While booking an international air-travel trip..

[KKF]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

Can you still mark your seat before checking in at airport if you have already booked thru travel agent?

If i've a trip in 2 weeks but hvnt selected the seat yet and i'll try to get a front one for leg space.

some airlines [European, like British Airways] charge extra for advance seat selection...some allow online seat assignment 24 hours before departure.

bulk head seats are sold at a premium...this is how the airlines make money. unfair though!

[SID_NY]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

yes i travel a lot internationally but mostly for work...and luckily get business class (well most of the times)...but paid by the company.

all i can say, anything above 6 hours...and if there is any chance you can get B-class, pleaseeeee go for it. Do not underestimate it. Use credit card points, miles, anything. You will see the difference once you experience it. Your body will coup much better with stress and anxiety. You will sleep better and will be fresh especially when you fly Monday nite from JFK, get to Europe Monday AM and then be in the office all day long.

I recently went to Korea, japan and Thailand........all B-class but had to take coach Seoul to JFK (15 hours...............).....it was horrible. very painful. I am a tall guy 6' 2...on coach for 15 hours......it is painful. You have to take sleeping pills to knock yourself out

Same goes for Middle east which is 14+ hr flight

used to book through travel agents for my private trips...not anymore. Now i just use internet even for Pakistan.

Which industry is your company in PD? And wuts your position, just out of curiosity?

I only book b-class for my mom and i think i've posted here a couple of times one funnier experience that i'd in b-class with her :)

[teggy]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

Can you still mark your seat before checking in at airport if you have already booked thru travel agent?

If i've a trip in 2 weeks but hvnt selected the seat yet and i'll try to get a front one for leg space.

You can always request a certain seat at the check-in counter, but whether you get the seat that you want depends on availability of open and unclaimed seats, and/or the check-in agent.

[SID_NY]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

some airlines [European, like British Airways] charge extra for advance seat selection...some allow online seat assignment 24 hours before departure.

bulk head seats are sold at a premium...this is how the airlines make money. unfair though!

KKF you had mentioned something about frequent flyer program. So is there a way we can enroll in the program at airlines' website and put in the recent past trips to get some points?

[teggy]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

KKF you had mentioned something about frequent flyer program. So is there a way we can enroll in the program at airlines' website and put in the recent past trips to get some points?

I believe you will only get credit for pending, and future trips because you were not a member at the time of past travels. I could be wrong. Brother KKF can elaborate more on that from experience.

[KKF]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

KKF you had mentioned something about frequent flyer program. So is there a way we can enroll in the program at airlines' website and put in the recent past trips to get some points?

yes, you can...there is a link for FFP for every airline on their websites.

most airlines allow 6 months to collect points retroactively. one call to them can fetch you all the info you might need.

good luck.

btw, when you buy a ticket online from United Airlines, you can get a $50 credit on your first statement when you sign up for the credit card which has no annual fee and you can surrender anytime you want.

a few other airlines also offer this $50 credit.

it's NOT available for Canadians with addresses in Canada. however, Canadians can use a relatives US address to get the credit.

[prototype]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

For me, I have travelled for vacationing so I guess that effects your priorities. This is about recent trip to Malayasia:

-FARES:

cheap fare ofcourse ; book through travel agent for tickets AFTER my homework on airlines, ( I dont mind connected flights and would rather prefer to get a transit visa to stay a day or two during the connected flights if possible ) because living here in Pakistan,everyone tries to rip you off if you have no idea on pricing and options. matrix.itasoftware.com has been really helpful for my recent trip to Malaysia because due to the political scenario in islamabad last month, our passports were stuck in the embassy in Islamabad for 2 weeks and we had to change our bookings twice for flights and a hotel. Had I purchased tickets online, change of dates would have been a mess so going via travel agent was a blessing since he took care of it and I didnt have to pay anything for the change. ( I even changed the dates of getting back home after half of the trip was done because we found out husband and kids have 3-4 days off from work/school here somehow so we requested the agent to forward the bookings and he did that without any additional costs as well )

For Langkawi we took and ATR (Malindo Airline) instead of Air Asia because I heard shopping is cheapppp in Langkawi and Air Asia charges crazy prices for luggage while Malindo has first 15kg free on each ticket. We left some of our luggage with the pakistani guy so we were pretty easy with that.

• HOTELS:

I am a serviced apartment person rather than a hotel one. I find it easy and convenient to use a stove and a microwave oven to reheat lunch leftovers for dinner and get our breakfast done in the room rather than rushing out to restaurants thrice a day for meals. Plus it is easier with kids since there are usually 2 rooms so we can relax better.

