treee

customer service was great.

no other ticket as cheap, included different return city and lengthy stopover in Amsterdam.

they held my ticket for 24+ hours to make up my mind.

incredible experience. will definitely use again.

oh, also had direct line to my agent, and he called me in the morning when it was evident i had called in after hours.

bad press is either wrong or ship-shaped them up!

tom911

fijal1 and treee-

Welcome to FlyerTalk

aktchi

How did they get tickets not sold through anybody else, are they chartering entire planes?

BTW, welcome to FT!

slabhead

So y'all will probably chastise me for being a newb and posting something positive but what the heck. It's just data points that you can use or ignore, right?

I found my way to this forum when checking out asaptickets to see if I dare roll the dice with their cheap fares. It turns out (as most of you already know) that they are ITN -- a company that I used via some other website back in Jan '09 for biz class tix to Singapore. That trip was at a great price, went without a hitch, and I was quite pleased with my ITN experience. Pleased enough to try to contact them for my upcoming trip to Australia. I stumbled across asaptickets.com while waiting for a callback. Interesting.

Here are my thoughts for what it's worth:
1. I don't doubt people have baaaaad experiences with these and all the other deep discounters. Makes me nervous every time I book but the cost difference is typically the deciding factor about whether I get to sit in the front of the plane or the back.
2. So far (knock on wood) I haven't had a problem with any of them including the one flight booked with ITN.
3. But -- and I suspect this is important -- all of my flights have been biz class and I've never had to change anything about a flight once booked. I'm quite sure things could get "interesting" in a hurry if I needed to make a change.
4. I am not pleased at all with the deceptive marketing tactics used on the asaptickets.com website nor did I find the earlier defense of "everybody does it" the least bit ok with me. But I'm used to ignoring the website numbers and getting the real info from the agent. In my experience you just need to make sure to ask the right questions up front.
5. Before you flame me on #4, I truly believe some people have had miserable experiences with miserable treatment even though they thought they were asking all the right questions. I'm not quite sure how to reconcile this in my own mind with anything other than price. You get what you pay for; I don't expect anything but a workable ticket from these types of brokers. If I *ever* get a ticket that isn't honored I will be playing an entirely different tune.
6. I was able to hook up with the same ITN/asaptickets agent that I used over 18 months ago to get a good deal to Singapore. We'll see what rabbit he pulls out of his hat for Australia, but the mere fact that he is still around is at least a little bit comforting. So far he's about $3K cheaper than anyone else. Which is about the same difference that he got on my Singapore tix.

I will report back regarding how this trip goes down and if asaptickets gets my business this time around. Apparently <45 day notice from Atlanta to Aussie-land makes it difficult to get a good price.

Meanwhile, feel free to take my experience and pick it apart. :-)

aktchi

On the contrary, you represent a well-established trend: People who discover FT in connection with this one particular TA and then join only to post once or twice about it. They don't ask other people's experiences with various TA's, not even sharing their own, but only talk about this one TA.

Anyway, far from chastising, Welcome to FT! I do hope, however, that you will defy the above-mentioned trend and remain an active member of this community for a long time.

abhilife2001

So 2 new posters in 2 days .. both with good experiences ..hmmm.. interesting..

+1

slabhead

Sadly, it looks like I won't be able to provide any feedback regarding the asaptickets experience for this trip. While the agent was helpful and found some good biz class pricing I discovered Qantas "Premium Economy" and will try the 15+ hour flight in what appears to be similar to domestic 1st class. I booked the ticket directly on the Qantas website. Hopefully it's worth the $2000 savings. I guess my chiropractor will get some new business...

As for the Qantas experience, I'll definitely hook back up here post trip and let everyone know how that goes.

aktchi

Good find - now you have $2k left for MR's.

