A word to the wise....

Do not ever..ever.. use them... despite the cheap tickets advertised

I have had the most unbelievable conversations with their customer service (example... "I don't care who you complain to...they will believe us not you") when they issued incorrect tickets.

Fortunately...I have an email trail

Suffice it to say....Trading Standards, having seen the evidence, are now taking a very close interest. Ohh and of course ABTA (Travel agents investigating Travel Agents...hohum...but I will follow "procedures") and a quick call to my credit card company to grab the money back. Ohhh...and IATA who they have to pass procedures quality checks with.

I rebooked with Ebookers while this mess is sorted... cos the missis will get out her rusty knife if I am not back "home" as promised...

Don't you love 'em? (Thai ladies not travel agents).....

Edited October 1, 200520 yr by johnleepbs

It seems I am not alone.... 2 minutes later...

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews55581.html

I am just waiting...really waiting...for them to say I have altered the emails they sent...that has got to be next.....

25 years experience in IT here.....lets see who can prove what....

ahh a reply from Trading Standards...

I will post the non personal bits soon....

Edited October 1, 200520 yr by johnleepbs

Interesting stuff John. I look forward to hearing the outcome...................

I have had Southall Travel in my bookmarks for weeks as they had produced the best prices and seemed OK over thhe phone. Now I'm worried! Can anyone recommend a decent (cheap) alternative? I'd also be interested to hear what Trading Standards had to say!

Getting a lot of Neg Publicity about S-travel...

Thai Airways prices are a bit crazy at the moment but West -East got me a good one.

Ebookers have reasonably selection (not TG) and Sing Air Direct are doing a r/t for £480...Good luck.

Getting a lot of Neg Publicity about S-travel...

Thai Airways prices are a bit crazy at the moment but West -East got me a good one.

Ebookers have reasonably selection (not TG) and Sing Air Direct are doing a r/t for £480...Good luck.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, I just found Opodo are selling the same Gulf Air flight at the same price Unless anyone has any horror stories aboiut Opodo?

Getting a lot of Neg Publicity about S-travel...

Thai Airways prices are a bit crazy at the moment but West -East got me a good one.

Ebookers have reasonably selection (not TG) and Sing Air Direct are doing a r/t for £480...Good luck.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, I just found Opodo are selling the same Gulf Air flight at the same price Unless anyone has any horror stories aboiut Opodo?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Check with opodo that your ticket is tranferable if you ever need to change it that is, usually gulf air lets you at the cost of £50 but some times not, I flew with luthunsia to shanghi once and they would not change my ticket so i had to purchase a new one straight to bkk, i would never fly with luthansia again, took them over a hour to serve me my first beer!

I have a ticket I bought for 5th November with EVA is there a way I can find out that there will not be any unforseen problems. The ticket is an e-ticket

Give EVA a call and check.

I once got a couple of tics (long time ago) from an outfit called happy clappy holidays or something on ....Binman that appeared all confirmed but just to be on the safe side I nipped round to their offices in Piccadilly(B-M that is)...London-Dacca -OK but Dacca-Bangers..NOT Yet....W.T.F.is T.a.About

Anyway the guy was pretty good and he sorted me out but he did say that they (happy clappy) should not have issued the tics with confirmed status when they were not...pays to be sure and ALWAYS double check...

That was a real up and downer....Lon-Amsterdam-Athens-Bombay -Calcutter-Dacca.....then change to an old WW2 707 for the last leg to Bangkok...by that time we were 2 pis.ed to bother....

I have a ticket I bought for 5th November with EVA is there a way I can find out that there will not be any unforseen problems.  The ticket is an e-ticket

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Called EVA airs UK office and all is ok

Getting a lot of Neg Publicity about S-travel...

Thai Airways prices are a bit crazy at the moment but West -East got me a good one.

Ebookers have reasonably selection (not TG) and Sing Air Direct are doing a r/t for £480...Good luck.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, I just found Opodo are selling the same Gulf Air flight at the same price Unless anyone has any horror stories aboiut Opodo?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

no but Gulf air are a horror ! never would i fly gulf air again. they are the pits.

very unreliable airline

There are always two sides to every story, i have used southall travel for the last 4 years, i have bought tickets off them about a dozen times and never ever had a problem with them.

I can appreciate that the op had problems, but in my experience and the experience of my friends who have used them they have always supplied a first class service and have always been the cheapest flights around.

Lets hope they dont get closed down otherwise i will come after the op to pay the extra i will have to spend on tickets

When I saw this post the day before I was travelling out via Southall Travel I was worried! too late to change!! Anyways I had an excellent service flying with SAS I checked in and selected my seats via the internet and the journey both ways was trouble free. The only problem I had was on return was a delayed flight which was nothing to do with Southall Travel but was a problem for SAS. So I do not doubt that the originator of this thread has had problems but I had none and am posting this in the intrest of fairness. Would I use them again? probably but I do search the net before each trip for best value, I normally use travelocity but on this occasion they could not match Southall Travel for price, I also received a invoice via e-mail followed by a receipt and itinary by snail mail so there you have it!

Hi folks

FYI have just booked a oneway ticket on phone from lastminute.com here in UK

Site crashed so used phone and got cheaper deal than advertised and direct

UK-BKK £380.54 inc and post

(LHR) - (BKK)

Depart 01/12/2005 Arrive 02/12/2005

Outbound : HEATHROW AIRPORT(LHR) to BANGKOK(BKK)

Airline: THAI AIRWAYS INTERNATIONAL

Flight no: TG 0911

Class: Economy

Departing: 11:50, 01/12/2005

Departure Terminal: 3

Arriving: 06:10, 02/12/2005 (Total journey time 11hr 20min)

maybe not the cheapest but cheaper than i found on the net

if anyone is interested then i would suggest calling lastminute.com on 08712223207

hmm...although i still haven't seen the tickets yet i'm hoping they right lol

Hi folks

FYI have just booked a oneway ticket on phone from lastminute.com here in UK

Site crashed so used phone and got cheaper deal than advertised and direct

UK-BKK £380.54 inc and post

(LHR) - (BKK)

Depart 01/12/2005 Arrive 02/12/2005 

Outbound :  HEATHROW AIRPORT(LHR) to BANGKOK(BKK) 

Airline: THAI AIRWAYS INTERNATIONAL 

Flight no: TG 0911

Class: Economy

Departing: 11:50, 01/12/2005

Departure Terminal: 3

Arriving: 06:10, 02/12/2005 (Total journey time 11hr 20min)

maybe not the cheapest but cheaper than i found on the net

if anyone is interested then i would suggest calling lastminute.com on 08712223207

hmm...although i still haven't seen the tickets yet i'm hoping they right lol

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I think this is a bit steep, when westeast does the same flight return for 335.00 GBP. flown on this flight many times, never had a delay.

And the return can be open for 12 months, if you ask. it does help if you have a frequent flyer gold with thai. but still the same price.

have a good flight.

After reading all this I was a little worried about booking with Southall Travel buut my tickets have just arrived very promptly and without errors.

On the recommendation of my credit card company I did insist they emailed me everything they said over the phone. They were a little reluctant to do this but I don't know how much of that was just the person being lazy. There are protections in place when you pay by credit card. There is a small surcharge but well worth it if you are worried.