Booking method?

[bluemoonfound]

Hello,

First time international traveler with a quick question: is it better to book a flight to Spain with an agent versus booking independently online? I'll also be looking for travel insurance.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Buen Camino

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hola - welcome to the forum. For many years I have simply booked international travel direct with the airline on line with never a problem. As for travel insurance - I am not sure what country you are in but if you type "travel insurance" into the search box at the top of the page you will see many posts giving the experience of other pilgrims.

Best wishes

John

 

[dougfitz]

I do both. Booking online is great for simple itineraries such as return flights, but can be more difficult for complex plans that might have an open jaw or multiple carriers. In those cases, I am happy to pay a travel agent.

Whether or not you use an agent shouldn't affect your decision to obtain travel insurance, although the agent might be inclined to promote specific products. I normally do this online.

Regards,

 

[tyrrek]

Hi!

As an aside, I understand that in certain circumstances paying with a credit card gives you more protection if the airline went bust or similar.

Buen Camino!

 

[bluemoonfound]

Thank you all for your suggestions

This forum is great!

 

[JillHives]

I'm based in Dublin and was looking at prices online for someone coming from Toronto (same could be said for the east coast of the US) and I found that booking three one way tickets was the way to go. Using travelocity or any site like that to book a flight from Toronto to Dublin and another back from Porto. The middle ticket Dublin to Biarritz with Ryanair, which is rarely included in those multi-airline sites. Including the direct buses (to sjpp and Porto) and all three flights it totalled around $1400 for the beginning of September. All direct, taking about 12 hours total from Toronto to SJPP and six of that could be sleeping when you naturally would be.

Ryanair usually uses the smaller airport on the outside of bigger cities, however Dublin doesn't have one. So all main airlines and cheaper ones like Ryanair fly in and out. Ryanair only fly to Biarritz four days a week departing around noon. So if you can get a night flight to Dublin that lands in the morning (you can sleep on the plane) presumably you could go through customs and turn around and go back in to fly out again (flying from EU country to EU country even as a US citizen is a breeze) without leaving the airport. It's not a big airport and two hours is more than enough time. Plus Ryanair lets you to check in online 24 hours before so you can actually already be checked in for the flight before you fly to Dublin.

Granted, I've never done this but thought I'd put it out there. If not checking a bag one would think this would be a very cheap and easy way to go. Many connect in London but sometimes Dublin might prove beneficial especially if you have to change from Heathrow to Stanstead airport. I hate flying out of my way and try not to do it when ever possible.

 

[tyrrek]

Yes, London can be a pain (and potentially very expensive) unless you get a good transatlantic deal, the timings are right, and you know what you're doing with transfers/hotels.

I'd disagree about the online check-in with Ryanair, though. In practice online check-in doesn't change anything, except that they can charge you more if you haven't got the extra piece of paper with you. It would be great if you could just walk into the airport, avoid the desks altogether and go straight through security to the gate, but you can't. In effect you're paying £6 to save them printing a sheet of paper (or £30+ if you forget to print it yourself!).

I missed my flight back from Valladolid in March, which I'd already 'checked-in' for. As far as I know it didn't lead to a security alert at the airport!

Buen Camino!