We are ready to buy airline tickets. The bucket tickets are much cheaper than British Airways. Has anyone bought international flights through buckets?
We want to know the good and the bad? Want to go as cheap as possible, yet not interested in any
problems. Thank you!

You might try Euram Flight Center 1 800 848 6789, a consolidator. Determine the exact itinerary first, then call them for the air only, this is not a travel agency. To the UK, probably Virgin Air.

What is a bucket ticket? Virgin Atlantic Airlines is at www.fly.virgin.com/atlantic. Two other good websites are www.travelocity.com and www.discountair.com. Thanks!

Bucket and consolidator are the same thing. The airlines, if they think that a flight is going to be half empty or more, sell their tickets very cheaply to consolidators, with the idea that they would rather lose some money than all the money on an empty seat. I use consolidator tickets whenever I can. I went to Spain and back last September on American for $580 - same plane, same everything as anyone paying full price. The cheapest I had found through calling the airline directly had been about $850. You can get consolidator tickets in two ways that I know of: 1. through the ads in the Sunday travel sections of most major newspapers. Most of these consolidators have been in business for many years and are very reliable. Anyone who wants to know the companies I have used may E-mail me and I will give you the names. 2. I also have a regular travel agent who will get me the cheapest possible flight including consolidators. He got me the flight to Spain. Two years ago, through calling a number in the L.A. Times travel section, I flew to Paris and back in March for $350. I have never had a problem. One of the reasons I think that many people don't buy consolidator tickets is because of the erroneous impression that these are not regularly scheduled flights on regular airlines. In the past there used to be "charter flights" for "club members." Once in a while you would hear about last minute cancelled flights stranding hundreds of passengers. Maybe that's what some people have in their minds. But these were not consolidator tickets. I have only flown on regularly scheduled flights using consolidator purchased seats.

Consolidators don't just necessarily sell tickets on flights the airlines think may go half full. They have contracts with the airlines and a designated number of seats to sell at discounted rates. Many do not work with the general public so it is to your benefit to call your travel agent. I have one consolidator who mainly sell British Air...others have many contracts....and sometimes the airlines have sale fares that are less than consolidators. An experienced travel agent can guide you!

I have several times through Euram Tours in
Washington, DC. This firm has been in business
a long time and is very reliable. I think I chose
them by reading a travel article in the newspaper
on this subject that mentioned a few consolidators
with good reputations. I'm talking about buying
discounted tickets on regularly scheduled flights
on regular airlines, though -- I personally would
not buy tickets on charter flights or really lower
quality airlines (I won't name names, but those of
developing countries I avoid). I also wouldn't pay
by cash or check -- Euram takes credit cards and
delivers the ticket by Fedex. I believe Euram's
flights are mainly out of D.C. and then NYC. You
certainly can ask them questions about various
flights and schedules just like you would an
airline or travel agent -- I do all the time since I
don't know what the best deal they're going to
have at any particular time for my itinerary.
There's no point in picking out what flight you want
and telling them because they only carry a limited
number of tickets on a selected set of airlines.
I like them because they sell tickets on Air France
and I go to Paris a lot -- the discount is about 25%25.
They have a WEBsite (www.flyeuram.com) but
I can't ever get it to work although I haven't tried in
a while.