Anyone ever use a consolidator for Europe?

[Lorian]

We're checking airfares to Barcelona from JFK and came across an Airline Consolidator site that had great prices. Are they save to use? How reliable are they? If anyone has any info I would be very grateful. We're going in Sept 2005. Thanks in advance. Lori

[vivian02]

I used a consolidator last year for our trip to Barcelona. Saved some money and had a great trip. I was skeptial at the time but everything went very smooth. I had a one night stop over in Frankfurt on the way back but it was easy finding a hotel near the airport. (Plan ahead) I would recommend using a major credit card and if you don't have a conformation on the flights within a week you will know something is up. We had a conformation within days and three days after purchasing the tickets we had paper tickets delivered to the house. Make sure to check if you qualify for the air miles on the Airlines you are booked through. Getting an extra 13000 miles on that miles card helps. I'm sure this post will ge more replies. Yes, we were happy campers. Tim and Cathy

[jezzdogg]

We are looking for good prices on tickets to Europe, and have not found any. What is the name of your consolidator? Many thanks

[Lorian]

I searched Iberia Airlines and a site popped up-UKAir.com. It stated fares for Barcelona from $345. I didn't persue it any further.Thought I'd ask here first since people are so helpful on Cruise Critic and you get unbiased reviews.The least expensive fare I've found is $615 RT to Barcelona from JFK with 1 stop with British Airlines. Delta's non-stop is a whopping $1400 +. There must be a better way.

Lori

[Globaliser]

The least expensive fare I've found is $615 RT to Barcelona from JFK with 1 stop with British Airlines. Delta's non-stop is a whopping $1400 +.

Non-stops tend to be more expensive because people are usually prepared to pay more for the convenience. However, convenience and price are only two of the factors to be considered. You might also want to think about the airlines' service levels, too - economy class on one airline may be significantly different from economy class on another, even if the seat sizes and legroom are the same.

 

On that note, if you're tempted to book the BA (it's British Airways, BTW, to be pedantic) fare, look carefully at the sector between London and Barcelona. BA and Iberia now codeshare on all their flights between London and Spain, but their service levels are very different. I would personally put some effort into making sure I was onboard a BA aircraft rather than an Iberia aircraft.

[ijkh]

I found some great BA fares but you had to go from LHR that is Heathrow to a different airport in London LWR. I think that is the Gatwick airport. I don't care about a hundred dollar difference if I have to switch city airports after a long overseas flight. Buyers and cruisers beware of the fine print.

[Globaliser]

I found some great BA fares but you had to go from LHR that is Heathrow to a different airport in London LWR. I think that is the Gatwick airport. I don't care about a hundred dollar difference if I have to switch city airports after a long overseas flight. Buyers and cruisers beware of the fine print.

Good advice. I think that will have been "LGW" for Gatwick airport. Whether you want the hassle of an airport change is certainly something you have to bear in mind, whether it's in London, Paris, Berlin, New York or any other multi-airport city.

 

If you're looking at a change of airports, one of the other things that's worth investigating is whether the airline will transfer your baggage automatically or whether you have to collect it at the first airport and schlep it to the second yourself. If you find that an airline will do it for you, that takes some of the hassle out of it. But BA from LHR to LGW or vice versa is, alas, not one of them.

[jezzdogg]

That was our problem last year. We were doing Barcelona to Venice. Able to get to Barcelona without changing airports in London. However, the airlines do not fly into Heathrow froim Venice. Which would have meant we would have had to collect our luggage, go thru customs and then get on the bus to change airports. Instead we flew roundtrip with AA to Paris and purchased and open jaw ticket with airfrance......Paris to Barcelona and Venice to Paris.

Delta is very high as they have the only non-stop to Barcelona and home thru Venice, we were able to do the flights for around 60% of what Delta wanted.