Get Discount Airfares to Asia From Your Travel Agent
While for many destinations, the best way to get great fairs is to book online, Asia is a little different. If you are planning to travel to Far East Asian countries such as Japan or Malaysia, or to the Middle East or India, you may find that the best way to get a great fare is to go through a travel agent. The main reason for this is that few people buy tickets to the above destinations online, and the reduced demand means fewer companies offering ticket. Less competition inevitably means higher prices online.
Higher Prices Means More Risk
When you are paying such high prices, it is natural that you would rather give your money to a bricks and mortar company than to a faceless online one. When you are able to speak to a real travel agent in person, it instills a sense of trust that you may not feel with a web site. You may still be willing to take a chance on a short, inexpensive domestic flight, but with a long distance flight that involves connections, a little extra security is always a good thing.
A third reason why discount airfares to Asia are better off being bought off-line is that by establishing a rapport with a travel agent or agency you might get a better deal on an open ended ticket. This means that if plans change, you can make adjustments to your date of travel or even add a stop en route. After all who travels to India everyday? It just might be worthwhile to make a stop in the new and upcoming Middle Eastern city of Dubai.
Are You a Frequent Flyer?
Since many travel agencies are partnered with specific airlines, you can benefit from great savings if you choose to use their partner airline. If you fly frequently, and use the same agency and same airline each time, then you can benefit even more by joining the frequent flyer scheme offered by that airline. You could redeem the points to save more money on tickets, or you could use them to get upgrades and fly more comfortably on your next journey.
If for instance you fly from Chicago to Pakistan via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines you can be rewarded in two ways. Not only will you get the chance to see a new county practically free of cost (excluding visa charges) since the airline does stop at Istanbul en route to Karachi, Pakistan.
The second plus point is that Turkish Airlines is a partner of American Airlines so even if you do not travel to Asia again in the near future, you can transfer the miles earned (and there will be plenty) to your American Airlines Advantage account and perhaps earn a free ticket to anywhere in the US (with some restrictions of course).
Next time you fly to Asia, make sure you do some research. You can find some great discount airfares to Asia, and, if you get lucky, you could see another part of the world briefly during your stop over, and earn miles to save even more money next time you fly.
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If your planning a trip to Asia, you should definately go through a travel agent instead of online. Many travel agents have terrific airface-hotel-parks-attractions packages that are far cheaper than what you could get from online. The agents have connections with the airways and parks and can get package deals for you at over 40% savings in Asian countries.
It's a shame my favorite airline doesn't operate to Asia – I'd love to go, but fares are so expensive. I would love to read some reviews of common airlines that go to Asia – Turkish Airlines can't be the only one worth flying with, can it? I've gambled on flights within Europe and the USA, but as the article said, on such a long journey, I want to be sure I'm going to get good service!
I have been with AAA for more than a decade now. It is a great travel agency that also specializes in auto insurance claims. They have always been friendly and great to me. I have gone on three major trips through AAA and have gotten some great deals out of it.