When it comes to travel agents, we seriously recommend DialAFlight – not only for securing the best flight and other travel prices, but also for their friendly and helpful service, transparency, and overall competence. We are not in any way affiliated with DialAFlight, but speak only from own experience using them for our flight bookings and travel needs.

The précis article below is loosely based on one produced by DialAFlight:

Airlines have sneakily added a £20 charge for phone bookings. DialAFlight do it for free!

According to consumer magazine Which? persons booking flights or holidays by phone are being penalised by a charge of up to £20. Which? suggests airlines and travel tour operators are seeking new methods to wring money out of customers as the prohibition since January 2018 against rip-off credit card charges is being enforced. The penalty for phone bookings is only one of a range of small print additional charges that can literally add hundreds of pounds to the cost of travel.

UK Consumer watchdogs have reported Ryanair and TUI are adding a £20 fee for phone bookings; Easyjet £15 and British Airways £10. They try to justify this on the grounds of additional staff costs for phone bookings.  Of course, the savings generated by those of us booking online is not taken into account. We at House and Home Sitters also do bookings online, but have found DialAFlight seems better able to shop around and come up with a better deal than we’ve been able to find on the Internet, every time. And when doing any bookings online, be wary of scams which succeed due to the attractiveness of cheaper airfares, hotel rates or any travel-related expenses – see, for example this clip on Youtube.

A Which? spokesperson said: ‘Not all customers are comfortable booking online and they should not be penalised for booking over the phone. Airlines that are charging customers in this way must be clear and transparent about these additional fees.’

DialAFlight has admirably pledged to NEVER charge you for booking by phone, “however many times you call us. We love to hear from you.”

by Dave Price, CEO at House and Home Sitters