I always book long haul flights direct with the airline despite the fare cost is higher . However some friends always book with travel agents and say they never have problems . I am reluctant to use agents because I once used an agent based in India (they have an English contact number so as to appear they are UK based ) and they took nearly 50% over the fare price from my credit card . I got the money back after many calls to the agent and my bank . What are your preferred booking methods ?

Also has anyone flown from London to Bangkok via China flights which are half the cost of direct flights ?

Booking direct with airline is always my choice....when/if the crap hits the fan with cxls or delays good luck getting any timely help from an agent half way around the world.

Those Indian call centers pretending to be travel agents, and which often show up at the top in internet search results when looking for the direct websites or phone numbers for an airline, are almost always 100% scammers that spoof as being part of the airline. In reality, they are not licensed travel agents and have zero affiliation with any airlines. They also have no direct access to the airline agent booking systems. So if they do book a ticket for you, they will just go onto the airline website using your own credit card like a regular passenger and book the ticket for you in your name, the same thing you could have done yourself.

Then, on top of that, they will add a bunch of additional charges to your credit card using their own merchant account, so that money goes directly to them. It happened to a friend of mine. They booked the ticket for him on the airline website and then made around half a dozen additional charges to his credit card totaling close to $10,000. I won’t get into all the details about how he tried to stop those payments, but he caught it immediately, and then the Indians made up all kinds of lies to try to prevent him from canceling the charges. Eventually, he filed disputes with his credit card company, and after about 60 days, all the charges were removed from his credit card and canceled.

Anyway, the point is, yes, the best thing is to book directly with the airlines because if you have a problem at some point and need to make a change to the booking, sometimes the airlines will be more difficult about it if you booked through an agent. But that’s not always the case if you booked using a major booking site.

So, if you book tickets through Booking.com, Agoda, or Trip.com, not a problem. I do that all the time, and it does save a bit of money on certain flights. They are reliable providers, and you can safely book the flights right through their own mobile apps.

Edited 14 minutes ago14 min by Alpha84

38 minutes ago, superal said:

What are your preferred booking methods ?

Also has anyone flown from London to Bangkok via China flights which are half the cost of direct flights ?

Always direct with airline. Easier if any changes, cancellation or upgrades. Also can choose fare basis if needing to aquire frequent flyer mileage.

We have booked Air China LHR-PEK-BKK mid January 2027 with a 2hr20mins layover. Just £368 GBP per person one-way! Includes seat assignment. Total bargain as THAI Airways wanted nearly double. I'm Star Alliance Gold member so we get all the priveleges of priority check-in/boarding/baggage and lounge access. Planes are A350-900 and B777-300. Quite looking forward to this trip. Heard from a friend that it's good service.

5 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

We have booked Air China LHR-PEK-BKK mid January 2027 with a 2hr20mins layover. Just £368 GBP per person one-way! Includes seat assignment.

Great Price that there , is it Premium Economy or you back by the toilets in low class for 368 Quid > lounge access is really great for free drinks just be careful of any cream based dishes that could spoil your arrival if you catch my drift .....

4 minutes ago, PhilipHabib said:

Great Price that there , is it Premium Economy or you back by the toilets in low class for 368 Quid > lounge access is really great for free drinks just be careful of any cream based dishes that could spoil your arrival if you catch my drift .....

Not near toilet. Seat row 42. Always use https://seatmaps.com/ when selecting. Not premium.

Edited just now1 min by soi3eddie