I got hotel bookings done via booking.com (free cancellation wali) but as I said earlier, we had to change dates so I cancelled them all except the one in Kuala Lumpur because we wanted a place to stay as soon as we land there rather than finding ourselves a place. It was an apartment hotel (Berjaya Times Square) I booked 2 nights initially online and then we looked around and found a Pakistani (Lahori :D) man who had apartments on higher floors in the same building for half the price so we moved there after 2 nights. We were flexible with our plans since we didnt have bookings in other places so we changed the apartments thrice in 8 days as per availability and while it would sound cumbersome to some, I didnt mind that. We enjoyed all the views and being on 42nd floor, didnt even opt to get tickets for the sky bridge since it is on the 43rd floor at the twin towers and was right infront of our window in the room :).

Anyway, I got further booking done for legoland via a local tour (My local tours) operator we came across while roaming around. They gave us best ever prices, way cheaper than booking online for the legoland entry tickets (135RM for a day instead of 185RM if purchased directly from legoland counter) , and the return airfare to Langkawi. They also helped us book a night near legoland for minimal price. For Langkawi, we rented a car for 5 days at the airport and went to check out shortlisted hotels ourselves. Hated the one I loved online lol so we found a 2 bedroom apartment for first 3 days in one part of the island and then a 1 bedroom resort apartment in the other end of it..enjoyed the sunrise for 3 days and sunsets of next two right in the room

-Roaming around :

I try to save as much as possible here as well without missing any important attraction at a given city. We were easy on taking buses and trains most of the times (had to work a lot to know about the routes and options pre hand though) because taxi walay just rip you off as a tourist. Loads of haggle and lots of walking but saved a LOT to spend on other stuff which were not in my list initially because of budget constraint. Same for the theme park tickets and entry tickets to other places;planned ahead and bought family tickets via local tour agents.

-Shopping/gifts:

Bought loads of chocolates and some perfumes from Langkawi ONLY because it was a duty free island as I read online and observed that the prices were veryyyyy good as compared to other places. Rest , I tried to hold myself back as much as possible and spent in adding more places to see in the country with the saved money.

oops, sorry for the long post I dont even know if that all was relevant to the thread @SID_NY

[TLK]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

After learning from my own mistakes, I realized that when it comes to booking an international travel or even domestic, a person has to take care of departure and arrival times of both legs, and time spend in between connections. I myself tried to save 200-300 bucks and traveled through Gulf Air to Pakistan during my student days. It took me 44 hours to reach Karachi, and then Gulf lost my luggage and I spent another 4 hours at KHI airport. That saving was definitely not worth it.

I suggest that unless you are going through some major financial crunch, book an international flight with least amount of travel time. Try to save money elsewhere if you have to, like in buying gifts for family back home or doing shopping from there.

[SID_NY]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

@prototype

For me, I have travelled for vacationing so I guess that effects your priorities. This is about recent trip to Malayasia:

-FARES:

cheap fare ofcourse ; book through travel agent for tickets AFTER my homework on airlines, ( I dont mind connected flights and would rather prefer to get a transit visa to stay a day or two during the connected flights if possible ) because living here in Pakistan,everyone tries to rip you off if you have no idea on pricing and options. matrix.itasoftware.com has been really helpful for my recent trip to Malaysia because due to the political scenario in islamabad last month, our passports were stuck in the embassy in Islamabad for 2 weeks and we had to change our bookings twice for flights and a hotel. Had I purchased tickets online, change of dates would have been a mess so going via travel agent was a blessing since he took care of it and I didnt have to pay anything for the change. ( I even changed the dates of getting back home after half of the trip was done because we found out husband and kids have 3-4 days off from work/school here somehow so we requested the agent to forward the bookings and he did that without any additional costs as well )

For Langkawi we took and ATR (Malindo Airline) instead of Air Asia because I heard shopping is cheapppp in Langkawi and Air Asia charges crazy prices for luggage while Malindo has first 15kg free on each ticket. We left some of our luggage with the pakistani guy so we were pretty easy with that.

• HOTELS:

I am a serviced apartment person rather than a hotel one. I find it easy and convenient to use a stove and a microwave oven to reheat lunch leftovers for dinner and get our breakfast done in the room rather than rushing out to restaurants thrice a day for meals. Plus it is easier with kids since there are usually 2 rooms so we can relax better.

I got hotel bookings done via booking.com (free cancellation wali) but as I said earlier, we had to change dates so I cancelled them all except the one in Kuala Lumpur because we wanted a place to stay as soon as we land there rather than finding ourselves a place. It was an apartment hotel (Berjaya Times Square) I booked 2 nights initially online and then we looked around and found a Pakistani (Lahori :D) man who had apartments on higher floors in the same building for half the price so we moved there after 2 nights. We were flexible with our plans since we didnt have bookings in other places so we changed the apartments thrice in 8 days as per availability and while it would sound cumbersome to some, I didnt mind that. We enjoyed all the views and being on 42nd floor, didnt even opt to get tickets for the sky bridge since it is on the 43rd floor at the twin towers and was right infront of our window in the room :).