As for your future participation at FT, remember that this is not the only forum nor this the only thread. Get to know the rest of FT: start by clicking on "Forums" at the top, start browsing whatever seems appealing, lurk a little and then start participating in conversations. Scan the MR Deals everyday - but don't start any new thread there unless you are announcing a MR deal, although on-topic questions and comments are fine in existing threads. Read the "premium economy" thread and see if your fare is lucrative enough to be posted so others can benefit. On Qantas forum, you might pick up some tips on seat selection, lounges, airports, etc. Are you crediting these miles to qantas or some partner? You are crediting them somewhere, aren't you?

tom911

You'll enjoy it--you even have a small footrest with those seats. I booked a paid coach ticket in 2009 and had an operational upgrade to premium economy. Was over again this year but used a business award. Here's a photo I took of the Qantas premium economy seat:

annabee

Hi y'all,
Same story, same reasons. I found asaptickets and while on the phone with Jeremy, my rep, googled "asaptickets legit?" and came up with this fascinating thread as the first hit.

I'm not particularly worried about booking (which I haven't yet) in terms of comfort or adherence to certain dates, and I don't even really mind the not included taxes trick, the fare I'm looking for, MSY to CNX, New Orleans to Thailand, still seems to be $400+ cheaper through asap tickets. I just don't want to find myself without a ticket 24 hours beforehand, or stuck in Thailand indefinitely.

So, some advice dear readers?

Does anyone have an agent's direct line that they'd definitely go back to? Or am I relatively safe if I book the fare with asap and force them to give me a time frame (I wouldn't be traveling until Feb) in which I should expect to be able to call the airline and confirm my ticket with the airline?
I'm hesitant, but the tickets are a 1/3 cheaper (as quoted on the phone, ready to buy) and some people seem to have had positive experiences.
Some users promised to follow up if they had bad service and never returned, which could be a good sign? Or is everyone here just in the habit of assuming that those "2-post-wonders" are travel agents in disguise.

Looking for advice here, thoughts?

aktchi

We need some basic info to even evaluate the situation: What are your dates, how much is ASAP quoting, and where did you find the next best fare and how much?

As a general rule, you should always pay with a credit card, and confirm your reservations with the airline before paying the bill. To be clear, this has nothing to do with ASAP, just good practice.

EmailKid

My take on this, and of course I could be wrong, is that a shill started this thread, and same or different shills kept it going, with occasional disgruntled customers finding this thread via Google and unloading. Shills have no need to post anything else ever again, and disgruntled posters got it off their mind, but aren't really interested in FT as such, only want to share their bad experience.

The old saying goes: A happy customer tells one person, a dissatisfied one tells ten. I for one am not buying all these first time posters who had these magnificent experiences.

Now for some real advice.

If you can find a consolidator who can get you a good deal, they can find fares lower than published fares. There is a large Vietnamese community in NOLA, and while Thailand is not their specialty, they may be able to find you something. I found a Taiwanese consolidator in Houston, who got me a good fare on Taiwanese Eva Air to BKK via Taipei.

You can also look at the airline's web site, and click on specials. They'll probably only get you to BKK, and you may have to get to a gateway city for the special (they codeshare with AA, but those flights aren't included in specials), but the prices can be very good.

EmailKid

abhilife2001

+1

annabee

I'm familiar with travel, I would absolutely plan on paying with a credit card, etc. I guess I was just confused by those talking to airlines 24 hours before and finding themselves without a reservation. Was this a lack of advance planning or were the reservations somehow withdrawn?

Regarding my plans, I'm very flexible, just looking for the cheapest fair sometime around February (though anytime late Jan-late March would be fine, except during Mardi Gras). The dates I gave ASAP were Feb 3-17, the ones already selected when I chose Feb. The price quoted to me on the phone was $1249 on Delta (of course, knowing nothing about how many layovers, time of travel, etc). Just searching it on Kayak got me $1828 on United, multiple 8-hour layovers.

I'm also planning to search using NYC and Bangkok as hubs, then deal with the smaller flights, but that $1249 fare is pretty good all-inclusive on an airline that already has my frequent flyer number...

AirportGyms

just tried to skype them and then call their direct (866)​ 349-1108 number and both say "you have reached a # that has been disconnected or no longer in service".. eek

EDIT: now it is back on