Need helpfull tips for online air fare bookings

[mellow]

My son is taking a vacation to the states in a couple of months. He will be an unaccompanied minor, speaks very good English, and is 14 years old. He will travel from Bangkok to LA, to San Diego.
I haven't flown for more then 10 years, and never bought tickets online, always having used a travel agency. Therefore I could use as much info, for good websites on this, as well as the experiance of people who fly frequently this route, as well as the airlines. I will be looking for a good deal of course, without wanting to be cheap, so that he can enjoy his adventure as much as possible.

[Pragmatic]

For me I first check the airlines that fly the route. Check their price and the flight details. I then go to the agents and insert the airline flight details and see what the agent is charging. I always found Ebookers to come up trumps. Some airlines will not let you book online unless you're actually flying. Ebookers don't do that.

[wasabi]

You can play around on Skyscanners to give you a few ideas.

[david44]

In addition to the above this site allows you to tweak dates times and return from a different airport

Got me a round trip to Europe BKK London Paris Kl for 24800

www.kayak.com
Also ZUJI: Your Leading Online Travel Agent. Cheap Flights, Hotels & Holidays.

[sumrit]

I can't post a link because apparently I haven't made enough posts. How stupid, I get messages saying I'm not posting and why not post more. Then when I try to post a helpful link for somebody I'm told I can't.

Don't think I'll bother in future.

But for the OP, have a look at a site called hipmonk with a dot and com to follow.

They show all airlines, prices and times in an easy to read grid for comparison.

[harrybarracuda]

I can't post a link because apparently I haven't made enough posts. How stupid, I get messages saying I'm not posting and why not post more. Then when I try to post a helpful link for somebody I'm told I can't.

Don't think I'll bother in future.

But for the OP, have a look at a site called hipmonk with a dot and com to follow.

They show all airlines, prices and times in an easy to read grid for comparison.

It just stops spammers who can't be arsed with the whole "making a few posts" thing.

Have a bit of patience, soon you'll be able to post links, cynical comments about farang marrying bargirls and videos showing the Thais are all arseholes, etc.

By the way, do you mean "Hipmunk"?

[BKKKevin]

Be very attentive to the luggage limits you get (or in some cases you need to buy as an option)... If you get to the airport and are over weight it can be expensive....

Also some online systems will try to sneak in flight insurance towards the end of the online purchase process - Personally I think these are worthless.... That being said most low cost flights are non refund no change!,,

[Rural Surin]

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Great discounts after simple registration.

Offices [and contacts] in both Thailand and U.S.

[harrybarracuda]

I've always found MoxTravel.com to be good at telling you various prices, and they do find the cheapest (if you really fancy things like Mumbai stopvers). And I've bought tickets from them in the past for other people as well.

Whatever you do, don't use Expedia. I know two separate people still waiting for refunds from them from last year.

Likewise Emirates are not renowned for fulfilling their obligations.

[mellow]

Thank you for all the info. I'm going to start looking at all those sites.

[FailSafe]

Check the price on Thai Airways for their BKK-LAX non-stop- it's the best way to go, though it's probably not cheap.

[Rural Surin]

Check the price on Thai Airways for their BKK-LAX non-stop- it's the best way to go, though it's probably not cheap.

Guarantee it's not cheap...

[FailSafe]

Actually it looks like they dumped the route and now stop in Seoul- that's a shame.

[aging one]

You are going to have to deal with the airline one on one to arrange and pay for the unaccompanied minor. My kids did it at 13 to SFO. Cathy Pacific treated them very nicely indeed including an upgrade to business transpac on the way back.