Asia Airfare Search Engines

[andaman4]

I've just been posted in Bangkok and will be doing a good deal of regional travel.

What airfare search engines/websites do you recommend for regional travel? I'm wondering if there are any websites/engines which excel in the Southeast Asia region - which would include some of the low-fare airlines (or not). When I travel I want to be able to check routing options and fares before I book a flight with my organization's travel agent (who I don't trust to choose the best routings). Thanks.

Edited July 27, 2006 by andaman4

[Soju]

My experience has been that the only way to buy or search for flights on low cost carriers is to go directly to them. They don't pay any commission to travel agents so no travel agents will sell you a ticket on them. Searching flights separately on each of their websites would be a pain if you're planning a multi-segment trip, but that's what you need to do if you want to save some money. You also need to check carefully their refund policies. Some of them give no refunds or no changes, or restrict such from a certain time before the flight. That means that if one of your flights is late and you have a connecting flight on a LCC (even if the LCC is the same as your incoming flight), if you miss the flight you may forfiet your ticket and need to buy a new one on a different flight. Be sure to check all the restrictions, including luggage allowance. Sometimes the tickets on a LCC end up costing just as much if not more than full-fare airlines.