Air reservations thru TA or on your own???

[casandbliz]

We have always booked our cruises (and air) through our travel agent. This time, we booked our cruise on our own through the cruiselines web site. But we still need to fly to our port...going from the West Coast to Florida.

I am looking at our options...Choice Air, Expedia, Travelocity, etc., and the specific airlines web site, although it is still a bit early (about a year away). So my question is, should we just go through with our travel agent for the air, or try to do it on our own??

[Zach1213]

Ask yourself this - what do you gain out of using a travel agent, besides an additional fee?

[Ashland]

Originally Posted by Zach1213

Ask yourself this - what do you gain out of using a travel agent, besides an additional fee?

TA don't get a comission on air arrangements or usually charge you for this...That being said..I always book my own air myself directly with the carrier's website for our yearly eastern caribbean cruises ..I book LAX-FLL nonstop or connect thru ATL since I use DL..Do it yourself no reason to involve a 3rd party.I start looking as soon as air opens and usually end up booking it approx 8 months out..Since I watch it so closely I have often gotten first class for just a few dollars more than economy..Good luck.

[Zach1213]

I agree... No reason to add a third party. Even if there aren't fees, it's one more hand touching your reservation, and for no reason

[CruiserBruce]

Read the MANY MANY negative posts here about cruise air.

Better book on your own thru various sites like Kayak, or the airline sites themselves.

[casandbliz]

Originally Posted by CruiserBruce

Read the MANY MANY negative posts here about cruise air.

Better book on your own thru various sites like Kayak, or the airline sites themselves.

Right...that's why I was a little hesitant about doing it ourselves. Another question...I've read that sometimes your seats are not guaranteed if you book thru any sites other than the airline. How true is this??

Also, I have never heard of Kayak-is it another site like Priceline, Expedia, etc.??

[CruiserBruce]

Originally Posted by casandbliz

Right...that's why I was a little hesitant about doing it ourselves. Another question...I've read that sometimes your seats are not guaranteed if you book thru any sites other than the airline. How true is this??

Also, I have never heard of Kayak-is it another site like Priceline, Expedia, etc.??

Yes, Kayak is in the same category.

Seats are never guaranteed no matter where you book them.

Like many others, I fly regularly (altho not as much as some of the real experts here). I book both thru airline websites and some of the side agencies.

[Zach1213]

Originally Posted by casandbliz

Right...that's why I was a little hesitant about doing it ourselves. Another question...I've read that sometimes your seats are not guaranteed if you book thru any sites other than the airline. How true is this??

Also, I have never heard of Kayak-is it another site like Priceline, Expedia, etc.??

Like Bruce says, seats are never guaranteed, no matter how you book them. Also, the cheaper the fare, and without airline frequent flier status, the less the airline will care about sticking you in a rotten seat. Not saying it'll happen, but if it's between a consolidator fare and a normal fare, you'll probably get your seat moved first.

But even booking with airlines, no seats are guaranteed until your butt is in it

[6rugrats]

Originally Posted by Zach1213

But even booking with airlines, no seats are guaranteed until your butt is in it

Even then, it's not guaranteed.

OP - use this website to look for airfare when your dates are available for booking:

matrix.itasoftware.com

You can't book there, but you can find flights, prices, etc. Then I highly advise you book directly with the airline.

[FlyerTalker]

Kayak is merely an aggregator that returns search results from a number of sources at once. One thing to be aware of is that pricing that is less than what you would get from the airline directly is often a consolidator or bulk ticket that is significantly different than an airline-direct ticket, in terms of the fare rules and conditions. It's not always apples and apples.