crepes_a_go_go

Need some advice and opinions please. I'm a high school French teacher who takes very small groups of 8-10 to France once or twice each year during my school breaks. I've been using go-today.com for the past few years to do the flight/hotel package and have been very pleased. However, this time, with the combination of people I have going, I've found a better price buying the air and hotel separately on my own.

My question is, is there any price savings to be had by calling the airline directly and having them book the group? Or would a travel agent be able to book it for no more than the price I can get from the airline and be able to make their fee within that price?

Thanks for any pointers anyone might have.

NoFlyZone

Since you have 10 or more, if they all travel on the same itinerary the airlines require that you book through their group department. A travel agent would go through the same procedure and department. Groups would quote a price which could be less or could be more than the lowest online price.

A travel agent would necessarily add their fee to that price but would also offer benefits and services not available from the airline.

Or you can take a slight chance and book the travellers online, but in separate records. Although the airlines look for such bookings for 10 it's not all that hard to hide.

crepes_a_go_go

Could a consolidator do it? I put the particulars in the search on webjet.com and a couple of others and when choosing 8 travelers, I get a price of only $3 per ticket more than pricing only 1 traveler on the airline's website.

kybourbon

I would contact the various airlines group desk and get quotes. Each airline will have a link on their website.

http://www.delta.com/planning_reserv...ales/index.jsp

http://www.aa.com/i18n/businessProgr...false&from=Nav

qwovadis

www.continental.com

good results for group bookings like this with direct contact

for me in the past sign up for FF miles personally

get a free RTW out of it...