Easiest way to book a flight
 

What is the easiest way to book a flight?

Could be through an online company (kayak, hipmunk, etc).

Or service (concierge, travel agent, etc).

Or other.

Looking for something that is inexpensive. Quick. Intelligent.

Thanks!

This is kind of a wide-open question with a million potential answers.

If you have a trusted travel agent, that could be the easiest (in terms of minimizing decisions and searching on your part). But you'll still have to hand over the same information as you would booking it by yourself and it probably won't be absolute cheapest.

If you search and book it yourself, it all depends on the complexity of whatever itinerary you want to book. For multi-carrier ones I've typically found flights with ITA or Kayak and booked them via orbitz. For specific-carrier flights I usually use the carrier's website.

Since I only have a few airlines I flight, I usually just go straight to their website and book from there. For hotel my preferred TA is Expedia. They seem to have a good selection, prices are good, and their new "Elite" desk is pretty good at handling my issues.

I usually book on my preferred airline. However, I find that Hipmunk is good at finding you more options. For example, an Air Canada flight with a better layover showed up on Hipmunk that did not show up on United's search the first time around.

As far as only easiest, if I know an airline serves a specific route I'll go to their website and book.

If I'm price shopping or I don't know who serves a route I'll go to Kayak or Google Flights and look at my options. When I find a flight I like I'll go to that airline's website and book there.

I never use the Orbitz/Expedias etc. they're ok until you have an issue, then it's "Not my problem. Call someone else."

The easiest way to book your flights is through a travel agent or travel agency. They would bring to you the cost which you are willing to spend. Moreover, they also book the complete travel package to your destination catering to your needs.

Google flights will show you a price grid, making it easier to lower your cost--with the proper "fine tuning", you can even limit it to particular airlines BUT, the nicest feature is once you have chosen flights, Google Flights will "seamlessly" go directly to the airlines sight and get the booking in place.
Once I was trying to book a itn directly on AA--certain flights did NOT show up; Google Flights found them and booked them directly on aa.com.

No such thing. If you want cheap flights you have to do your homework.

I should point out that Google Flights does not work world-wide. It may work for US-originating flights, but it's not universal.

ITA is good but you can't book anything there, so then you have to really try to get the fares you want on other sites. I recently purchased 2 TATL tickets, an AF/KL itin. DL.com, AF.com and KL.com all offered different options, all more expensive than what I had found on ITA. I ended up buying the tickets I wanted for a significantly lower price (the ITA price) at Expedia. These were AF/KL flights, DL stock, DL-coded - yet they were far more expensive at DL.com.

For me, ALWAYS through the airline website. It's easier to contact them if something goes wrong. What I do is go on Expedia or Orbitz to find the lowest fare and then book on the airline's website.

For personal travel, I'll usually book through the airline to avoid any hassle with changes.

For corporate, we use an online portal that works with some travel agency they contract with. They're pretty decent I guess.

If I were a high-rolling hot shot I'd use an exclusive concierge service, the kind that can twist the arms of even major airlines.

As I noted in my post above, I was trying to book an itn on AA.com (the flights that were listed were not suitable--times and prices). I went to Google Flights, they had the itn I wanted--they seamlessly setup the booking directly on AA.com.

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Easiest for me, personal travel:

(1) Search a general portal to get an idea of fares, options, etc. Hipmunk, Orbitz, etc. For a domestic U.S. route, I probably only do one search. For an international route or a domestic route in another part of the world, I might run 3-4 searches (different portals) just to see if there are differences between them.

(2) Then, book at the airline site directly.

Corp travel:

(1) Login to our portal. Book ticket.


When I might use a travel agent:
- Specialty trip. For example, golf trip to Vegas or Myrtle...I'll talk to a local TA who plays often and knows what courses are in good shape, where some promotional deals might be, how to get "hard to get" tee times, etc.
- Language barrier. I want someone to book a series of boutique hotels for me in a place where I don't want to try to have broken-English conversations via phone. Local TA in the local language can do better.
- I can't get the airline to accept my credit cards. (EgyptAir being one, Jet Airways being another.) Then I'll use an OTA to ticket and just pray nothing goes wrong with the flights.

Using a travel agent is always a little painful and difficult, but it can be worth it for the right reasons.


Only time I've used a concierge is for something very local: tickets to something, dinner in a restaurant that isn't on Opentable, etc.