Anyway, I got further booking done for legoland via a local tour (My local tours) operator we came across while roaming around. They gave us best ever prices, way cheaper than booking online for the legoland entry tickets (135RM for a day instead of 185RM if purchased directly from legoland counter) , and the return airfare to Langkawi. They also helped us book a night near legoland for minimal price. For Langkawi, we rented a car for 5 days at the airport and went to check out shortlisted hotels ourselves. Hated the one I loved online lol so we found a 2 bedroom apartment for first 3 days in one part of the island and then a 1 bedroom resort apartment in the other end of it..enjoyed the sunrise for 3 days and sunsets of next two right in the room

-Roaming around :

I try to save as much as possible here as well without missing any important attraction at a given city. We were easy on taking buses and trains most of the times (had to work a lot to know about the routes and options pre hand though) because taxi walay just rip you off as a tourist. Loads of haggle and lots of walking but saved a LOT to spend on other stuff which were not in my list initially because of budget constraint. Same for the theme park tickets and entry tickets to other places;planned ahead and bought family tickets via local tour agents.

-Shopping/gifts:

Bought loads of chocolates and some perfumes from Langkawi ONLY because it was a duty free island as I read online and observed that the prices were veryyyyy good as compared to other places. Rest , I tried to hold myself back as much as possible and spent in adding more places to see in the country with the saved money.

oops, sorry for the long post I dont even know if that all was relevant to the thread @SID_NY

WOW… that must be a heck of a trip.. and a beautiful summary..

I’m just glad you didnt travel via Malaysian airlines

And now we certainly want pics of your trip too @ http://www.paklinks.com/gs/travel-and-tourism/646826-share-the-best-clicks.html

I heard Malaysia is a beautiful country with a great muslim culture.

[KKF]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

After learning from my own mistakes, I realized that when it comes to booking an international travel or even domestic, a person has to take care of departure and arrival times of both legs, and time spend in between connections. I myself tried to save 200-300 bucks and traveled through Gulf Air to Pakistan during my student days. It took me 44 hours to reach Karachi, and then Gulf lost my luggage and I spent another 4 hours at KHI airport. That saving was definitely not worth it.

I suggest that unless you are going through some major financial crunch, book an international flight with least amount of travel time. Try to save money elsewhere if you have to, like in buying gifts for family back home or doing shopping from there.

those days are long gone, TLK.

the travel industry is much much much competitive and they try to dump you off at your destination as quickly as possible and, as a result, most destinations from anywhere in the world can be/is doable non-stop or with one stop at max.

the lower fare doesn't always mean 'bad'. the lower fares come from the airline's ability to fill all available seats. the more full-capacity flights and airline gets, the cheaper the fare will get. these days, for instance, United Airlines is offering the lowest possible fares in the market for that sector. i can get a fare from Toronto to Delhi/Bombay/Kolkata for as little as $818 US.

some airlines to be avoided are those which have safety issues like Aeroflot.

[SID_NY]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

After learning from my own mistakes, I realized that when it comes to booking an international travel or even domestic, a person has to take care of departure and arrival times of both legs, and time spend in between connections. I myself tried to save 200-300 bucks and traveled through Gulf Air to Pakistan during my student days. It took me 44 hours to reach Karachi, and then Gulf lost my luggage and I spent another 4 hours at KHI airport. That saving was definitely not worth it.

I suggest that unless you are going through some major financial crunch, book an international flight with least amount of travel time. Try to save money elsewhere if you have to, like in buying gifts for family back home or doing shopping from there.

Holy cow are you kidding me, 44 hours??!! Let me guess.. they took you to london via british airways and then to gulf and then.. but still 44 hours is huge.

And ya i'm hearing this like for 200th time that the suitcase is left by gulf airways. I think its their london hub where all this happens since its connected to a different airlines.

[prototype]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

@SID_NY

WOW… that must be a heck of a trip.. and a beautiful summary..

I’m just glad you didnt travel via Malaysian airlines

And now we certainly want pics of your trip too @ http://www.paklinks.com/gs/travel-and-tourism/646826-share-the-best-clicks.html

I heard Malaysia is a beautiful country with a great muslim culture.

LOL yeah. We travelled by Thai Air from Lahore to KL via Bangkok and were still very scared keh india se koi missile naa aa jaye jaisay russia se gya tha AND the flight was really bumpy and turbulent because of the weather. I even cried holding my husband’s hand at a time Anyway, I wish the situation in Islamabad was normal and we could have got visas for Singapore and Thailand as well

It was surely a great trip and a beautiful place. .but nothing close to muslim culture unfortunately Just the feeling & thought of being in a muslim country makes you feel better at times.

