The only flights we include as standard are those that are part of your itinerary. That might be a domestic flight (like Kathmandu to Lukla) or a regional flight (like South Africa to Botswana). This will be clear on the detailed itinerary of the trip you’re looking to do.

We don’t include the flights you’ll need to get to the start point or to return home. We provide you with the start point and let you know where the trip finishes. It’ll be up to you to book your flights.

Why don’t you include the flights to/from the country I’m visiting?

• We don’t get access to rates better than what you’re able to find online.
  We’re not sending sufficient numbers of people overseas (yet) to be able to secure preferential rates from airlines. The volumes required to be able to get some kind of buying power to negotiate better rates than you can find online and with airlines directly are significant as you might imagine. As such, there’s no additional benefit to our travellers of booking flights through us.
• We don’t know what your plans are before or after your trip.
  We’re very aware that people might want to arrive a couple of days before their trip starts, be heading onto another destination or want a bit of extra time at the end of their trip to explore on their own. By not including flights, you’ve got much more flexibility.
• We can’t book flights using your reward points or know whether you have a preference of airline.
  Lots of people are racking up points, earning companion vouchers, want to fly within a particular airline alliance or have a specific airline (or plane!) they want to travel on. These often need to be booked directly through the airline and people are becoming increasingly savvy about earning sufficient points to travel in-style or by redeeming points.
• It’s more costly for us as a business to include them.
  This is the selfish reason but there is also an impact on our travellers. Including flights with our trips would drive up our costs considerably as there’s a disproportionately high knock-on cost on things like insurance and regulatory licences. We’d have to pass this on in the form of price increases on our trips which we don’t want to do. As such, it works out to be cheaper (and more flexible) to let people book their own flights.
• Our travellers are coming from all around the world.
  We’re a UK based company but we don’t mind who books and travels with us! As such, we have people booking with us from around the world. We’re pretty knowledgable about lots of things related to the trips we run but we can’t be experts at the best air fares and routes from every different country our travellers might be coming from.

Any practical tips for booking these flights?

• Make sure whoever you book with is properly regulated.
  In the UK, that means that you book through a company that has an ATOL licence. This is what permits UK based travel companies to book flights on behalf of their customers.
• Use aggregators and online search tools.
  Our favourite is SkyScanner for the ease-of-use of the site and app as well as the user-generated feedback of the agents and airlines selling airfares through them. There’s plenty of others out there though and you can often find airfares cheaper than what the airlines are offering. There’s generally two reasons travel companies might be selling airfares at a lower price. The first is that they’ve negotiated a great fare for a specific route. The second is that there’s a commercial benefit to selling a ticket at no profit (or even a minor loss).
• Check the reviews of the agent.
  They’re not all going to be 5-star but the reviews left by fellow travellers (and the responses to them from the company) will give you a feeling for whether they’re someone you’re going to be happy dealing with if any issues arise or you need to make changes.
• Use tools like seatguru.com to check out the configuration of flights.
  This is especially relevant for those flying in the premium cabins (first and business). Not all airlines are created equal and even within airlines, not all airplanes are the same. For example, flying on Qatar’s Q-Suite is possibly the best business class product in the skies. However on their older planes with older business class cabin configurations, you’d be hard-pressed to believe it’s the same airline. Check out sites like Seat Guru to help work out whether you’re getting the best value out of your flight.
• The cheapest ticket doesn’t always work out to be the cheapest in the long run.
  When buying a ticket, just check it’s not going to be super-restrictive or that it doesn’t include the luggage allowances that you might want or need. The cheapest tickets are often those that cannot be changed and will be fully non-refundable. More and more long-haul airlines (especially on trans Atlantic routes) are copying the low-cost model and advertising cheap fares without checked-in baggage and then charging extra to add these ancillary services.
• Aim to arrive before the early afternoon, depart anytime on the final day..
  All of our trips will specify whether there’s a specific arrival or departure time but generally it’s best to arrive sometime around lunchtime on day one. This means you’ll be almost certain to be able to get checked straight into your room and unless there’s a longer drive to the first nights’ accommodation, will also allow you some time in the afternoon to settle in. If you get in earlier, that’s fine – we might just not be able to get you into the hotel room straight away (although we’ll try!). On departure, unless your itinerary states otherwise, you’ll be free to leave any time.
• A bit of flexibility is advisable.
  Especially for those destinations or trips where weather conditions might impact the ease of travel. Nepal is the biggest example of this. Especially for itineraries to the Everest region that require a flight into the mountainous airport of Lukla. There can be significant delays due to weather conditions, especially on the fringes of the monsoon season. Having a flight ticket that is flexible and changeable is pretty important.

In Summary

We’re happy to help you book flights if you’re uncertain about anything. We’ve got a fair bit of experience in the travel industry and have racked-up a few frequent flyer points ourselves so can offer impartial advice if you need it.