Planning a trip to AKL from BKK in economy. Best price for 2 pax on QF site is about Ł1400 on our dates. At least one OTA (that I have used once before) is about Ł170 cheaper. I usually tend to favour booking with the airline but I'm tempted by this saving. I'm BA Gold if that's relevant. Is there a benefit in this case that's worth the extra money? (as far as I could tell there were fees for changes from QF direct) I don't have any recent experience flying Qantas economy so not sure what to consider here.

There are few benefits of buying directly and there is no way that I would pay GBP170 extra

Is that the cheapest fare available? would have thought there may be some other carriers with better fares than that

As quoting price in Ł are you using a UK web site? Should be able to get quotes using a NZ web site.
If QF operated will likley be AKL-SYD-BKK. Will be other airlines that can get you to Thailand, including to other airports

May not be up to date-->https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Airport
Shows Thai Airline operating AKL BKK (may not be up to date)

Edit
Misread at AKL - BKK. Not BKK-AKL

Yeah, cheapest available. Ł620 pp with OTA. Prices are nuts at the moment. And Thai isn't doing a direct flight so there's only indirect as an option. Not too bothered about the stopper though as I get a chance to use the First lounge in Sydney.

SO you'd opt for the OTA and not direct with Qantas?

Using Pounds as based in London and the first part of our journey is a flight to BKK from LHR. A few nights stop and then a separate ticket to AKL.

Isn't one missing bit of critical information the identity of the OTA? If it's Trailfinders, that's one thing. If it's dodgycheapflights.biz, then that's quite another.

And an obvious question: Have you checked for award availability?

How much would it be for a ticket LON--BKK-AKL with a stopover in Bangkok , rather than 2 separate tickets? I would check that before buying separately

Given that you know the travel agency from previous use, I would just go and buy from there rather than spend extra

Well they are highly rated and I have used them once before without a problem so to that end I don't have any fears. I guess the only concern is that NZ will probably still require a pre departure test in October and that will mean taking it in BKK which will mean the risk of not being able to fly and whether or not contacting the OTA to make changes is possible/easy compared with contacting Qantas. I guess that's the real dilemma

It was more but also less convenient and indirect to BKK so we lose time. The way I have found is the best compromise at the moment. Hopefully things will settle a bit more next year.

I used Orbitz and Capital One Travel portal once each with great experiences. I had to cancel the Orbitz reservation March 2020. The process was easier than canceling with the airline. Had to make changes on the fights booked through CapOne. The process is no different than changes with the airline.

Most of the horror stories I read with respect to OTAs relate to when things DON'T go well as opposed to when they do (your previous experience).

The downside I see of using an OTA:

- The OTA owns the booking - any changes MUST be made through them

• Some OTA charge cancellation and change fees over that of the airline
• Some OTA have proven to be incredibly difficult to get a refund from and charge fees to issue such
• There may be a delay in getting the OTA to respond to any last minute change by the airline
• Changes may be communicated to the OTA who fail to onwardly notify you

OTAs are cheap for a reason: *generally* they either cut service (explicitly and otherwise) or they will charge you for that service, if available. I know airlines have drawn much flack of late - QF in particular - for long waits on calls. But I would still value the "insurance" of being able to manage most of my booking online than against any cost saving ... and my WP status may help a little but I resolved an issue on a call with QF in 9 mins on Thursday evening - and that included navigating menus and listening to two pre-recorded messages!!

YMMV

Regards,

BD

Where a travel agent is no cheaper, I would go direct to airline generally, though with recent dealings with booking a SYD-LHR ticket on UA via a travel agent and trying to deal with Qantas for a ticket back to Australia, the travel agent was far better in most areas

Regarding items such as
The OTA owns the booking - any changes MUST be made through them

Once booked, I wanted to make date/time changes to the UA booking and was able to deal directly with UA. If there had been any fare differemce to pay, then would have been up for $50 for airline to take it over, but for simple exchanges, no issue.. Of course if had had to pay the $50, then the airline would have owned the booking and handled all subsequent requests anyway

Some OTA charge cancellation and change fees over that of the airline - That is a case of due diligence when choosing an agent. If the saving is GBP170 and agency charges say, GBP30, service fee - so what. With cancellations where there is an issue , rather than a choice, then thats where travel insurance comes in anyway.

Some OTA have proven to be incredibly difficult to get a refund from and charge fees to issue such - that is where disputing charge with card company comes in. If a refund is due and not processed, the card company will deal with it - ( ok this does assume payment by credit/debit card )

There may be a delay in getting the OTA to respond to any last minute change by the airline - If it is a last minute issue by airline, the airline will , ime, address it anyway

Changes may be communicated to the OTA who fail to onwardly notify you - could be an issue depending on travel agency - for GBP170, I would be happy to make occasional checks that all is ok - I do this anyway for bookings directly with airlines, since I have found airlines can have noticeable delays in notification

Thanks for all the feedback. In the end I have taken the OTA saving. I think the chances of changes are slim, especially now that Thailand has announced no testing. The only problem could be with NZ if we test positive (assuming testing still required in October which I suspect it will be) but the Amex insurance covers Ł7.5k of changes due to curtailment I was told. So it seem Is can take that saved money and spend it on a hotel.