I will be posting the pictures soon iA

[psyah]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

I now avoid budget airlines like the plague - some don't have entertainment and you have to pay extortionate amounts for little snacks. Even 3 hour journeys feel hard going.

Go for cheapest with national airlines - they tend to be direct flights.

If the flight is too long I would break up the flight and purposely put in a day or so in transit stop over (better with two different airlines - so they don't cotton on to the price) in a location where visa issues don't happen and I get a small excursion or holiday out of what otherwise would be a very long journey. This is usually even cheaper than flying on a connected flight with transit ... the only hassle is the check out and check back in again.

If I am travelling heavy - i.e. for relocation then I would miss the transit stop over and prefer to go direct, or if it is too costly then begrudgingly go for the connected trip where they deal with luggage airside between flights.

Where I can I get my work to pay for the flight economy and offer to top up for business class - only for longer flights.

[TLK]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

i can get a fare from Toronto to Delhi/Bombay/Kolkata for as little as $818 US. .

tell me the time it would take you to travel from Toronto to those destinations.

Holy cow are you kidding me, 44 hours??!! Let me guess.. they took you to london via british airways and then to gulf and then.. but still 44 hours is huge.

And ya i'm hearing this like for 200th time that the suitcase is left by gulf airways. I think its their london hub where all this happens since its connected to a different airlines.

Detroit to London about 8 hours. That day, irish republican army did some attack in Scotland I think, so all flights from London got delayed and I had to wait for 13 hours. Then another 6 hours wait in Abu Dahbi. Then luggage lost at KHI

[Ess_Emm]

Ah yes. Aeroplan. The worst ffp in existence in my opinion. International flight still never gets you enough points for a flight from Toronto to Edmonton. My parents kept using theirs for gas credit.

@ekumunng:10146210

I don’t have much experience of enjoying the benefits of points and free travel with them. I had some miles with AirCanada and I redeemed them for iTunes Gift Cards

[KKF]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

tell me the time it would take you to travel from Toronto to those destinations.

Detroit to London about 8 hours. That day, irish republican army did some attack in Scotland I think, so all flights from London got delayed and I had to wait for 13 hours. Then another 6 hours wait in Abu Dahbi. Then luggage lost at KHI

Toronto-New York-Delhi

or

Toronto-New York-Bombay

this route takes 17-18 hours.

New York - Del/Bom - New York flights are non-stops.

flight to Kolkata takes another 5 hours [flight time 2:40] and the rest transit [customs/immigration] time in Del or Bom.

[Southie]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

For personal travel oifu takes over. Work related is handled by aapisu. Schedule : logistics, cost, reliability play equal part.

[Deeba1234]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

@SID_NY

Awesome :k:

Do you fly often in a year or just once or twice? Im asking cuz you do sound experienced.

Yeah, every couple of months :DI’m one of those weirdos who can’t get enough of planes and airports.. Taking off still gives me a rush lol

[us1415]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

I haven't traveled any where since 2005 but I have sent my family to Pakistan every other year and sometimes every year. When it comes to them traveling I don't try to save any money. At the end with my wife and 2 daughters its not worth it for me to get a deal and making them more uncomfortable then they have to be. Every now and then though we got some pretty good deals which was the one last year where they were able to fly with Turkish for $2400 including taxes and everything from Houston, TX to Karachi. It wasn't as bad as I thought. The only condition was to travel before May 15th and we were able to do that because the kids were in 1st and 2nd grade. I wont do it again since it will now hurt their learning at school.

[teggy]

Re: While booking an international air-travel trip..

yes i travel a lot internationally but mostly for work...and luckily get business class (well most of the times)...but paid by the company.

all i can say, anything above 6 hours...and if there is any chance you can get B-class, pleaseeeee go for it. Do not underestimate it. Use credit card points, miles, anything. You will see the difference once you experience it. Your body will coup much better with stress and anxiety. You will sleep better and will be fresh especially when you fly Monday nite from JFK, get to Europe Monday AM and then be in the office all day long.

I recently went to Korea, japan and Thailand........all B-class but had to take coach Seoul to JFK (15 hours...............).....it was horrible. very painful. I am a tall guy 6' 2...on coach for 15 hours......it is painful. You have to take sleeping pills to knock yourself out

Same goes for Middle east which is 14+ hr flight

used to book through travel agents for my private trips...not anymore. Now i just use internet even for Pakistan.

In your personal capacity, would you pay for Premium cabin out of pocket for the said reasons?