Flight Centre, Australia

Just got done helping my auntie who lives in Adelaide, book flights, hotels and tours for a US trip. The Flight Centre quote she gave me was $8400 for 2 weeks in the US covering NY, Vegas, San Fran and LA. That quote did not include the international fare and was for 2 people.

Through using www.kayak.com and their multiple-stop feature for flights and www.expedia.com for hotels, I found the exact same hotels, tours and very similar flights for $2400 less and way better hotels for about $2000 less overall. Book yourself and save a ton of money.

Maybe offer their agents a good bottle of wine or $100 for an hour of their service to get you on the right track and then use the above sites (I had all the knowledge anyway since I live in the US).

I booked an auckland flight and 7 night accommodation with flight centre Neutral Bay. Service was not too good. Late responses to email. They sent me an itinerary with flights, accomm and free breakfast. After I paid, they rang me after 5mins and said there was no free breakfast for the booking i paid for. They explained that I got two free nights instead of 1 but then I still paid the same amount. They can say I got 4 nights free but still pay the same amount...it will just look like I was paying more for the 3 nights. I say Flight Centre is very dodgy.

Found that prices charged by Flight Centre Marion SA for hotel accommodation, airport transfer and tours in Budapest and Holland range between 1.9 to 2.1 times the regular prices available directly from the hotels or tour operators.

Over 70% of clients would not recommend the hotel in Amsterdam which the agent recommended and booked. We have paid atleast an extra $400 for the experience.

Manager of Flight Centre Marion SA did not return numerous phone calls or respond to emails. Also advice on ferry travel from Holland to Newcastle UK was wrong. Fortunately found this in time and booked the correct ferry and saved $100.

Head Office dismissive of complaint blaming the exchange rate! Offered $100 voucher to spend in house as gesture of good will.

Thank goodness for the Internet and have booked rest of trip to UK on line saving $1000s

Can't think of any thing positive to say about the experience of dealing with Flight Centre Marion SA and will not use Flight Centre again.

Sorry but I have nothing good to say about Flight Centre, Richmond NSW branch. I gave it one star but only because I had to click onto a star and at least some of our trip is booked.

Staff member told me I had to pay over $300 more than the other 4 people I was travelling International with because all of the cheap flights were gone. I went home and found cheap flights for all of us and sent info. to her. I did the work. A friend who had recently returned from a US holiday told us to book our domestic flights on our return International ticket to save on domestic flight luggage costs so we asked her to do so a few times but she said it can not be done, no explanation why not, just impatient and rude with us each time we asked. So now we have to pay about $500 more for luggage for domestic flights within the USA. We agreed to this without any reason why it can not be done - we thought it must have changed since our friend had come home from her trip, we booked our flights and paid because we believed her. Since then we found out from other travel agents that they book domestic flights on the same international ticket for all of their customers. Too late for us because we believed Flight Centre when staff said it can not be done. Customer Relations say they can not do anything about it when we complained. Also, Flight Centre Richmond, NSW could not equal 3x domestic flights from New York to Las Vegas that I found on the interent by hundreds of dollars. Flight Centre would or could not equal the flights so we cancelled those flights with them. I said we would book them at home on the internet because it would be cheaper and also because Flight Centre told us we could not get all of our domestic flights connected to our International flights so it would not affect our luggage costs. A friend told me to querie their 'beat your price or fly for free' deal, I did this and I was told it was not relevant. What? Now Customer Relations are telling me that the cheaper price I showed Richmond branch was only for one person, not the three travellers. Not true. I booked all three on the internet up to the 'payment' page and I showed the staff member the total price which was for all three travellers. I am not silly enough to attempt to book a flight for three travellers by only entering one traveller...how would that come up with the cost for three?

I went to collect our documentation the day after I was told it would be ready - but they could not find it. I was told they would post it to me - that was more than 2 weeks ago. When I rang the next week, they told me it must be caught up in the Christmas mail. Now another week has passed and they are telling me it is still waiting to be picked up. Huh?

This is only a small sample of what my family have experienced with this rude, incompetent Flight Centre staff member. She mocked my typed itinerary which I thought would help her to know which states in the US we wanted to visit etc. She was not interested in helping us to plan our trip and when we asked her any questions she said she would find us something on that later...she never did.

I wish there was more I could do to warn everyone who is thinking of using Flight Centre what a horrible experience we have had. This has turned our international holiday into a nightmare. We have travelled overseas many times but have never had such rude and incompetent service from a travel agent before.

Dreadful customer service from the Victoria Point Manager in QLD. They don't honour prize vouchers donated to organisations. When going to customer service complaints area, they were also dreadful - not willing to honour a prize voucher and believing lies that were told by the manager. They cost us more money that we should have paid in the first place. It was our Honeymoon and they made our experience really rotton. It should have been really pleasurable and exciting but it was far from it.

I would not want this organisation to be the one i had to phone up if i needed assistance over seas - FORGET IT - there aren't capable of assisting you with your bookings let alone if you are in trouble. Unbelieveable. Be careful which store you book with if you use them. Some aren't as bad, but this one is really terrible. Watch Out.

