Flights to Manchester

[Tonyman2]

I'm sorry this has probably been asked many times but can you please tell me the best way / who to book with , atm I'm thinking Flight centre for safety reasons but look expensive , thanks 

[Nemesis]

1 hour ago, Tonyman2 said:

I'm sorry this has probably been asked many times but can you please tell me the best way / who to book with , atm I'm thinking Flight centre for safety reasons but look expensive , thanks 

Try looking at the websites of the individual airlines, they are usually as cheap if not cheaper than travel agents.

Not sure what you mean by Flight Centre being safe, the flights will have the same safety record regardless of who sells you the ticket.

[Marisawright]

I always start by looking at Skyscanner to find out what my best choices are

[Tulip1]

The last few flights I have booked I’ve started with who I’d most want to fly with.  I started with Qantas and checked the flights and costs on their website.  I did the same with a few other airlines.    I then checked skyscanner as well as a general Google search.  There is often very little if anything in it.  From memory, the last flights I booked the cost was the same and the flights before that were a few pounds cheaper with skyscanner but it was only a tiny difference so I booked through Qantas.  

[Eera]

I've had some pretty average experiences with some of the online agencies, and while people bag out Flight Centre, they've always looked after me.

Tip, Flight Centre price match (or at least they did prior to Covid).  if you find a cheap flight through an online broker that seems a bit ordinary from the reviews, go through the motions of buying the ticket up until the point where you have to enter the credit card details.  At that point, print everything off, cancel the online transaction and take the evidence to Flight Centre, they'll match the price - has to be done the same day though.

Recently though, I have found that the direct airline price is pretty reasonable so the flights I've booked this year have been direct with the airlines (which has not been the case for me historically).  My experiences over the last couple of years have been that you get your money back with way less hassle should something go wrong when you book direct, however, with things slowly returning to some sort of normal this is going to be less of a concern going forwards.

[Drumbeat]

You don't need a travel agent, decide which airline you want to fly and book direct with them. I don't think you'll find any cheap flights for a while.

[Rallyman]

Just booked direct with Emirates, many of the sites said no fares available for our timeframe. 

[HappyHeart]

I do skyscanner for options then book direct with airline

[Melbpom]

Is it always possible to replicate the options given by skyscanner? I've seen a trip I'd like to book with Emirates which would be Mel to London Heathrow and then the reverse trip from Gatwick to Melbourne. If I go the the Emirates website, the options are limited to arrive and depart at the same airport and this comes out more expensive.

 

[Nemesis]

31 minutes ago, Melbpom said:

Is it always possible to replicate the options given by skyscanner? I've seen a trip I'd like to book with Emirates which would be Mel to London Heathrow and then the reverse trip from Gatwick to Melbourne. If I go the the Emirates website, the options are limited to arrive and depart at the same airport and this comes out more expensive.

 

Not sure if this will work on the Emirates site - I know it does on the Qantas site. Look at Multi-city/round the world trips, and enter MEL-LHR for the first leg and LGW-MEL for the second. Or MEL-DXB DXB-LHR LGW-DXB DXB-MEL

Worth a try 

[FirstWorldProblems]

6 hours ago, Melbpom said:

Is it always possible to replicate the options given by skyscanner? I've seen a trip I'd like to book with Emirates which would be Mel to London Heathrow and then the reverse trip from Gatwick to Melbourne. If I go the the Emirates website, the options are limited to arrive and depart at the same airport and this comes out more expensive.

 

Better than sky scanner is Google flights.  It’s much more flexible, including having a flight calendar so you can see at a glance the impact of changing combinations of inbound/outbound dates. 
 

But the best feature is the ability to enter multiple airports. When I fly I start with google flights and a search for flights from Birmingham, east mids, “all london” and Manchester.  You get lots of results. 
 

Then I go to the airline I want and book there.  I’ve been booking direct with airlines for 20 years without issue.