How to buy air tickets

Tickets
Regular ticket is also called full fare ticket or full priced ticket. It comes directly out of airline's ticket pool. It is issued by any travel agency using airline ticket pricing system or directly purchased from the web site or on the internet.

You can get regular ticket either from a travel agent or directly from airline, either on airline web site or from airline office. But do not expect airline websites or other online direct buying websites to offer you the kind of personlaized service that you will get from a travel agent.

Consolidated tickets work out to be much cheaper. However, you can't usually buy a consolidated ticket directly from the airline. It may be possible that you can first make a reservation with the airline and then buy it from a travel agent. This may not always work, since airlines may be overbooked during peak periods. Some travel agents buy blocks of seats from airlines.

Some agents claim to be a consolidator even when they are not. There really is no good way to check if an agent is a consolidator for an airline. All consolidators sell to other agents. It doesn't make any difference if an agent is a consolidator or not.

Prices
Unfortunately, for international tickiting, air ticket prices are not fixed and vary a lot from time to time and from agent to agent. Therefore, a person needs to do lot of exercise, home work and shopping around to purchase airline tickets.

If you already have a booking, and you are just shopping around for a price, you should mention to the agent about the reservations you made with the airlines directly. You should just ask for a price quote, else you run the risk of that travel agent taking over your ticketing without your prior authorization.

Of course, you have to check whether the price the travel agent is quoting is for the booking you made or for the new booking agent is going to make. Just because an agent quoted you a price, do not expect that price to be guaranteed unless you actually finalize the purchase.

That means, you agreed to buy the ticket from the agent, at that price, at that time. Ticket prices can change, and most agents will quote you their current price, which may be higher or lower than what you were quoted earlier. You may mention the previous quote and see if the agent will honor it.

Now, read this carefully. This is very important. Make sure not to call several agents and give them your passenger list. If you do so, many agents will book you on the same airline, and that can result in multiple bookings which are automatically cancelled by the airline, though no fault of the agent.

Also, if one agents tells you that there are no seats available, first contact the airline and confirm that the flight is indeed full, then have one agent you trust put you on waiting list, then just wait for it and take chance if you intend to go in that airline on that day. Once you put yourself in waiting list with one agent, do not call several other agents and let them put you in waiting list with same airline for same flight.

If that happens, you are wait-listed for same flight multiple times. When your name comes up for confirmation, most airline computers detect your
name more than once and auto-cancel you. Now you have lost your chance altogether. Oops!

Credit card
Many travel agents charge 3-4% for using credit card. It would be extremely difficult for a good travel agent to offer the same price to you whether you pay cash or with credit card. Every credit card company charges transaction fee. And someone has to pay that fee.

If you are looking for cheapest possible ticket, you have to pay the credit card processing fee, as that is the cost that is simply passed on to you. After all, travel agent has only a limited profit margin and if he is offering cheapest ticket, he can't afford to pay credit card fees also.

Otherwise those who don't want to charge are paying higher price because the cost of credit card processing will be added to every ticket. However, it is possible to pay by credit card while purchasing 'regular ticket' as in that case, airline is bearing the credit card processing fee.

Also insist on getting the credit slip (customer's copy) after you pay by credit card. This will help you with the paper work with the credit card companies, Better Business Bureau etc. in case you are owed a refund and the agent gives you trouble.

To avoid paying extra on the credit card or for agents who don't accept cards, you may want to send the payment using the transaction checks that credit card companies provide, sometimes without charging any transaction fee. If you do this, check with the agent beforehand if they will charge extra or not. Also, many credit card companies treat these checks same as cash advances - you start paying finance charges the moment it is cashed. You may want to check with your credit card company as to their policies.

Receiving Tickets
You should ask the agent to email you the itinerary once you book your tickets. If the agent can't email it to you immediately, you should ask them to read it to you to make sure there is no spelling mistakes in names, age, travel dates etc. Most airlines don't allow incorrect name to be changed without a fee.

However, if there is a minor error like letter is left out incorrect, they may make an exception and charge you no fee. You should contact the agent if you realize the error after you get the ticket.

Insist on a computer generated ticket. Sometimes, airline may not accept hand written ticket, especially in US. Also make sure that the box marked 'Status' says 'OK'. If not, you don't have confirmed tickets. Save the confirmation number.

When checking the booking with the airline, make sure you check the passenger name(s) and flights/times. Always verify with the airline(s) that the entire trip is confirmed before you leave. Confirm each and every leg of the flight individually. Some travel agents have been known to lie about it.

If you pay by check, make sure that the address on the check is correct or the travel agent may send you the tickets at your old address. Make sure to strike off your old address on the check and write clear instructions to send the tickets to correct address.

Many agents send tickets by certified mail or courier service like Fed Ex, UPS, Airborne etc automatically, make sure that they will do that. And also make sure who will bear the cost of such mail service. Even if it cost $15-$20 more for you, it is well worth the money as agents are not responsible for tickets lost in mail and it is too much headache to replace them.

Check the backside of the ticket to see if the ticket was altered by the agent in any manner.

Problems with your agent
If a travel agent owes you a refund and gives you a hard time about it (yes, many agents do this, though it's your own money that you are asking for), you may try approaching Better Business Bureau.

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