List of United's Consolidators (and Related Discussion) - updated Aug 2010
Aug 8, 2006, 12:39 pm
#31
Join Date: Sep 2001
Programs: Alaska Tanzanite 100K
Posts: 3,858
Add Blue Sky Tours / Mark Travel (which also runs United Vacations) for Hawaii
Aug 8, 2006, 1:29 pm
#32
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,031
Originally Posted by hamburgler
I'm looking for some consolidators in the Asian market, specifically for ex-NRT fares. The fares for NRT-PIT in September are incredibly high ($1100 for a T fare? I think not!). Anyone have a good recommendation?
hamburgler
hamburgler
I suggest you check out IACE, which has offices in Japan and the US. My gf has been using their SEA office a lot recently and I have been impressed. For two separate trips on her main route (PDX-HIJ) this summer, the numbers have looked like this:
UA: $1300
Gateway: $1050
IACE: $875
They aren't any cheaper than Gateway to destinations beyond Japan, as far as I can tell.
Nov 1, 2006, 8:16 pm
#33
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: AA, NWA, DL, UAL PE, CI Gold, HH Diamond, Marriott Silver
Posts: 15
The absolute BEST agency I have found for travel from USA to Asia is Lai Lai Travel (aka Dynasty Travel) in Rowland Heights, California. I have been using them for over 10 years and their prices are fantastic.
By the way, they have several offices throughout So Cal...I just have experience with the office in Rowland Heights since it is close by for me.
By the way, they have several offices throughout So Cal...I just have experience with the office in Rowland Heights since it is close by for me.
Dec 12, 2006, 5:19 pm
#34
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SF
Programs: UA GS. SPG Gold. Hyatt Plat. CX Gold. IC Gold.
Posts: 28
Just another vote for Wendy Feng at Far East Travel. I have spent the last 2 days looking for a fare to Vancouver for my family (6 people) over Xmas with very little progress since I have a complicated itinerary. I tried my local travel agent but they were just inexperienced on this 'domestic' travel. Wendy was able to get all 6 tickets during peak travel season of the year and although we are leaving from 2 different cities; we get to Vancouver at the same time! highly knowledgeable and highly recommended!
Jan 13, 2007, 11:31 am
#35
Join Date: May 2003
Location: San Francisco, CA Frmr AA Plat AW Plat Frmr UA 1K Frmr HGP Plat now just UA 1MM/1P
Posts: 320
Japan consolidator
Hi,
I have used this agency in Japan - they can be very good for United tickets originating from Japan. They also appear to have consolidator type access there.
Ikon Travel
www.ikontravel.com
They have been able to access fares which Fujita was not able to (originating from Japan only, for US Fujita is #1 from SF!)
I have used this agency in Japan - they can be very good for United tickets originating from Japan. They also appear to have consolidator type access there.
Ikon Travel
www.ikontravel.com
They have been able to access fares which Fujita was not able to (originating from Japan only, for US Fujita is #1 from SF!)
Jun 2, 2007, 10:00 pm
#36
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: UA GS
Posts: 251
Business Fares to Bankgkok
Any recommendations for a consolidator to use flying JFK to BKK next month? I am interested in Business, but will also consider Thai Premium Economy...any leads or experiences would be much appreciated. I also would like a fare where I will accrue miles!
Thx.
Thx.
Jun 2, 2007, 10:31 pm
#37
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,031
BKK is a lot cheaper to fly from than to. So I suggest you consider buying a one way Y/U fare on TG, which may allow you to *A upgrade, if the program in the question still exists (there's another thread on that here) and buy another ticket to get yourself home. If you really want to things the FT way, your ticket back could come in the form of a UA/EK RTW. There's a thread in the EK forum about how to book those in BKK.
Jul 18, 2007, 5:03 pm
#38
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: Delta Plat, Hyatt Globalist, HIlton Diamond
Posts: 801
What about biz class consolidators to Europe? I'm looking for flights seattle to london, preferably on UA or SAS. The Wendy in texas doesn't respond to my emails anymore 
I did buy tickets from her but maybe she doesn't like me. 
I did buy tickets from her but maybe she doesn't like me.
