Airfare consolidators
Aug 6th, 2007, 05:10 AM
#1
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Airfare consolidators
The prices of airfare are downright scary, but have noticed that there are many consolidators who discount these fares. We are traveling from MSP to CPT with a return from JNB in March of '08. Would like to hear from those of you who have used consolidators as a source of airline tickets and what your experiences have been. Did you receive frequent flyer miles using them? Would appreciate your candor and be specific on which one(s) you had good or bad experiences with and the names of the companies you used. Thanks.
Aug 6th, 2007, 05:26 AM
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Contact Premier Tours out of Phila, PA. They're a tour operator, but have a special air department and regularly get special fares, some of the recent ones I've posted here on Fodor's.
See: www.premiertours.com select their air department, but you'll do better calling the 800# for current information.
We used them and got our FF miles, no problem.
See: www.premiertours.com select their air department, but you'll do better calling the 800# for current information.
We used them and got our FF miles, no problem.
Aug 6th, 2007, 11:07 AM
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I just booked with Premier Tours and would also recommend them. I am very experienced at finding the lowest airfares online and they were able to undercut the best fare I could find IAD-CPT returning from JNB by about $150/pp. This was booking about two months in advance for a trip at the end of this month. Prices for intra-Africa flights were very reasonable as well. However I booked my entire trip with them and don't know whether the price would have been any different had I just booked airfare.
As for frequent flier miles, it depends on the ticket class and airline - I have status on United and am crediting the South African Airlines flights to that account. Unfortunately, SAA only awards 1/2 the mileage for certain discounted fare classes of tickets, including our US-Africa flights. I found the information on United's website, which has current mileage credit info for all the Star Alliance airlines. If you ask Premier Tours they can tell you what fare class your ticket is booking into.
As for frequent flier miles, it depends on the ticket class and airline - I have status on United and am crediting the South African Airlines flights to that account. Unfortunately, SAA only awards 1/2 the mileage for certain discounted fare classes of tickets, including our US-Africa flights. I found the information on United's website, which has current mileage credit info for all the Star Alliance airlines. If you ask Premier Tours they can tell you what fare class your ticket is booking into.
Aug 6th, 2007, 01:04 PM
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I have been using Premier Tours for for my air tickets for about ten years and have been very satisfied with them. They specialize in discounted air fares on South African Airways, but also sell the others such as Virgin if you want to fly through Europe. Periodically, I scour the internet to see if I can get lower fares elsewhere, but so far, Premier always comes up with the best prices.
