My friendly local travel agent (Flight Centre)

Member Name: eilidhcatriona

Product:	Flight Centre
Date:	05/11/09 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good service, good prices and makes life so easy

Disadvantages: Branches are closed at weekends

Since January this year I've been working closely with Flight Centre for work. They contacted me to see if we would be interested in using them for our travel needs, but had they not done that I would have soon been looking for an agent as our travel needs grew.

The dealings I have had with Flight Centre have been almost entirely for business purposes, although I have made enquiries for personal trips for myself and colleagues. I mainly deal with the Hammersmith branch, and we have a credit account set up with them although I have paid by credit card on occasion.

Flight Centre can arrange flights, hotels, entire trips, tours, guides, insurance and they can help with visas. Their prices are very competitive for the holidays they offer, but it is mainly flights and hotels that I book through them. You can book online (www.flightcentre.co.uk), in branch or over the phone.

My company has its own account manager at Flight Centre, and it is her that I contact when I need to make a booking. I email or phone in the details, and she finds the best options depending on what I need - sometimes I can be very flexible on dates or airline, but at other times we have very fixed requirements on what flights we need. A major bonus for me is that once Flight Centre have found suitable flights, they can hold the tickets for a while until I give the go ahead to book - the length of time tickets can be held depends on the airline.

After the tickets are booked, if I need to make any changes, I just contact our account manager and she will do it all for me. Another benefit is that once I have made a booking for a traveller, their details are kept in our account so I don't have to give Flight Centre all the details again.

I cannot fault the service that I have received from our account manager and the other staff at the Hammersmith branch. They are quick to respond and always do their best to find the best deal for our needs. If I request a hotel which they don't have on record, they will go and set up an account with them so they can book it for me. If I find a better price through the airline direct, they offer a price match service so that they can always offer the lowest prices - although generally the prices they offer on flights are considerably lower than booking with the airline direct.

Flight Centre also have an out of hours service for evenings and weekends when the branch is closed. I've had to use this on a couple of occasions, one being a Friday night when I was less than happy to have been called and asked to change a flight for someone who had already been problematic! So when I called the out of hours service I was a little bit snippy with them, but they were very patient and helpful, made the necessary changes and emailed the revised itinerary to me. It was all very quick and easy.

Flight Centre have been lifesavers on numerous occasions over the 10 months I have been working with them. Due to the nature of our business, I frequently have last minute and very complicated flights to book. Given the growth we've experienced in terms of destinations this year, if I were still doing the bookings myself I would be going mad. Flight Centre make everything quick and easy - once I've requested flights from them I can get on with something else and not worry about it again until they get back to me with the options available.

The only reason I haven't booked personal travel with them is that the flight bookings I've made since discovering Flight Centre have been with Airmiles. The next time I'm paying for a flight I'll definitely be doing it through them - I don't take complicated flights, but knowing that if I need to change them all I have to do is call Flight Centre would be good peace of mind. Last time I tried to change BMI flights from London to Aberdeen (hardly a complicated route) directly with the airline I had all manner of fun on the phone with them.

I can't recommend Flight Centre highly enough, particularly for business customers. The staff are friendly and efficient, the prices are very competitive and they really do offer peace of mind.

Summary: Lifesavers!