We had an interesting experience on Tuesday which we thought our fellow members of OzBargain would be interested in.
It was our intention to travel to New Zealand for three weeks flying to Queenstown and leaving N.Z. from Auckland and going to Norfolk Island for a week and then to Brisbane. I went on-line using several websites to get an idea of flights, times and especially costs. My search was for a one-way flight with one 23kg bag for each of us. Our travel and accommodation within N.Z. we will do ‘ad hoc’.
We then went to a local travel agent to get a quote. A young lady helped us and we presume her boss (a mature lady) was listening. We asked her for a quote, initially from Auckland to Norfolk Is and then to Brisbane. She played with her computer and said it would be about $1,700 each but it might be cheaper if we had a return ticket so I told her about our plan to leave from Sydney. She then said the total fare would be about $2,700 each. She told us the cost was expensive because they were all one-way fares. I then told her about the fares that I got over the internet several hours earlier. She didn’t say anything and didn’t even seem embarrassed. Surprisingly the other lady didn’t say anything either.
We went home and again checked the internet and purchased our tickets using the direct Airline links – Virgin to get to New Zealand and flying Air New Zealand from Auckland to Norfolk and then Brisbane. The total cost for both of us was $1,608 including our one bag each and the booking charges.
We really wonder how these travel agents can survive. Often their so called packages are on a pp basis(per person)charge which means the accommodation is twice the price. When I book accommodations it is one price for the room – not per person.
BEWARE!!!
I booked my flights to the USA through flight centre as they were the same price as my internet research plus they had some extra credit included. I really had to hold myself back from grabbing the people being served before me who were booking a cruise. The prices they were paying was about $1000 per person more than my quick search on my phone turned up. I guess it pays to research sometimes they can get bargains but they have to make their money somewhere.