Roccco

I would like to think that I am a somewhat competent travel planner but I know I could always stand to learn more from others.

Does anybody have any advice on how to get very cheap trips to multiple destinations. For example, I may want to do a two or three night stopover in Dubai on my way to India (flying from Los Angeles). However, when I enter this as a multiple destination trip into Travelocity or Expedia, I am given some very nasty numbers.

I can honestly put the trip together for half the price by breaking down the flight segments. For example, instead of making it all one multidestination trip, by flying from LAX-Dubai and then from Dubai-Delhi, the savings are astronomical. The only downside is that it takes A LOT of work to manipulate the system and find flights that are going to work out perfectly without a lot of stopover time.

Sometimes I enjoy the challenge, but other times it is just draining. Why won't the systems of Travelocity and other websites just put this together for me without me having to do so much work? Are there any websites that are pretty adept at putting together these type of multidestination iteneraries for the best price?

Thanks.

JamesA

I think a lot of these sites and those of airlines too have been very badly constructed.
On some sites where say there are just a few flights per week when you put in your request it comes back with 'no flight available', some will go to the nearest day/s but many do not.
When I am planning I grad my printed OAG Airline guide ( about $20 ) and I can guarentee you that I can flick from one page to another and plan my route before you have even managed to log-in your PC!
Certainly you won't find all the options available, also you do not get to see all the possible routings.
Europe is an example where there are just so many budget operators and charter that it's a long hard search to find the best deals.
Although our PCs have bought us a 'world of opportunities' I think the $20 spent on a Pocket OAG Guide is great value, and when you are on your travels you can just skim the pages to find/change flights/routes. Many say that you can get great flight deals from agents in Amsterdam, but as you say it takes time!
The local going rate for a return flight from BKK to Hong Kong or Singapore is about $100. From Bangkok to Delhi about $140. There are lots of deals, finding them are the trouble!

JamesA

Note on the Pocket OAG Guides: Mostly ignore the listed connecting routings as they only list connections for airlines that pay! Go from one point to another and construct your own routing.

It may be of interest that Continetal has just signed a deal with Emirates for connections from IAH and EWR to LGW(Gatwick) to connect with Emirates onwards to Gulf & Asia.

cfc

I say it's worth doing it yourself, not only to save the bucks but also because you will know your own itinerary inside out, with no surprises. (Just watch out for booking yourself a RT with one segment you won't use -- as you probably already know, if it's any segment other than the last, a no-show will cancel the whole ticket.) If you are traveling internationally, the OAG will be very helpful.

sandi

I agree about the OAG, and believe you can get the service online (of course this is a fee service, either with the paperbook guides or online). At least you'll know who flies and the schedules.

Then you can go to one of the online booking sites and know which dates to plug in.

Have you checked the round-the-world fares? And instead return from India to LAX instead of going back via London. You know my theory Roccco - "keep moving in one direction". There's always Airtreks and a few others the specialize in rtw, but don't believe you get FF miles on these tickets. However, I'm sure some of the majors (AA, UA, etc.) might be able to route you on their partners and you can accummulate miles along the way.

Check out all your options.

P.S. And I agree with comment on that 1-hr connection time in London (from your post on Asia board) you're cutting it close!

fiona

I have also found this problem. However, have you tried phoning an Expedia representive? It may just be, as James has already said that the site is badly constructed.
We were planning to go to Cape Town and Mauritius and the costing I got made me think I had my own private jet. If we decide to go I will certainly phone Expedia.

sandi

fiona -

"A private jet" - and when I got prices from NYC to The Seychelles (via East Africa) years back ('98) before online sites - I figured I'd have to leave a child as a hostage for the fare I was quoted.

Fortunately, I didn't have a child to put up for hostage and managed to get the original $3200+ fare down to $1450 by segmenting the air - NYC/AMS then AMS/NBO then NBO/SEZ return.

Sometimes it comes down to actually speaking to a real person (either at the online site or a travel agent) to get what you want.

A private jet - wouldn't that be nice!!! But it's the downtime that keeps me from going for it!!! LOL!

JamesA

Fiona, I would try and find a Cape Town travel agent on the Internet, Air Mauritius have a couple of flights a week direct from Cape Town to mauritius and if you are rouitng back through CPT then you could look into buying a 1 or 2 week package from CPT. I am not sure which way round the currency is going at the moment but I 'think' it means that paying a SA Rand price is very favourable.

Here's a good one:-

As a matter of Interest I checked Travelocity for a return fare Phuket to Singapore. It came up with rates that in Thai Baht would be between B 11,000 and B 20,000, I chose any carrier, not bothered about date, just wanted cheap about 7 days.
The standard 0-30 days return fare is about B 5,900 !! That fare is readily available from both Thai and Silk Air, and even on Silk Air's website a fare of around B 6,000 was available, so how come Travelocity was minimum B 11,000?
I then further check fares on a few other routes and still over the top.
I guess they must be good in the U.S or maybe to or within Europe, but for Asia none of those guys come near what seems to be openly available.

fiona

thanks James- I will look into that. We have now put the trip back to 2005 so we have plenty of time for research!