Ebookers

I will be going to Berlin at the end of the month. At the beginning of the month I was desperately searching through all the online travel agents for a reasonably cheap flight. I found it with Ebookers.com and was quite surprised how much difference in price my flight was compared to Expedia.co.uk. The price of my holiday is under £114 including Insurance for 5 days with Lufthansa which is not that cheap but compared to Expedia which was under £200 not including insurance I have found a bargain.

The Ebookers homepage is very cluttered and could on first glances seems really difficult to find what you want but is not. There are 6 sections flights, cars, hotels, insurance, holidays and cruises to choose from each section gives a different way of find your particular needs. For those of you who have never used Ebookers booking a holiday has never been easy. There is a 7-stage booking progress bar, which shows you where you are at any time.

1. Start Search
2. Check availability
3. Confirm price
4. Passenger details
5. Payment details
6. Confirm booking
7. Finish

Start Search

On the flight page you just fill in all your travel details from, to, dates and then you the 4 options to choose from (a) fares on available flights, (b) lowest fares, (c) direct flight only and (d) any routing of how you want to search for flights. These options can only be searched in the following combination

Fares on available flights + direct flight only
Fares on available flights + any routing

Lowest fares + direct flight only
Lowest fares + any routing

You then click on Find Flight or More Options. Find Flight gives all the flights depending on which combination you used. More options extends your search so that you can choose which class you wish to travel by, the time you wish to travel/return and your preferred airline.

Check availability

This page lists all the available routes from the details that you have provided. Just click on the flight you want. The black total is the total price of the fare the red total is the price plus the air tax.

Confirm price

If you are content this page is where you can book your travel insurance, car rental if required and how you want your tickets to be delivered. The insurance depends on where and how long you are going for prices range from £9.50 to £83.00

There are 4 methods of delivery to choose from they are:

Electronic ticketing – The e-ticket confirms your air ticket purchase without the need for a paper record. The airline stores all the ticket data on its computer this means there is no ticket to collect and no waiting for the tickets to be delivered. You simply go straight to check-in to be issued with a boarding pass.

Personal collection from Flightbookers (London) between Warren Street and Goodge Street (nearest station Warren Street about 5-7 min walk)
Royal Mail Registered Post UK - The charge for this service is GBP 4.10 for all UK cities.
DHL for delivery in EU - The charge for this service is GBP 9.75 for delivery of tickets anywhere in the EU.

Passenger details

You will need to register your details and an email address so that they can confirm your booking. You can also specify where you want to sit, if you want smoking or non-smoking, any dietary needs.

Payment details

Enter your credit cards details.

Confirm booking

Final page, which confirms all the details from the previous steps, this is the last opportunity to make any changes.

Finish

Your holiday has now been booked.

Ebookers will send you an email letting you know that your booking is being processed and they will give you a booking number. I booked my holiday on a Thursday evening the next day I had received a confirmation booking letter from Ebookers letting me know that my holiday had been booked I was surprised as usually when I book via the internet it takes a couple of days.

Today I have checked Ebookers for the same holiday and the prices have really gone up. If I booked the holiday today it would now cost me £185.10 including insurance via Lufthansa and £594.10 via British Airways. I am glad I bought at the beginning of the month and not waited until a later, as I would usually do. Incidentally I also checked Expedia and the prices are even more £428 .60 via Lufthansa and £583.60 via British Midland both these prices do not include insurance.