How to Purchase Consolidator Airline Tickets
Posted: Tuesday, July 26, 2005
by Travelguy
http://www.travelsupport.com
How to Purchase Consolidator Airline Tickets
Many travelers have heard of Airline Consolidators or wholesalers. Consolidator airline tickets can save a traveler lots of money but how do you do find the right one? This SearchWarp.com article explains how to purchase consolidator airline tickets.Steps
- Do your research. There are guides available that can help you sort out the reputable consolidators from the shady ones. Some of the books that I recommend are Air Travels Bargain Basement by Kelly Monaghan, Discount Airfares by George Hobart or Fly Free Stay Cheap by Vicki Mills.
- Work with a travel professional. A travel agent is still one of the best places to go to find a reputable consolidator. A travel agent is going to have a list of consolidators that they work with on a consistent basis so they can suggest the good ones to work with and who to stay away from. Although they may add a slight mark-up to the ticket, their assistance is worth its weight in gold if you have a problem.
- Go online. Although many travel sites advertise that they sell wholesale fares, only a few of them actually do. The best ones that I have found are www.airgorilla.com, www.airlineconsolidator.com and my personal favorite www.travelation.com. Each of these sites have a large selection of consolidator tickets and they handle the customer service on behalf of the consolidator so you have an advocate in case of a problem.
Tips
- Believe it or not, most travel sites (the big 4 included) do not sell consolidator airline tickets. The reason why they only sell published (retail) tickets online is because they have to purchase through a third party (consolidator) and do not understand how to do the ticketing or provide customer service to the customer.
Warnings
- Purchasing consolidator tickets are riskier than buying published airline tickets. There are more restrictions and penalties involved with purchasing a consolidator ticket. Most consolidator tickets are non-refundable and non-changeable, so make sure that you are not going to change your travel dates after you purchase your airline ticket otherwise you might get stuck with a large penalty to change your travel dates.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Thanks for the tip! I normally only use Expedia but I took your advise and used www.travelation.com for my last trip to Tokyo. Thanks to you I saved over $200 on my flight.
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