Aug 31, 2007, 1:34 pm
#39
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 1,471
Anyone know of any UA consolidators in countries besides the USA specifically HK or China or even a TA that discounts on UA. It seems much more difficult to get good prices in China as compared to what I used to get from Bangkok. Then again the lack of competition on routes to China might answer my own question.
-UFFA
-UFFA
Tickets always arrive on time or early and they hooked me up with a great cheap hotel when it turned out that I needed to spend a night in NRT. ^
Sep 4, 2007, 4:26 pm
#40
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: The road less traveled
Programs: UA Gold MM, AA EXP, Delta Platinum, Marriott Titanium, HHonors Diamond, Natl EE, Hertz Platinum
Posts: 5,118
I've found www.faremax.com and www.economytravel.com to be quite good consolidators for both Asia and Europe. Good deals on one-way fares as well.
Sep 5, 2007, 9:53 am
#41
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 11,468
Are any of those consolidators also offering premium class tickets?
Sep 5, 2007, 10:33 am
#42
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: BKK, formerly Irvine, CA, UA 1-k-MM, Hilton-gold, Gold Starwood
Posts: 3,004
I have found the best consolidator in Asia for UAL and many others especially out of HK is www.travelsexpert.com They also do business and first, they dint take any credit card details until you book.
I also found out that if you don't type in the www. first it does not go through.
I also found out that if you don't type in the www. first it does not go through.
Sep 12, 2007, 4:43 am
#43
Join Date: Sep 2007
Programs: UA
Posts: 13
UA consolidator in London
I've always had good experiences with Benz Travel in London, who consolidate for UA among others. There website booking engine is no good, but they are OK on the phone. A good thing is that if you get to know one of the res. staff, they will hold seats.
Nov 24, 2007, 8:40 am
#44
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: IND
Programs: AA Platinum Pro, Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, National Exec Elite
Posts: 586
Wendy in Dallas
Based on information in this thread, I decided to purchase my next IND-ORD-NRT-BKK RT ticket for 04-08 from a consolidator. The lowest fare .bomb had was around $1800 Q fare. Below I will detail what I did for research, who I ended up buying from, and other tips I picked up along the way. I hope this info will help save other FTers money. Personally, I think this thread should be a sticky.
To begin, I of course did a search on .bomb. My dates were depart anytime from Sunday, 3/30 to Sunday, 4/6 and return on 4/29, so I had somewhat flexible dates. At the time I was searching, the price coming up was a Q fare for about $1800. I see as of today they have a special going bringing the price down to $1594.
My next step was to do the same search on bt-store.com. I found this website via posts on FT. bt-store had fares in the $910 range + taxes & fees. Once everything was added up, it came to about $1175. However, the routes/times provided by bt-store were not very good, and I could not find a way to try my preferred IND-ORD-NRT-BKK route (their routes all went thru IAD, which I try very much to avoid on international flights).
So then I discovered this thread and called a couple consolidators. I tried the Boston one and somebody answered the phone, but it was not Wendy. I left a message but she never returned my call.
I then called Wendy in Dallas at 817-939-0204 (lot of Wendys in the Asia travel agency field!! ) She answered her phone immediately. I told her I heard about her in FT and she immediately perked up and was extremely helpful. I had seatcounter.com opened up and knew the exact flights I wanted so I could confirm upgrades. I gave her the flight numbers and she came back with a fare of $1176, very similar to the bt-store.com fare, but on the exact routes I wanted. I asked her if the fare would earn miles and was upgradeable with SWUs, she confirmed yes to both.
Having never used a consolidator before, I wanted to verify that the ticket would get EQMs and was upgradeable with SWUs. What I did was have her make the reservation and email it to me so I could verify it's validity before actually purchasing it. Once I received the email, which came with a PNR, I called the United 1P line and asked them if that PNR would earn miles and if it was upgradeable with a SWU. The United agent confirmed both, so I called Wendy back and purchased the ticket. I'm now waiting for my 1K friend to apply the SWUs for me.
.bomb wanted $1800 for IND-BKK in Q. Wendy got me W for $1176. The itinerary is showing up as a W fare on .bomb now (I of course had Wendy put in my MP number on the reservation), and I was able to select E+ seats online while waiting for my buddy to give me a couple SWUs.
