Travel Agent Recommendation

[Jamie]

Hello Everyone,

My wife and daughter will be flying to Thailand from the US to visit family in September. I will be following a few weeks later. We will be returning together in late October but would like to spend a day or two in either Japan or Korea.

Can anyone recommend a travel agent that deals with non-US based airlines departing from the US to BKK and returning? The travel agents I've dealt with here deal mainly with US-based airlines that also appear to be more expensive. I'd use an online travel site, however with wanting to do a layover in a different country as well as making sure we are all on the same return flight makes it difficult.

Thanks,

Jamie

[Thanyaburi Mac]

One cautionary note here, not related to your Q re travel agents:

If you break your journey ex USA to Thailand, your checked baggage allowance on a non-US carrier will drop from the "two bags at 50 pounds each" down to the "one bag at perhaps 22 kg."

At least this is what usually happens, so be sure to check it with whatever airline you end up choosing. The excess baggage charges when the change occurs could be right hefty!

Mac

[craigt3365]

Pretty much the lowest fares right now are with UA. I fly back quite often and it's hard to beat their prices lately. Especially when you factor in the travel time. I've found a few good deals on the Chinese airlines, but they involved long layovers. KAL is also one of those.

Many of the non-US airlines will show up in searches using Kayak or Matrix. There's a good list of airline search engines here:

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

What I've done when traveling with multiple people is to first check availability, then make the reservations for everybody on the same flight. Seat assignment can be done online. Though if the equipment changes (i.e. different type of plane), your seat assignments could be changed. It happens. Best to keep an eye on that as you move along. Worst case, call the airlines and they'll do the best they can to get you all together.

If you really want to use an agent, look in your local paper. You don't say where you are from, but many of the larger cities have travel agents that specialize in flights to Asia. We found one out of LA that focused on Thailand. Found them in a paper at a Thai grocery store when we were in Vegas.

[Jamie]

Thank you both for your input. Didn't think much about the baggage fees, but yes, I'll need to factor that in.

Looks like UA may be the way to go. I despise them as a domestic airline. I hope they are a bit better on international flights.

[lomatopo]

Where in the U.S. are you beginning/ending your journey?

Adding a stop-over in Korea or Japan can/may significantly increase your air-fare.

What is your budget/target price?

I would book two separate itineraries: one for your wife/daughter and one for you, you can link the two reservation records later.

One stop options via NRT or ICN might be limited to JL/NH/UA/DL/OZ/KL (code-shares excluded of course).

Assuming your wife is Thai maybe have her look around for nearby travel agents which specialize in Asian travel, or just go with an airline's web-site.

[craigt3365]

Thank you both for your input. Didn't think much about the baggage fees, but yes, I'll need to factor that in.

Looks like UA may be the way to go. I despise them as a domestic airline. I hope they are a bit better on international flights.

I'm not a fan of UA. They are tolerable. But many times they are quite a bit cheaper, so worth a few hours of pain!

[Jamie]

Where in the U.S. are you beginning/ending your journey?

Adding a stop-over in Korea or Japan can/may significantly increase your air-fare.

What is your budget/target price?

I would book two separate itineraries: one for your wife/daughter and one for you, you can link the two reservation records later.

One stop options via NRT or ICN might be limited to JL/NH/UA/DL/OZ/KL (code-shares excluded of course).

Assuming your wife is Thai maybe have her look around for nearby travel agents which specialize in Asian travel, or just go with an airline's web-site.

I'm in Tucson AZ, so could fly out of either Phoenix or Los Angeles depending on what the cost is to either of those cities from Tucson. China Airlines had tickets under $1000 leaving LAX.

The best the travel agent I've used previously could find was around $1500 flying Qatar Airlines but that was Tucson - Chicago - Doha - Bangkok. I had her check the cost for a short layover in Korea, and it was about $100 cheaper flying Korean Air.

Wife is Thai and is going to check on some travel agents in Thailand.

[lomatopo]

Wife is Thai and is going to check on some travel agents in Thailand.

This won't be useful at all. She should be looking for travel agents in the U.S. who/which specialize in Asian travel. Travel agents in Thailand will not be able to help with tickets ex-U.S.A. Sorry for not being more clear.

Do you want to fly from Tucson? If not, I assume you will drive from Tucson to Phoenix or Los Angeles?

What is your target price?

A quick search shows an "L" fare on UA for $1,320 all in. (9/16/13 - 10/28/13, various routings, no stopover). Adding a stop-over in NRT on the return bumps the price to $1,431 all in (on UA).

CA has a fare (today) for $1,229 all in.

All prices ex-TUS.

You should try to purchase ASAP. Prices will likely not decrease and you are already inside the 60 day APEX window (for a Sep. departure).

Edited July 30, 2013 by lomatopo

[Jamie]

Bought our tickets today. A bit more than I wanted to pay, however my wife wants to spend a day in Korea to do some touring on the way back. We ended up using a travel agent here in the US. My ticket was $1518 flying from Tucson to Bangkok and then flying back with them through Korea. All international legs will be on Korean Air. My wife and daughters ticket (daughter will be in my wife's lap) came out to around $1600.

We seen good prices flying from Tucson to LAX and then LAX to Bangkok via China Airlines (below $1200) but she was adamant we do the tour in Korea. Oh well.

Wife is Thai and is going to check on some travel agents in Thailand.

This won't be useful at all. She should be looking for travel agents in the U.S. who/which specialize in Asian travel. Travel agents in Thailand will not be able to help with tickets ex-U.S.A. Sorry for not being more clear.

Do you want to fly from Tucson? If not, I assume you will drive from Tucson to Phoenix or Los Angeles?

What is your target price?

A quick search shows an "L" fare on UA for $1,320 all in. (9/16/13 - 10/28/13, various routings, no stopover). Adding a stop-over in NRT on the return bumps the price to $1,431 all in (on UA).

CA has a fare (today) for $1,229 all in.

All prices ex-TUS.

You should try to purchase ASAP. Prices will likely not decrease and you are already inside the 60 day APEX window (for a Sep. departure).