Usually if I read a deal such as “fly for free” I immediatley consign it to the dustbin – after all, an offer like that would usually involve participation or is simply a scam.

But the other night at a party I met someone who works for a travel agent called Flight Centre. It’s got quite a few shops on British high streets and a growing online presence. Unlike Expedia or any of the other big online flight retailers, you can’t enter your dates in on their website for the flight you want to take. However, they will show you their best deals and the times they’re available for – then it’s a matter of ringing up and asking. For instance, you might enter your dates for travel to New York in September, and they’ll show you deals they’ve got with different airlines for that part of the year and the cheapest fare. Then you ring them up to sort something out.

The good thing about this is that they’re often cheaper, and as a consequence the “Fly For Free” deal says that if you find a flight, and they can’t beat the price then they will give you the ticket for free! Just ring up after you’ve found a great fare and they will see if they can beat it. If not, you’ll get the seat for free.

It’s a good reminder that you don’t always get the best fares by searching through online sites. “Bucketshops” as they’re called were set up a few decades ago and still provide among the cheapest fares out there. Their premise is to buy seats in advance and then resell them, so they benefit from a larger economy of scale and airline discounts.

The other good thing about phone-based travel agents like this one is that they can also do special things like stopovers and good deals on round-the-world flights which are almost impossible to arrange online, even now. So if your flight requirements are even slightly complicated you should definitely ring up an agent.

In reality, I’m not sure whether Fly For Free actually gives out free tickets. More likely is that they’ll manage to find a fare that’s slightly cheaper than the one you’ve found and sell you that. It is, after all, a lot cheaper to let a fare go for £5 less than just to give it away. But still worth giving them a ring, because you’re bound to save something.

Flightcentre.co.uk
0844 800 8660