Although I've only purchased from a consolidator this one time, I will definitely do it in the future. Wendy told me that they only do International travel, not domestic. And I figured out if .bomb is showing a W fare, than that is the same price as the consolidators get, but if .bomb shows anything higher, they can probably beat it. To be honest, even though I'd get 500 miles for booking online, I'll probably use Wendy for all my international travel just to give her the business since she was so helpful.
I hope this helps other FTers out.
Update 11/28/07: My buddy applied my SWUs and every segment that showed upgrade availability on seatcounter.com (5 out of 6) is now confirmed in C & F! I think I can handle IND-ORD in an exit row.
So this just re-affirms that these consolidator W fares are perfectly fine for EQMs and upgrades!
To begin, I of course did a search on .bomb. My dates were depart anytime from Sunday, 3/30 to Sunday, 4/6 and return on 4/29, so I had somewhat flexible dates. At the time I was searching, the price coming up was a Q fare for about $1800. I see as of today they have a special going bringing the price down to $1594.
My next step was to do the same search on bt-store.com. I found this website via posts on FT. bt-store had fares in the $910 range + taxes & fees. Once everything was added up, it came to about $1175. However, the routes/times provided by bt-store were not very good, and I could not find a way to try my preferred IND-ORD-NRT-BKK route (their routes all went thru IAD, which I try very much to avoid on international flights).
So then I discovered this thread and called a couple consolidators. I tried the Boston one and somebody answered the phone, but it was not Wendy. I left a message but she never returned my call.
I then called Wendy in Dallas at 817-939-0204 (lot of Wendys in the Asia travel agency field!!
) She answered her phone immediately. I told her I heard about her in FT and she immediately perked up and was extremely helpful. I had seatcounter.com opened up and knew the exact flights I wanted so I could confirm upgrades. I gave her the flight numbers and she came back with a fare of $1176, very similar to the bt-store.com fare, but on the exact routes I wanted. I asked her if the fare would earn miles and was upgradeable with SWUs, she confirmed yes to both.Having never used a consolidator before, I wanted to verify that the ticket would get EQMs and was upgradeable with SWUs. What I did was have her make the reservation and email it to me so I could verify it's validity before actually purchasing it. Once I received the email, which came with a PNR, I called the United 1P line and asked them if that PNR would earn miles and if it was upgradeable with a SWU. The United agent confirmed both, so I called Wendy back and purchased the ticket. I'm now waiting for my 1K friend to apply the SWUs for me.
.bomb wanted $1800 for IND-BKK in Q. Wendy got me W for $1176. The itinerary is showing up as a W fare on .bomb now (I of course had Wendy put in my MP number on the reservation), and I was able to select E+ seats online while waiting for my buddy to give me a couple SWUs.
Although I've only purchased from a consolidator this one time, I will definitely do it in the future. Wendy told me that they only do International travel, not domestic. And I figured out if .bomb is showing a W fare, than that is the same price as the consolidators get, but if .bomb shows anything higher, they can probably beat it. To be honest, even though I'd get 500 miles for booking online, I'll probably use Wendy for all my international travel just to give her the business since she was so helpful.
I hope this helps other FTers out.
Update 11/28/07: My buddy applied my SWUs and every segment that showed upgrade availability on seatcounter.com (5 out of 6) is now confirmed in C & F! I think I can handle IND-ORD in an exit row.
So this just re-affirms that these consolidator W fares are perfectly fine for EQMs and upgrades!
Last edited by frekwentflier; Nov 28, 2007 at 5:42 pm Reason: Added upgrade confirmed section
Nov 24, 2007, 9:21 am
#45
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SFOSJCOAK
Programs: AA-EXP & 1MM+, AS, MR-LTT, HH Gold
Posts: 7,581
..... find a way to try my preferred IND-ORD-NRT-BKK route (their routes all went thru IAD, which I try very much to avoid on international flights).
I then called Wendy in Dallas at 817-939-0204 (lot of Wendys in the Asia travel agency field!! )
I hope this helps other FTers out.
I then called Wendy in Dallas at 817-939-0204 (lot of Wendys in the Asia travel agency field!!
) I hope this helps other FTers out.
Great post. I agree, FT should sticky this ^
I think I will give her a call re travel to China.
Appreciate your detailed info - fares, upgrades, etc.. Super helpful!
I suppose "Wendy-in-Dallas" does not have a web site. Right?