Book Myself Online Or Use Travel Agent In Bankok Question

[BobTH]

I have retired and lived in Bangkok for the last two years and moved here from the USA. In September or August I plan to fly from Bangkok to Oslo Norway to visit a friend and stay there for two weeks, I will then travel to the USA (Indianapolis, Indiana) to visit my parents for two weeks. After this visit I will return from Indianapolis to Bangkok again. My question is for those on the board that have done these kind of trips, is it better and more cost effective to do all the booking yourself online or should I just go to a travel agent here and let them book for me. Having not used a Bangkok travel agent I do not know it they try to get you the best deals or not. Any tips or help would be greatly appriciated. Thank you in advance

[roamer]

I would start doing it by using a flight search engine like Kayak or Skyscanner to give you an idea of options and costs before you try a travel agent. Note that its a slightly complex trip with various ticketing options, it might for example be best to book something like Bangkok- London-Indianapolis-Bangkok and book a separate connecting flight London-Oslo, I say this because there is a far wider selection of flights going into and out of London than Oslo which also tends to be expensive.

Amsterdam and Frankfurt can also be good alternates as well. Now that I have said that I just did a quick check on some rough dates in September and it's actually cheaper to fly via Oslo on on British Airways from Bangkok though it involves changing at LHR (London) on the way to Oslo and back again and then like this LHR-ORD (Chicago)-IND-ORD-LHR-BKK.(The wonderful world of airline ticketing!)That routing comes in at $2736 for the complete trip. That gives you an idea of prices if you want to see a travel agent, alternative routes don't take much off in terms of time(if any) but do increase the price considerably, in some cases doubling it. Be aware whatever way you do it that codeshares are involved, in the example above its American Airlines on the London US sectors, with other deals it would probably be Delta.

Prices can vary on your dates, choose the multicity option on Kayak and play around, have fun !

[angsta]

I ALWAYS use Moxtravel.com as they seem to offer prices as cheap or cheaper than Skyscanner.

The problem I have with skyscanner is that the cheapest flight prices advertised are sometimes (usually) with backstreet travel agencies in the UK and have questionable reputations. Use Skyscanner as a guide then search the airline websites as they are sometimes cheaper than the travel agent price and you can book direct.

[craigt3365]

I would search every website listed here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/527870-airline-information-and-flight-deals-for-expats/

Then I would contact every travel agent I could find. Yes, a lot of work, but if you end up saving...say...$500....It'd be worth it!

Also check some of the round the world websites. Like bootsnall, etc. Might be able to work out something. Plus, if you're flexible, you might be able to add in another destination or two for a small amount of money????