Cheap and safe travel agencies

[m.s.y]

I'm planning to go for a vacation in the Philippines by the end of October this year. Any travel agencies you would recommend? I can't find a cheap fare at the moment, I am hoping to find a deal for like £600 below inc tax.

thanks in advance

[Iani]

Well as I'm sure you'll know, some destinations are best using travel agencies (Week in Ibiza prob can't be beaten out of a package), others you're best doing it yourself independently - and Phils is of course the latter.

For all such locations, I would really first check out your flights. I recommend to log on to netflights.com (part of thomas cook, formally airline network). They are really good, if only to get an idea of the flight cost.

Then, after getting an idea who is flying where from netflights - go to the airline companies website direct (for example Etihad - they are good btw). You might be able to get a bit cheaper, or different times to netflights (but to be honest, netflights is usually a bit cheaper - with the emphasis on a "bit", a tenner at the most)

If you want to be really savvy, you can use cashback sites to click through to either from.

Once you have a good idea of your flight cost - it's time to find accommodation. Really in such places, this can be really really cheap. Find the town you want to stay in, and use google. You will often find some resorts have a good forum on the internet where people give advice on accommodation.

Oh and last thing, flight tickets are a strange beast. The price can go up and down - despite what people say about booking early as possible. What is almost set in stone though is that the price will go up shorter than a month in advance and for last minute. Before that, then it's anyone's guess. Maybe best to set a price in your head, and if the price looks right, then book. Some people say there's a sweet spot of about 8 weeks before departure when prices are optimum, but I wouldn't put too much emphasis on this.

[joebloggs]

Singapore airlines has some seats leaving 24th Oct and returning on the 5th Nov at £619..

[deeen]

I keep an eye on Travelocity.co.uk when I am planning my trips, using the +/- 3 days feature, and search on Skyscanner for the month to get an idea of the cheapest days. A qucik search on your behalf threw up Kuwait Air at £533 in October, for example.

[bigmarco]

Probably best to leave the flights a bit nearer the time. I flew last October KLM for less than £500 and booked it about 4 weeks before I went.