Does anyone know good consolidators for fares which earn miles?

Especially to Asia (India, Thailand), Africa, Middle East

As this is a more general question, and not specific to mileage runs, I'm going to move it to the TravelBuzz forum.

Dave, a.k.a. dmfriedman
Moderator, Mileage Run

Unfortunately the best (most reliable and least expensive) consolidators deal only with travel agents. Several reasons for that. So it is best to find a good travel agent who works with consolidators. If they are heavily into international travel, they should be able to find you good deals through consolidators.

You need to be sure to ask the travel agent if the specific fare they quote you earns miles. Some fares from consolidators do, some don't. Consolidators often have fares with the same airline for the same dates, some of which allow mileage accrual and some of which don't.

I believe that the OP was interested in learning about these types of agents, but used "consolidator" for lack of a better word. I'm also always on the look-out for good TAs, particularly agents that are willing to deal with FTers.

To expand on the second part of the previous sentence, there are lots of TAs out there that have access to similar bulk fares, but finding those that are -- knowledgable, patient, and in tune with our unique needs (i.e. don't act dumbfounded when someone tries to inject an HNL stop into an itin just to pick up an extra thousand miles) -- can be challenging.

I know this from experience because after my favorite TA quit earlier this year, I turned to the thread on this topic in the United forum and called around 10 agents, all of whom were either incompetant or unwilling to help. In fact, two separate agents asked for up-front fees in order to conduct "research".

I suspect that the main reason behind my poor results was the thread itself. In other words, the agents listed have probably received countless inquiries from information-hungry FTers that did not lead to sales.

Consequently, I would urge anybody taking advantage of these referrals to be mindful and respectful of TAs' time (for this reason, I like to interact via email whenever possible). Otherwise, we just end up creating another list of agents that aren't willing to help.

Edited to add: While think it's important to actually make purchases in order to keep our agents happy, it's also worth emphasizing that shopping around is critical. My approach is to make a round of fast inquiries just to find out what the market looks like. Then I mentally commit to using a specific agent and follow up with a longer dialogue.

Anyway, without further ado, following are the 2 US-based agents that I use most frequently.

Gateway Louisville (Joanne): 502 895 9878

I told Joanne about FT and what dealing with us entails and she said she's up for the challenge. However, she has little interest helping people book published fares. All of my Gateway tickets have been mileage earning.

Omnet(sp?) Costa Mesa: 714 438 1328

Even though my favorite person there (Eriko) doesn't work there any more, I still give them almost all of my ex-USA JL and NH business because they have a lot of pull with both airlines (i.e. when I want to change my return to a sold out flight stop over in NRT/KIX, I can call them and they usually come through).

Here's another one that I use when I'm in a pinch (found them on Google) because during the summer when availability is tight, Korean TAs can be lifesavers:

New Korea Travel Service Los Angeles: 213 383 4988