Follow-up travel Q: Flights + hotels?

The only time I have done this is through a travel agent. She provided a list of hotels, and I chose one. While it worked, I’ve never done it since. Financially, we’ve been better off booking our own flights and hotels.

Expedia will offer you flights and hotels but I’ve never done it that way.

I haven’t got a flight and hotel room together, but I did use Travelocity for my last few flights. I just wanted to add that I did buy the insurance and on my last trip I got sick 2 days before and the insurance paid my entire ticket price back to me, excluding the price of the insurance which was 30.00.
I did have to show my doctor bill and hospital bill, but that was no big deal.

I never do it. I book directly with the airline for the flight and directly with the hotel the hotel room. Since I never do it together maybe my opinion isn’t really worth much, because I’ve never tried it.

If you use a travel agent they could book it all for you. I’m not sure how complicated your travel plans are.

@JLeslie, three cities, two hotels, one round-trip flight, one one-way, and a train trip. So far.

Yeah, a travel agent can do that, and may be worthwhile if you’re using them anyway. At least, if/when I use a travel agent, a feature tends to be that I don’t have to deal much with details.

You can do it on several of the booking sites, but I often have not done that, because typically it’s complicated enough trying to find and book things without also combining them. I have done it a couple of times though for simple trips because it seemed to reduce the overall cost a little bit.

(But to me, that’s one of the pitfalls, is spending hours trying to find the least expensive way to book things.)

@Jeruba That sounds like quite a bit to organize. I like researching about the cities and things to do. If you feel unsure about what to plan you can always check YouTube to see if someone made a video about it.

Flight prices are cheapest three weeks or more ahead of your flight date (cruises are the opposite, last minute prices are cheap to fill the ship) and don’t fly when everyone is flying during a holiday. You probably know that.

Amtrak online ticket buying is quite easy to do if that’s what you’re doing for the train part.

I did want to reiterate what I and others have suggested if you don’t use a travel agent. I will often start at Expedia to see what airlines are offering in terms of flight times and prices. Then it might be best to go to the airline you pick and book with them. Note that the airline might charge a fee if you phone to book rather than booking on their website.

I should clarify that these are family visits, so I’m not planning sightseeing and local attractions except as may be suggested by my hosts.

The last time I did this, five years ago, it was a straight shot up the Atlantic coast and home hospitality. This time I have to juggle to fit with their summer plans, and in two cases I need to stay offsite. One of the cities is my former residence, so I know what’s there.