I recently used the so called services from flight centre warrnambool and am totally discussted. Customer services is appauling, they should be ashamed of the way in which they conduct themselves. All they care about is there commmision, and getting your booking over and done with as soon as possible, they were reluctant to find out additional info that i required, other than stating it will be ok should be ok????. the female staff member that i dealt with made 4 booking mistakes on my paperwork in one day, just couldnt get it right, when i went back to the store (flight centre) she rolled her eyes and said what seems to be the problem now, with sighed and placing her hand on her forhead, well sorry its your mistake not mine.They take your money push you out the door,dont return calls , when questioned as to why the return calls did not occur the excuse was im so busy, i have so many customers.....well what am i???? im a customer and expect a quality service.Warrnambool flight centre is a disaster,they also have limited knowlege in all aspects of travel. horrrible experience neveer again i do not recommed to anyone to use there so called services 0% NEVER AGAIN

All of these comments have a similar theme. Went oversea for 4 weeks with my family booked it all myself on line and decided to use the Flight Centre at Knox for the last leg our journey. WE paid them to book a hotel in Fiji, transfers from airport etc. When we arrived no transfer was available (had to catch taxi), the hotel room wasn't the one we wanted. I rang them and was I should of read the small print!

Flight Centre Knox is a disgrace. After stuffing up our booking 3 times they blamed me for their mistakes. Total disgrace. I wish I had read the reviews before I booked my holiday.

For anyone planning on purchasing their next holiday, or even just flights, through Flight Centre here in Australia, a few short minutes reading this may very well save you several hundred of your hard earned dollars. Just think of what several hundred dollars could be used towards on that next holiday that you have saved so long and hard for. If reading this for just few minutes saves you money, then on my calculation, that is time, and ultimately money well spent.

So, how can I save money I hear you ask? Despite all the millions and millions of dollars Flight Centre spend annually on advertising and marketing, its web-site in my opinion does not have the basic capability to check airfare availability like web-sites such as Zuji and Travelocity do. I have mentioned those two, but there are many more that have the capability of searching actual availability.

It may well happen that the cheap fare shown on the Flight Centre web-site that so eagerly appealed to you was sold out six months ago, but alas your Flight Centre consultant will have just the fare for you at several hundred dollars more which needs to be paid today or you will surely lose it. A quick search of web-sites such as Zuji or Travelocity or any of the others will give you a more honest answer as to what fares are actually available. A search of any of the airlines web-sites will also give the same result.

If you do happen to venture into a Flight Centre store to get a quote, make sure you get it in writing, insist upon it, then shop around for a better price, and don't be fooled by the consultant who tells you that you need to leave a non-refundable deposit in order to hold seats'. The airlines don't ask for deposits, so why should they. Deposits are only insisted upon to lock you in and prevent you from going elsewhere to get a better price, which is what they absolutely do not want you to do. Remember it is a buyer's market out there when it comes to travel. Spending a little time searching the internet will save you a lot of money.

Over the last few years many airlines have consistently cut back on the amount of commission they pay travel agents. It may surprise you to know that some airlines these days don't pay any commission at all. This means that the consultant will only make money if he or she charges extra for the airlines fare. Remember, a consultant has to exceed their cost of seat if they want to survive in this game. Always check your Flight Centre quote against the airlines web-site. You may very well find it cheaper directly with the airline these days.

Taxes, fees and charges are something that everyone should be aware off. The only taxes, fees and charges you should pay to a consultant are those that the airlines themselves collect from the consultant and not a cent more. In my experience it is not uncommon for consultants to mark up taxes, particularly when they are making nil or minimal commission off the airfare. Some airlines, such as Korean, Emirates and Etihad, have very low taxes because they do not include their fuel surcharges in their taxes. It is an opportunity for a consultant to tack on a couple hundred dollars to the unsuspecting consumer. Remember from a consultant's point of view it all about exceeding their cost of seat each month. On a final note consultants will also include, under the guise of taxes, a $28 ticketing fee for the issue of your ticket. If you have several tickets, then it will be several times $28. This fee will just be added into the whole taxes and you will be unaware of it. This is a fee charged by one Flight Centre department to another which is then passed on to you the unsuspecting consumer.

Any consultant worth their pinch of salt will try and sell you travel insurance. They will give you a multitude of travel disaster scenarios that will leave you trembling on the edge of your seat debating whether you should in fact travel at all, whilst at all times appearing genuinely concerned with your health and well-being during your up and coming holiday. Whilst it is true that travel insurance is an absolute necessity, and anyone who travels without it is a fool, their concern is motivated by money more so than any genuine concern for your health and well-being. You see, in an industry where commissions range between 5 and 10%, Always shop around when it comes to travel insurance. This is where you will save big money. On a final note with regards to travel insurance. Many credit card providers include some form of travel insurance as a benefit to their cardholders. It would be impracticable for me to mention these individually, except to say that should inquire with your relevant credit card provider when canvassing travel insurance options. But beware; every consultant is skillfully trained in every rebuttal as to why you should choose their travel insurance over that of your credit card providers.I hope you have all learnt a few valuable tips. Planning and booking a trip is a very emotional experience for some. Consultants are highly trained in the art of manipulating these emotions and creating a sense of urgency in the moment. For a lot of people they have save long and hard for their holiday. They need to take things slowly, always shop around, and most importantly not be fooled.

If you want to experience the world's worst service ever, go to Flight Centre Sydney Central Plaza!