Booking flights to Europe

The disadvantages of using Travel Agents and sites like Expedia and Travelocity is that you'll pay a service fee for booking through them.

If you book directly with the airline you will not pay the service fee. It's really quite simple.

I use Expedia, Orbitz etc. to book rooms (with great success). That said I go directly to a airlines web to book flights (more money involved here). Am able to pick my seat etc. Can contact the airline directly thereafter. Had to change a flight I'd already paid for (my sister broke her leg and couldn't use it). Called the airline with my reservation number and was informed I could use the ticket anytime within a year for $100 fee. My experience with Expedia etc. is that they are no-change, no anything after purchase. Use it or lose it.

If you're looking right now, it appears to be a great time. My friends and I just booked a trip flying into Madrid and out of Paris on Northwest for 50,000 frequent flyer miles. The airline has made it much easier to use frequent flyer miles. You click on the box with perk choice beside it and then you book by departing flight and then returning flight. It gives you the option of paying for the leg or using frequent flyer miles. I used it last year to book a first class flight and was able to fly to Milan for $1300 and I can't remember but maybe 50,000 frequent flyer miles.

I have booked tickets via Travel Agents, Direct with Airlines, and via Ticket Consolidators. An agent really only has value if you have developed a relationship, and you regularly use them for things other than plane tickets. Tickets tend to be loss leaders, aside from any service fee they charge, they no longer get a cut of the ticket, so very little incentive to work to find you a great deal. While an agent may be more aware of where the deals are, you get the same information as they from the web. Typically, if I see a good deal on any site, I then go directly to the airline to book. The exception for me is if a ticket consolidator has a good deal. Since they buy tickets in bulk when deals are available, they still have deals after they expire from the airlines, and they can be willing to book odd routes much cheaper than the airlines, even mixing carriers on open jaws. You usually pay a fee with consolidators, but if you look at total cost and save, you are still ahead.

The value of an agent is in not having to do it yourself.

The problem with an agent is it's nearly impossible to communicate all your preferences to them.

For example, you tell them you want two economy tickets RT to Amsterdam for a two-week trip from Saturday April 11, 2009 to Saturday April 25, 2009.

The agent will book it that way and tell you how much it is.

When booking yourself, you can decide what changes are worthwhile to you. Would you fly on Thursday the 9th and back on Thursday the 23rd if you can save $300 per ticket? Would you fly out of Seattle rather than Portland if you can save $150 per ticket? Those are questions only you can answer. That's why I book my own and search for lots of options for nearby airports (on both ends) and a few days before and after.

I use sidestep.com. As far as I know sidestep and kayak are now identical. Once I find something I like, I try other options like airline websites to see if I can find a better deal before I ultimately book the flights.

I also set up a variety of fare watches that email me price alerts so I can guage the trend in prices before I book.

I feel much more calm and at ease when I know for sure that I've booked specific travel on certain dates and times. I know that I've booked it, I have the confirmation number, I made seat assignments, and I've paid for it with my credit card.

I just don't trust someone else to take care of all of the little details that can pop up and make a vacation miserable. I only trust myself. Likewise, if I make a mistake then I only have myself to blame for it :-)

I searched on-line to find the best price, date etc then called my travel agent. Although I paid a bit more going through her, I felt that if Anything went wrong, I had someone on my side to help out.It might have been a waste of a few hundred for the 4 of us, but the peace of mind was worth it to me.

I always book online myself. I've had bad experiences with travel agents, I have found them to be useless. (yes I know there are good travel agents out there, but the ones I approached or tried to use were useless)

I book everything myself.

Travel agents are good if you don't travel much, don't know how to use the internet that well or don't use it to research and book travel that often on your own

I agree that I can't think of any advantages using an agent. In this age of the internet there is no reason not to do it yourself. Someone mentioned that the agent would be on your side if something went wrong, but what could an agent fix that a call to the airline wouldn't? And the airlines man the phones 24 hours--you won't be able to get ahold of your agent before 8, after 5 or on Sundays.

Chances are your travel agent has not even been to the destination where you're traveling. Lots of times they just rely on brochues sent to them from various destinations and/or hotels. Travel agents don't give me peace of mind at all - in fact they give me the opposite!

I used Orbitz once to make air reservations. When a much better itinerary later became available, I bit the bullet and rebooked, knowing I would pay a penalty to the airline. What I did not realize was that I would also pay a hefty penalty to Orbitz. Check out the details. I won't blame Orbitz but I won't do it again either. I use these engines to check out "the big picture" and then buy from the airline directly. I don't recall ever seeing a cheaper price than the airline itself offered. I'm like Tim, too. I don't trust anybody to take better care of my money than myself.

Ernie, my wife and I have used our AAA travel agent for several years now (since our retirement) for all of our trips overseas. She has always been able to beat prices of our online searches. Maybe it is our AAA discount. Dorsey

AAA has never saved me a dime when I've attempted to use them. I've always been able to easily beat their prices. I've also had to correct their information several times so I think AAA's most valuable service is roadside assistance :-)