danasgirl

Hi guys, I need some advise.

I found airfare for our family trip to Asia this summer on Orbitz.com for about $100 less per person than a travel agent at STA Travel (STA offers student/teacher 'travel abroad' fares generally for less than you can find elsewhere) The tickets I found online are exactly the same flights on the same dates as what the agent has found for us.

Does anyone have any good or bad feedback about using Orbitz.com? We've never used them before and it seems I have heard a lot of horror stories in the past.

Should I just eat the extra $300 bucks to book the AF with the STA agent? I've booked int'l tickets with them twice before and never had any issues.

KimJapan

If earning miles is important to you, check that the fare class you book is eligible to earn miles. Also check that the fare rules are acceptable to you...the rules that govern how much you have to pay for cancellation or changes. In either case, you will likely have to contact the agent to make any changes or cancel. Have you checked the airline directly?

Gpanda

We've used Orbitz.com several times to adsia nd been pleased each time. You can note your FF miles after the reservation is made. go withy the lower price.

danasgirl

Thanks for your quick replies.

KimJapan: Yes, I have checked directly with United and they don't come close... this is a trip with lots of different flights between three different countries over a months period of time so there are a few different airlines and we fly into one country and out of another.

Gpanda: It's good to know you have used Orbitz before without any issues and also that you can note your FF miles too. I need to join United's FF mileage program, is this something I should do before purchasing the tickets?

Thanks again!!

rhkkmk

yes do it before purchasing tickets, but you can do it also any time before flying...

orbitz adds on a fee at the end of booking...are you aware of that...?

danasgirl

noooo I wasn't aware of that!

danasgirl

I guess we'll just book all of our flights with the STA travel agent.

How much is the fee that Orbitz charges?

KimJapan

$4.99 - $11.99 per ticket. https://faq.orbitz.com/cgi-bin/orbit...i&search=1

rhkkmk

why not just book directly with the airline....i'm sure you are not saving anything with STA

Gpanda

I've saved money with Orbitz even over the airlines fares. Specifically, we flew Bos-JFK-BKK and back for $1100 when booking through the airlines would have cost $1300.

danasgirl

Hi rhkkmk, I checked United directly and the same schedule would cost me $3400 dollars to get it directly from them. I am spending $1900 pp with the STA agent.

Ove a period of about three weeks we are flying:

LAX - SGN

SGN - BKK

BKK - NRT

NRT - LAX

All but one leg is on United. The SGN - BKK is on Thai Airlines.

Thanks for all of your feedback. I am very appreciative to all of you!

Thanks.

rhkkmk

did you try routing yourself: lax-bkk-sgn-nrt-lax??

it makes more sense to me...

danasgirl

Yeah, we played with the scheduling as much as we could but we are going on business and thus have to work our schedule around visiting factories in each country and also the people who will be able to take us to and show us around the facotories.

I just purchased the tickets through STA Travel because the agent came down enough on the price to make it worth our while...

rhkkmk

i thought you were going on a family trip?

danasgirl

We are - the whole family is going on this trip but DH will be going to the factory areas while we play in the city.

danasgirl

We (the rest of the family) may go to the factory areas too depending on how far away they are from the city area. Still working through that part of the trip.

mirolex

I've found cheaper fares with Travelocity more often than Orbitz or most of the other sites, but only for 1-2 people. What a challenge to book international seats for a group going to multiple cities. Congratulations & have a great trip!