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| Apr 28, 2007 10:00 am |
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re: re: re: My elder daughter is travelling to the USA in June - inputs needed |
| Asha Gummadi
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Each of the following questions can be answered separately for both
international travel and local travel in the USA
a.. Is it easier to find travel deals on the internet or through agents or direct airlines?
- USA - Via the Internet
- International - Through Consolidator agents.
b.. On the internet, should one be looking at aggregator sites (searching multi-airline) or individual airline sites?
- Aggregator is the best. Orbitz, yahoo etc
c.. Is it better to deal with large, medium or small travel agents?
- Large is better since they have experience in many issues.
d.. Is it better to deal with an agent in the city one is based in/connected with (Delhi, Bangalore, Nagpur) - which of these may be better?
- Nope. Based in which ever city is better. I deal with one in Hyderabad for all my travel ticket needs out of the country. Have been dealing with him for the past 11 years.
e.. Does it make a significant difference if tickets are booked a) in India b) in USA c) in Gulf?
- For India to US, it is from India.
- For tickets with in the US, the three week advance prices for locations is quite good. and if the travel dates are flexible, it is definetly better to get them in the US.
f.. Does membership of any student/youth forum make a significant difference to the ticket price?
- Not that I am aware of
g.. Does the price of fares always go up as the date comes closer, or can there be fluctuations back and forth?
- 3 week advance is always good if you know exactly that you are goin to go. There are always last minute deals also.
h.. What deadline should be imposed for buying tickets?
- No dead lines. One hour before flight in US from the Airport.
i.. Are there likely to be significant cost benefits in asking the international airline to patch through domestic travel at India and/or USA end?
- Nope
j.. Can close links within travel agents, airlines, airport managers etc. lead to significantly better deals in terms of employee discounts?
- Absolutely. If you know employees of airlines, they will have tickets for cheap etc
These questions are for international travel only:
a.. Is a round the world ticket cheaper than a 2-way ticket in the same direction?
- Depends on the time of the year and the airline. You have to check with the travel agent.
b.. Even if not, since Montana is in the far West, would returning via SE Asia be cheaper/faster (miles are less!)?
- Not particularly. The connections in SE Asia are often long. This weekend I was coming from China to India via Bangkok and the wait in BK was 9 hours.
c.. If one is in the international lounge for a few hours layover is a transit visa needed in any 3rd country?
- If u are to go into the country then you need Visa. US citizens have Visa exsumptions to many countries. Indians need it for sure.
d.. Are there likely to be major cost differences in using any of the global transhipment hubs in Gulf, CIS, West Europe or S.E. Asia?
- Do not know.
e.. If so, are there major qualitative reasons for not using any of them, especially the CIS ones?
f.. If the cost from various embarkation points in India is roughly similar, what should be the preferred airport?
- Closest to you is the best. Otherwise you have to deal with the internal connections on domestic airline.
These questions are for travel in the USA only:
a.. How much cost difference in the global fares will make it worth it to use Washington's other 2 international airports rather than Baltimore?
- Depends on which airline and going to the cheapest fare airline is the best. No big difference otherwise.
b.. If either of them are to be used, are there any safe, fast and reasonably priced airport shuttles, trains etc. to come closer to Baltimore?
- Sorry no idea.
c.. In general, is it better to try for a patch-through from the global carrier, or to buy and use VUSA coupons?
- VUSA coupons are supposed to be good.
d.. In this case, since all routes from Washington to Bozeman have at least 1 stopover and sometimes two, does this change the answer?
- Yes. then you use two travel vouchers. Plan the trip and then see the costs.
e.. There is a 4 hour Greyhound bus ride from Missoula, Montana to Bozeman. What total economic saving would make it better to use flight to Missoula and then bus, rather than fly straight into Bozeman? Some smaller airports are there too within 1-1.5 hours drive.
- No idea. Sporry
f.. By writing to the seminar organisers in the USA, what possibilities of group travel can be checked out to reduce travel costs?
- They probably have some. It is worth writing to them
If it is easier to respond on mail, have enabled contacts for the purpose.
Private Reply to Asha Gummadi (new win) |
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