Reputable sites for booking flights/how to book flights?

Disposable1

Hi,

I'd like to book some tickets for a flight. I'd like to know some reputable sites to book the plane tickets, or even better if somebody with experience could explain to me how you do it that would be great. I just have absolutely zero experience with anything like this, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I'll be going to Turkey, probably for between 2 to 5 days. Thanks in advance.

Irishphotodesk

Use the airline directly to book flights, you can search for flights on a site like sky scanner to see the multiple options available.

Sheep Shagger

Irishphotodesk wrote: »

Use the airline directly to book flights, you can search for flights on a site like sky scanner to see the multiple options available.

What he said- research using skyscanner but book direct with the airline.

Bogwoppit

I use google flights search to find the best routes and prices and just book them direct on the airline’s website.

Google flights is a much better way of finding flights than Skyscanner or kayak or any of those type search sites (I take 80/100 flights a year).

Disposable1

This is all great stuff, thanks very much.

grimm2005

Bogwoppit wrote: »

I use google flights search to find the best routes and prices and just book them direct on the airline’s website.

Google flights is a much better way of finding flights than Skyscanner or kayak or any of those type search sites (I take 80/100 flights a year).

Agreed, I find Google Flights the best for searching hands down, pretty sure they don't link to dodgy third party travel agents either like Skyscanner.

As others have said booking direct with the airline is your best bet. If you're looking for a sun holiday TUI is also worth a look. They only sell flights as part of a package so I don't think they will come up on searches through the likes of Google Flights.

fxotoole

The consensus seems to be to book directly with the airline. Out of curiosity, why? Have people had bad experiences with third parties? Are third parties unable to guarantee they can sort you out if something goes wrong?

I fly to South America every other year. I always opt for the cheapest option or the option with the least amount of changes. Most of the time, this means booking via third party. Never had any problems.

bigar

fxotoole wrote: »

The consensus seems to be to book directly with the airline. Out of curiosity, why? Have people had bad experiences with third parties? Are third parties unable to guarantee they can sort you out if something goes wrong?

I fly to South America every other year. I always opt for the cheapest option or the option with the least amount of changes. Most of the time, this means booking via third party. Never had any problems.

The reason I book directly are:

- the price is often lower
- better control of check in and options like seat selection, priority, etc
- if you travel the same airlines or alliance, you can gain loyalty points/air miles
- I am a solo traveller and when you have booked directly and joined their loyalty program, I have had quite a few upgrades offered to me at check in (even when I just joined). I have travelled business class and/or received lounge access a number of times
- you will receive better updates in case of delays and such

ted1

bigar wrote: »

The reason I book directly are:

- the price is often lower
- better control of check in and options like seat selection, priority, etc
- if you travel the same airlines or alliance, you can gain loyalty points/air miles
- I am a solo traveller and when you have booked directly and joined their loyalty program, I have had quite a few upgrades offered to me at check in (even when I just joined). I have travelled business class and/or received lounge access a number of times
- you will receive better updates in case of delays and such

1. Often lower / often dearer
2. Depends on airline, generally I find the only drawback is making changes. But the travel agents do this without hassle.
3. You get points the same points regardless who you book through
4. I often get upgrades as solo traveller, most my flights are booked through the companies travel agent.
5. You receive the sane updates. When you check in online or manage your booking just add your contact details.

Caranica

If you book with a third party and there's a problem there is often a lot of to and fro to work out who's actually responsible for looking after you. After one particularly stressful incident I switched to only booking flights with airlines but use itasoftware to work out routings and prices. I use third party sites mostly for hotels.

Bogwoppit

Similar here, if there’s an issue then it’s much easier to fix if you’ve booked a flight direct.

With hotels I search online for what I want then ring the hotel, they’ll match or improve an internet price most of the time and as with the flights, if there’s an issue it’s much easier to sort if you booked direct.

Disposable1

This is great thanks. I didn’t even know google flights existed