sfmaster

I've been looking at airfares for trip to India ATL - BLR in June - pretty specifically 5/30 or 6/1 to get there for a particular event and then flex on way home...6/20 +/-. Have pondered stopping in Paris for 2 days on way home. I am quite keen on using Delta. Husband has Gold status, I have sliver, we have some lounge privledges, build the miles. I am buying FIVE tickets (gulp).

The fares are continuing to hover around $1580 at lowest end for Delta. My hopes that they might come down are vanishing. I haven't used a travel agent in years.

Seeking advice about if I'd do better even if I want to specifically stick with Delta and how that might affect any benefits of the status. Miles accumulation etc.

Thanks so much...it's time to make this trip a reality.

qwovadis

www.farecompare.com good site on when to book for best price.

Your price is about right all in for that journey.

Usually suck it up and stick with www.delta.com

to pick up all the miles which will be great.

Discounters/consolidators like

www.yatra.com

www.airbrokers.com

www.orbitz.com

might save a bit might check with them also.

My experience of late always best to go direct.

Particularly for building FF miles.

Happy Journey,

Kathie

In my experience, you'll do better buying direct from Delta. Almost all other sites (orbitz, expedia, etc) charge an additional booking fee. With your status on Delta, I expect there might be some nice perks for you. Do you have a Delta credit card? When I use my United credit card to buy United tickets, I get double or triple miles plus elite qualifying miles.

There are a number of airfare predictor engines. I understand Bing has one. You input your data and it will tell you the likelihood of the price of your ticket going down in the next week or two. I haven't used it, so no personal experience.

Kathie

PS, if you buy rickets from a consolidator, you will NOT get frequent flier miles, and often, cannot get seat assignments until you get to the airport. Orbitz is not a consolidator, but I don't know the other two qw suggests.

rhkkmk

look at an alternative airline for pricing....korean has done well by me recently as well as finn air...

i don't find delta all that price competitive

shoonye

a) Google ita matrix and try their search engine to see whats the lowest available across an extremely wide inventory of fares.

b) sometimes you will get a better fare to mumbai and then do a domestic. but see what the differential is if any and if its worth making an extra stop.

CaliNurse

The fare you are getting doesnt sound unusual. It's those darned taxes which add so much!!
Agree with all Qwo and Kathie--even on the off chance you can save a bit using other sites or airlines, it is not worth losing the potential to add on FF miles. Save them up, and maybe next time you can fly first class all the way
Also, stopping in Paris shouldnt add that much more--guessing a couple hundred max per ticket?? But when you multiply it by 5...Oh, what the heck!! It'll be a great way to break up that long flight back home and re-culturize to Western style traffic, etc!!

althom1122

I spent $1300 in December from BWI to Delhi via Heathrow. I did a lot of comparison shopping to get that rate and thought I did pretty well. I agree with Cali that even if you can save a bit, it wouldn't be that much. The FF miles are significant for that long a flight. Good luck!

travel0102

I think you may get somewhat cheaper rate as it is end of May, not June for your outbound journey. Mostly I ask my travel agent (she may have better rates for India, as she books tons of tickets for India -- Madhuratravels) to find the cheapest and take a stopover whereever it is (Like Munich, Frankfurt, Zurich etc). There is no harm in trying. My brother got $1400 for X-Mas time and I think you should get it for around 1300, but may not be good for FF if you are using a different airlines. let me know if you need more help. I am looking for cheap tickets also to go to Spain this summer and you are right (I have to buy 5 tickets also -- ouch, ouch), so even $200 per ticket is a big deal for me.