After a few trips (Sweden-Hong Kong round-trip, Sweden-New York, New York-Chicago, Chicago-Hong Kong and several trips in Asia) and much researching for the cheapest trips (I am but a student) some patterns begins to emerge.
Basically there are a few travel agencies that stand out:
- Kilroytravels (for students)
- STATravel (for students)
- Orbitz
- Ctrip
Kilroytravels have a very nice interface and searching is fast and easy. I especially like the auto-suggestion of airports or cities that all other search engines seem to lack. The engine seems to handle very diverse airlines and for many of them, Kilroy can sell you special student tickets that are cheaper and versatile in their re-booking rules. The prices are often very competitive but I recommend doing the same search over a few hours or days since they vary for some reason. This travel agent has been my choice for all of my inter-continental travels.
Orbitz is not unusual in any particular way, it searches for tickets all over the world as far as I’ve seen. The interface is acceptable but the way the airport search is built is uncomfortable *cough* Look at Kilroy’s implementation *cough*. For international travel, the prices are not bad at all but the tickets are normal tickets and for most of the time set in stone. No student versions. I did use Orbitz for domestic flights in the States, where it seems to excel. Kilroy did not handle those searches very well.
Ctrip is the de-facto standard for travels inside Asia. We have used it a lot and it is a very popular choice here. Prices and website are good, but no student tickets. It might pay off however to visit the local travel agencies in Asia since they often have very competitive prices.
STATravels is another travel agency for students. I’ve heard of other people using it, but my experience with them is non-existent. At this moment their search function doesn’t seem to work (tried both Chrome and FF) so I can’t really say anything about them.
Conclusion
- For inter-continental travel, Kilroy have been the given choice for me, and there’s no change in sight.
- For flights in Asia, Ctrip or the local dealer.
- Other flights, look around in different search agents and dates.
