Netflights and other agencies

[Kath2003]

Anyone have much experience of any of these? Usually book direct with the airline but have used agencies such as Expedia in the past:

Netflights - looks fine?
TravelUp - more sceptical?
Opodo - seems fine?
Holiday Genie - not heard of them?

Or any others you've got recommendations of, please.

 

[2Tiggies]

Kath, I don't have any definitive answers from experience but all of these were on my list that I asked about a few weeks back. I took it upon myself to do my own research, quite extensively based on reviews on various websites I find to be very reputable and drew the following conclusion:

Netflights - Not a problem. Good reviews. The negative ones are often where the customer didn't understand the process rather than a supplier issue
TravelUp - Avoid!
Opodo - Seemed fine from my findings too but they were more pricey than the others, consistently
Holiday Genie - Very mixed reviews. Nothing damning but not really enough for me to be persuaded
Budget Travel: as above
Expedia: Very good, as with Netflights
Globehunters: Stay away!

Orbitz and Travelocity are ones I would have been happy to use too if they had the best prices so you could include those too. Be sure to check the US Expedia and Travelocity sites too as sometimes their prices were lower than the identical flights on the UK sites

I don't just read ratings; I want to know WHY they get a good/bad review and the ones I said keep away from had many similar complaints that were very concerning

 

[PaulCox1985]

Another I've used before is travel republic - very good prices

 

[Kath2003]

Kath, I don't have any definitive answers from experience but all of these were on my list that I asked about a few weeks back. I took it upon myself to do my own research, quite extensively based on reviews on various websites I find to be very reputable and drew the following conclusion:

Netflights - Not a problem. Good reviews. The negative ones are often where the customer didn't understand the process rather than a supplier issue
TravelUp - Avoid!
Opodo - Seemed fine from my findings too but they were more pricey than the others, consistently
Holiday Genie - Very mixed reviews. Nothing damning but not really enough for me to be persuaded
Budget Travel: as above
Expedia: Very good, as with Netflights
Globehunters: Stay away!

Orbitz and Travelocity are ones I would have been happy to use too if they had the best prices so you could include those too. Be sure to check the US Expedia and Travelocity sites too as sometimes their prices were lower than the identical flights on the UK sites

I don't just read ratings; I want to know WHY they get a good/bad review and the ones I said keep away from had many similar complaints that were very concerning

Thanks for this. Currently laying in wait, stalking prices anyway, kinda hoping for a miracle... Prices at the moment are now back to booking directly with the airline being cheapest (unless you count the 0.5-1% Quidco I may get) so will probably do that if it comes down to it

 

[2Tiggies]

Thanks for this. Currently laying in wait, stalking prices anyway, kinda hoping for a miracle... Prices at the moment are now back to booking directly with the airline being cheapest (unless you count the 0.5-1% Quidco I may get) so will probably do that if it comes down to it

Well I buckled and went for a code share, booking directly with AA for BA flights. Had Netflights, Expedia or a similar known reputable agent had the best deal I wouldnt have hesitated but I passed on the additional £70 odd I would have saved on 2 tickets for the security of booking where I felt safe. When are you going? I know you are tied to holidays. We are fortunate being in Scotland because our schools close about a month before the rest of the UK kids get out and not wanting her to miss any school next year (first year in secondary) I opted for the lesser of two evils and have taken her out of the last 2 1/2 days of the school year to save on flights. Rather incredibly, flights from the Sunday before the schools close here rocket considerably in price!

I had a long list of sites I searched continuously day and night for about 6 weeks, clearing cookies and .... repeat. I could probably have done better but it was consuming my life to a detrimental degree and I did come in under the maximum budget I'd set myself. I wont' know if they come down as I won't look. I'm happy with what I have.

Keep an eye on Kayak's predictor graph. (They estimate if you should buy now or wait based on prices over the next 7 days). They were pretty spot on and I had 3 searches going per session from different airports, all with different results, but they were accurate while I used them.

 

[Elise79]

Lee - what are your dates as you are not on the holiday chart

Wondering if we will get to meet?