travel agencies vs. online ticketing for air tickets...

[kharmabum]

ever see airlines(air asia/bangkok air) advertise big sales only to find that those cheap tickets are no longer available even though the sale just started that day? is it possible that even though you can no longer book a ticket at the sale price yourself some travel agencies still can because they have blocks of tickets reserved already? i was just wondering if it was worth my while to pop into a few travel agencies and try to get a good price or not.

specifically, i want to fly from chiang mai to koh samui in april, but don't want to pay 5,600 bht. one way. seeings how they are advertising a sale price of 3,600 baht for that time.

thanx.

btw, it's been my experience that with nok air some travel agencies ALWAYS beat the online price offered by a few hundred baht. but be careful, because some travel agencies will double the price of the same ticket.

[pomchop]

your first problem is that air asia does not fly from chiang mai or Bangkok or anywhere to ko samui......

[crazygreg44]

Ko Samui Airport is owned by ONE Airline, so only they have the monopoly to fly there. Don't expect normal pricing applied on any Samui bound flights.

Personally, on Nok Air or Air Asia, I have always found their online booking pricing better than anything you could get from an agent.

But this goes not for any Ko Samui flights . . . . . pretty much off the track monopoly pricing. . .