Last time I went to Dalian I booked the flights with eBookers, as they have one of the best interfaces for selecting specific flights. But getting the booking modified later for a change fee and fare difference was a nightmare. The eBookers web site could quote the new fare which was about £10 more, but 5 chat agents and 2 phone agents either said the change was impossible, or quoted exorbitant fare differences of hundreds of pounds, until through sheer persistence I found an agent who knew how to make the change.

So this time I decided to book through BA, particularly as I could see from ITA that I could travel back on the BA segment in WT+ for little more than WT. But after half an hour on the phone to BA, although they could see the same fare class availability as ITA, they could not quote any through fares except in Y class!

The next problem was that none of the online sites enable fares to be booked in different classes out and return (and neither could their call centres).

So here is the tip. Digging back into my travelling history, I decided to try Trailfinders. A totally different experience: a competent UK agent (rather than an Indian agent who has trouble understanding what I want), no booking fee, no credit card surcharge, and done in 5 minutes!