do not have a confirmed ticket.
7. Check
the back of the ticket to see if the ticket was altered by
the agent. In one case, the ticket was originally under a
different name, and the agent had used red ink to emulate
the red-carbon-copy. This was noticeable on the back side
of the ticket.
Confirming
Your Tickets
1. Insist
that the agent give you confirmed tickets.
2. Don't
depend on the agent to confirm your tickets for you. If at
all possible, before you pay the agent, call the airline and
check if your tickets are confirmed if the agent claims they
are. If they aren't, then give your agent a hard time. If
they are, then save the confirmation number.
3. Ask
the Airline to fax you a copy of the confirmation. This will
usually have your confirmation number on it. It comes in useful
later if there is a dispute. In at least one case, the airline
relented because the passenger had the confirmation printout
with him. So you should consider taking it (or copies of it)
along with you on your trip.
4. When
checking the booking with the Airline, make sure you check
the passenger name(s) and flights/times. Always verify with
the airline(s) that the entire trip is confirmed before you
leave. Confirm each and every leg of the flight individually.
Some travel agents have been known to lie about it.
Problems
with your agent
1. It
might be safer if the travel agency has been appointed by
"ARC" and "IATAN" and is a member of "ASTA"
and has been in operation for a long period of time.
2. In
most cases you need to keep calling the agent to remind him/her
to mail you the tickets in time.
3. If
a travel owes you a refund and gives you a hard time about
it, you may try approaching Better Business Bureau. It works
sometimes.
4. In
case of a dispute with out-of-state travel agents, even if one wins the case in the courts of one's home state, one still has to move the case to the courts of the other state and try and collect there. Quite impractical.
5. Do take the time to send me an e-mail to document your experience. Please include the items required for the following table and more about what you went through.
6. If possible, forward a copy of this survey to your agent to make them aware that they are being monitored.
General, Trip Related
1. Check the timings of the flights a couple of days prior to your flight. Sometimes flight timings change after the tickets have been booked. If you have connecting flights, there is a good possibility passengers on a cancelled flight will be shifted to an earlier flight to enable them to make the connection. It may save you a lot of harrassment and having to pay full rate fares at the airport if your flight time has been moved up and you missed it because you didn't know about it. The travel agent is usually not responsible for keeping on top of flight schedule changes, although we get a few reports of agents who have done it. Those are exceptions, not the norm.
2. Ask the agent and/or airlines if you need to join the frequent flyer programme in advance.
3. Plan
ahead early enough. Plan for contingencies. Some agents also offer emergency services, so you may want to take their number with you, just in case. If you have a printout/fax of your confirmation number, take it (or copies of it) with you on the trip. It can lend you much credibility if a dispute does arise.
4. Do not depend on this survey blindly. Do your homework and shop around to get a good and safe deal.
5. Special
Prices: Many times the airlines will be running special deals or price wars/reductions that are never reflected in the survey. You can find out about these by calling the airlines or from a service like One Link. Web Address for One Link is http://www.sys1.com/ . A number of Airline Phone# are also listed in the Airlines Info on the web site for this survey.
6. Buying tickets in India: If you are planning an INDIA-USA-INDIA trip, or plan to make the payment in Indian currency, you may get a better deal if you purchase the ticket from an agent in India. For USA-INDIA-USA trips, check the agents listed in USA first. To quote an agent in India, "MOST OF THE TIME it is cheaper to buy a ticket in US itself FOR A JOURNEY STARTING IN US...except in few cases where India is the best place. I am getting a lot of enquiries everyday from people asking me to quote a fare for USA-INDIA-USA ...TO give you an example...Atlanta-Delhi-Atlanta on Swiss Air here in India is US$1945...while people in US can get it for US$900!! The main reason being that price war is more prominent in US and they have thousands of fare basis to offer... travel on Monday could be cheaper than on Thursday!!"
7. Before you think of a budget airline instead a full-service airline, remember that a long haul, full-service airline will provide you with good food, alcoholic drinks, entertainment and relaxation. This not only makes the time go sooner, but it can save you a heap of cash on a long-flight. Now when international calling rates and other communicative mediums have become cheaper, you can easily spend $50 a head for a couple of meals and drinks - so that some dollars if saved, on a round trip may be handy when you need it the most.
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