Just an FYI. I booked 3 business class tickets today to Joberg from Atlanta in mid November. They were “only” $3450 each on Qatar Airways. Beats the hell out of Delta’s $6800. No long layovers(4 1/2 hours outbound and 1 3/4 hours return). I have flown with them before and they are every bit as good as Emirates or Etihad and WAY better than any US or European carrier! We are transmitting on to Maun, so never leave the airport. Avoiding the shit that goes on outside the airport.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Just an FYI. I booked 3 business class tickets today to Joberg from Atlanta in mid November. They were “only” $3450 each on Qatar Airways. Beats the hell out of Delta’s $6800. No long layovers(4 1/2 hours outbound and 1 3/4 hours return). I have flown with them before and they are every bit as good as Emirates or Etihad and WAY better than any US or European carrier! We are transmitting on to Maun, so never leave the airport. Avoiding the shit that goes on outside the airport.

How sad to see US and European airlines becoming so bad!

That is Cheap!!! I just checked Flights from Wenatchee to Guatemala with First Class Houston to Guatemala City and it was $6,000 10 months in advance.

So I booked business class to Windhoek for September, on Emirates and got a great price. Actually saved about $2,000 per ticket (x2) by going online instead of travel agent.

However, that troubles me because our agent isn't able to get the same rates and apparently can't go online and act as our proxy. And it's only fair that they get compensated. I don't like not using an experienced agent because if surprises happen, their help becomes critical.

Any observations??

If you are getting very cheap tickets, there must be lots of restrictions.

I shop my tickets a lot and last year peak season I was able to fly Delta out of Missoula Mt. round trip for $1411 to Joburg, this year I will be going later at the end of Sept round trip from Idaho Falls Id for $1468 I want cheap flights so I have more money for hunting !

I don't think a travel agent is going to be able to sort anything out that you cannot sort out yourself ... the airlines have rules and all parties are beholden to them.

If you are concerned about things going wrong, just buy trip insurance. The cost is minimal and they will bail you out of most messes.

Russ is right. Purchase Trip Insurance.

HT

You'll only need an agent if the poop hits the fan. I use and recommend Gracy Travel because of their ability to get my clients on a number of occasions out of a mess that the clients had not a clue on how to handle. Having someone you can call for help is very comforting when you're doing something that is completely out of your comfort zone.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
I don't think a travel agent is going to be able to sort anything out that you cannot sort out yourself ... the airlines have rules and all parties are beholden to them.

If you are concerned about things going wrong, just buy trip insurance. The cost is minimal and they will bail you out of most messes.

No true at all, if you want peace of mind, and you are in a location with bad communications.

One call to your travel agent can sort any problems out.

Instead of having to make multiple calls, to different locations.

I had to make an urgent trip from Europe.

Checked on line for a ticket, non available, in any class.

Called my agent at home, and told her I need to travel immediately.

I had a 300 kilometer drive to the airport, so all she said was "Just go to the airport, I will have a ticket ready for you"

My ticket was ready and I made trip.

We normally book our own tickets, I have an aversion to travel agents after a bad experience with a well known company on our second trip to Africa several years ago. We have two trips coming up that will take us to more than one country, a couple of which we've never visited and know very little about, so we didn't want to sort through all of the hundreds of flight combinations and contacted TWG. I was very surprised how quickly they were able to sort thru all of the options and come up with an itinerary that worked...and have made a couple of changes to that itinerary with no problems. One needed change arose yesterday evening and my wife sent an email about 6:30 pm asking the agent to see if it was too late to make the change and expected an answer sometime today. She received an email about 9:00 pm saying the change had been accomplished, that is good service. It was Patrick Wright at TWG, we'll use him again.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Just an FYI. I booked 3 business class tickets today to Joberg from Atlanta in mid November. They were “only” $3450 each on Qatar Airways. Beats the hell out of Delta’s $6800. No long layovers(4 1/2 hours outbound and 1 3/4 hours return). I have flown with them before and they are every bit as good as Emirates or Etihad and WAY better than any US or European carrier! We are transmitting on to Maun, so never leave the airport. Avoiding the shit that goes on outside the airport.

Thanks for posting this. I booked mine yesterday. I flew QATAR last fall and was impressed. They are not the equivalent of Emirates, but close in about every respect. Interestingly, last fall I was the only customer in business class from Kili to Doha. They sent the business class shuttle just for me, which I thought was hilarious as I rode away in a 30 passenger bus all by my lonesome.

We'll be heading to Windhoek from Oregon in November. Which booking site are you Guys using? Kayak? Travelocity? Or are you going direct to the airlines? Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:
We normally book our own tickets, I have an aversion to travel agents after a bad experience with a well known company on our second trip to Africa several years ago. We have two trips coming up that will take us to more than one country, a couple of which we've never visited and know very little about, so we didn't want to sort through all of the hundreds of flight combinations and contacted TWG. I was very surprised how quickly they were able to sort thru all of the options and come up with an itinerary that worked...and have made a couple of changes to that itinerary with no problems. One needed change arose yesterday evening and my wife sent an email about 6:30 pm asking the agent to see if it was too late to make the change and expected an answer sometime today. She received an email about 9:00 pm saying the change had been accomplished, that is good service. It was Patrick Wright at TWG, we'll use him again.

Patrick is on the ball all the time. Great group there.

quote:

Originally posted by nobull00:
We'll be heading to Windhoek from Oregon in November. Which booking site are you Guys using? Kayak? Travelocity? Or are you going direct to the airlines? Thanks

The easiest way is to use Google Flights. When you get to book flight it will bring up a link to book your flight. I would only book thru the carriers web site. There is another site ITA MATRIX, slightly more difficult to use but will give you every fare available for every flight. Requires you to use BOOK WITH MATRIX to actually book a ticket using ITA.

If you use an agency or booking site (agency) other than the airline, that agency has full control of your ticket, the carrier will not do anything for you, only your agent can. Want to upgrade, cannot do that unless you do it thru your agent. Bad weather and need to make a change at the airport, call your agent for the change and unless open 24/7 have fun.

I do the same. Google Flights to find them, airline website to book them.