Cheapest flights ... online, comparison finder, or travel agent?

We're flying the 4 of us to Hong Kong later this year (gasp .... pass the wine ...) and I'm looking at flights.

We are completely ignoring all the ones with layovers, or stops where we'll have to change planes, etc. We'd love to save the money, but we're neither insane nor masochists.

So we're looking at around $750 a head, return (which is a lot less than if we only get them a month or two in advance!) but it's still a lot, when you times it by 4 ...

I've been doing a bit of hunting, but can't see the best way of getting the best price.

Has anyone got any insider / personal experience tips?

Thanks :)

And then there's the question of keeping two toddlers happy for a 10 hour flight :o

I'm hoping that we can get an overnight flight, and they will watch a movie to wind down, and then sleep.

We're also debating seating arrangements ... I reckon the boys each next to a window, one in front of the other, and DH and me next to one each, but DH is concerned about the logistics of bathroom breaks, and having a boy "alone" for more than 2 seconds. I reckon they can be supervised for a few minutes from the front/back seat.

Thoughts?

Have you searched on hipmunk? Love that site for comparing flights. You can add a filter once you get your search results to only show you the nonstop flights.

For an upcoming trip we have decided to fly with 3 in one row, 2 kids and one adult, and then the other adult in the the aisle seat opposite. Will be our first time flying with both kids in seats and with us needing 4 seats though so I'm not sure yet if this is the best plan!

Webjet let's you see price comparisons

eta: I use Webjet to do the comparison then go direct to the particular airline, as others have mentioned, it is usually cheaper to go direct.

I've found it's better just to look on the websites directly. Even webjet doesn't have as cheap flights as if you go direct to the companies page - at least that's been my experience in the past.

I like webjet to find times and prices but then I book directly through the airline. More often than not, the flights are cheaper than quoted on Webjet too.

I think sit 3 in one row and 1 on the aisle opposite, just so it's easy to move around without disrupting anyone.

Thanks for the tip of checking cheap flights. Have always only checked Webjet, didn't know any better.

Years ago when we flew, we went 2 2 as if the girls needed to go to the toilet I took them and the other one sat with DH while I wasn't with them

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Webjet let's you see price comparisons

eta: I use Webjet to do the comparison then go direct to the particular airline, as others have mentioned, it is usually cheaper to go direct.

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Yes this use web jet then direct to airline for actual booking.

Seating - on a Hong Kong flight you will prob get a 2 4 2 arrangement so I would go for the 4 in the middle myself. The % of time you can see out of the window is so minimal, I would go for the space of four. I also would book the cheapest irrelevant of time of day, they may sleep or may not and if is extra for a night flight x 4 is alot of money.

Webjet has the cheapest direct flight there.

The Qantas website has the cheapest direct flight home.

Flight Centre were more expensive than each of the flights I found, *but* they offer to beat any price you have by $1, *and* a 25% discount for kids - which makes the whole thing cheaper (slightly).

And then there's the question of insurance ...

Forget about them sleeping and book the cheapest flight regardless. I've done melb - la with kids alone and they didn't sleep at all. That was 27 hrs without sleep....

Oh and go direct. Always go direct.

Oh and kids are always about 75% of adult fare and DS 2 may be free (or only taxes) if he's under 2 and doesn't require a seat...

Racv do good travel insurance for a couple of hundred bucks

I just bought travel insurance through woolworths of all places. Got a pretty good deal. It was domestic travel so I'm not sure what their overseas insurance is like.

If you are paying with a credit card for your trip, check if your card has any travel insurance for free. We have always gotten travel insurance free from our card as one of our benefits (we definitely got it with our Platinum Level and now our Black Level cards from a major bank, and possibly Gold level but I can't remember) if we paid for a certain percentage with the card.

I'll have to check re the card, thanks!

Wow, Div!! You deserved to wear your underpants on the outside for the rest of the trip after that :o

I'm only looking at direct flights (the layovers and stops and starts and racing from plane A gate 1 to plane B gate 23489713498701923847 was bad enough pregnant and solo, let alone with two kids!

Also looking to see if we can get a better deal if the boys have carry on... I can't imagine we need 4 suitcases! But definitely 4 seats. DS2 takes after his father, and is a pretty solid unit already. He'll be an NBL defender next summer, you mark my words.

And we'll be getting proper headphones, I reckon. A few movies and they will be entertained, if not asleep ...

Yes we got proper headphones from JB HiFi around 16 dollars a pair and they were great.

It looks like we get that (and it would cover the whole family) but its capped at $5K and we have to pay for the whole trip on the card ... I think we have to dire t deposit our accommodation in advance, so I'll have to find out whether that's a problem.

Have you got any frequent flyer points you can cash in? Even for one leg of the trip?

We've always booked our overseas trips through a travel agent but she's a family friend so she holds off booking things until specials hit. She'll then ring me for me to pay.

We've used Cover More travel insurance, I'm pretty sure they were backed by Allianz. We had to claim through them and they were fantastic. We had to cancel eleven days of our trip and change flights at Christmas and all we lost was $500. They even refunded our taxi fare to get us to the airport because we had to get home fast from the UK.

No frequent flyer points here. We do rewards points instead :)