Best way to book flights

[MrsMiggans]

Hi,

I have been doing a lot of research trying to find cheap airfares to WDW for Nov - Dec 2012. I was thinking that it may be cheaper to find the cheapest SYD - LA flight and then book the LA - ORL sector seperately direct with a domestic airline in the states.

Has anyone done it this way and saved some $$$???

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sugarglider]

Hi Mrs Miggans
I used to do that and I have had the occassional bargain
But the last two trips I bought my domestic flight as part of my international ticket. I did this with Qant-*** and American and found that the this gave me the cheapest domestic fare. One year I paid only $10 return DFW-MCO.
the other benefit is checking the luggage all the way through. Also the airline was easier to deal with if something had to change and it was all on one ticket.
Virgin now have a deal with Delta so their prices may be good too but I haven't checked.

It can also depend on how many domestic legs you will be flying. if many you may be better off buying an airpass type ticket.

good luck sorting it all out! (but you know that you love the planning!)

 

[shushh]

The other advantage of having your domestic flights as part of your international ticket is that you get the international luggage allowance on all legs! Very handy when going to the US. You just need to do the maths and work out if separate domestic tickets plus any potential extra costs for luggage would be more economical than getting it all on the ticket. Also some people are happy to pay a little more for all the other benefits and peace of mind that sugarglider has mentioned for flights being all on the one ticket.

 

[toontownnutter]

OH booked Melbourne>LA>Vegas and then 7 days later Vegas>Orlando and 14 days later Orlando>LA>Melbourne through http://www.expedia.com.au/

We had been to a travel agent. Twice. They said up front their service would be $120 which I was more than happy to pay but their quote came back at nearly 2k dearer and the flight times were terrible, red eye 6am etc. OH managed to get perfect times, can't fault them except we fly out of Melbourne too early to catch from Launceston and be there 4 hours prior to departure but no big deal we'll fly into Melbourne the day before god forbid if there's fog or something holding Launceston up from departing.

I really just wanted to not have to worry about collecting luggage at LAX and checking it back in but travel agent informed us this must be done regardless of whether it's a connecting flight or not for security purposes.

 

[australiankaren]

The other advantage of having your domestic flights as part of your international ticket is that you get the international luggage allowance on all legs! Very handy when going to the US. You just need to do the maths and work out if separate domestic tickets plus any potential extra costs for luggage would be more economical than getting it all on the ticket. Also some people are happy to pay a little more for all the other benefits and peace of mind that sugarglider has mentioned for flights being all on the one ticket.

OMG...I didnt know that...i just assumed that they saw we were from australia and did the math

see you learn something new every day

oh, and I'm now on school hols for 6 weeks..yeahhhhhhhhhhh

 

[BecBennett]

Also agreeing with booking it straight through. I've done it both ways and have decided that this is the best option.

Last time I got flights I found it was cheaper to go from Syd to MCO through Virgin then SYD to LAX, so it was really a no brainer