TRAVEL INFORMATION: AIRLINES, PHONES, WEBSITES

International conservationists have to travel a great deal. Over the years the members of our team have traveled to more that 100 countries, covering all continents. Usually our budgets are moderate, and we must really look for economic and yet practical ways to get to our destinations.

For years we have kept digital notebooks with information on flights and hotels that they have been using.  They are ripe and green and certainly not a recommendation. Some numbers and links may be outdated. 

Most and for all, we made these notes for ourselves, so we can access them wherever we travel, whenever we need them. We thought we should share these with you, so we combined our notes on this page and put them on the net. It would be very useful if you add information to it on our forum, so that we all may benefit, or to ask questions that other travelers may advise you on. Please add posts on our forum with email addresses and phone numbers of travel services in your country, experiences of things that work and don't work so well, etc. Together we can help each other with very useful worldwide travel information base, free for everyone to consult.

A quick overview

There are phone numbers for airlines that fly to and from and within the USA, and a list of names of budget airlines that operate mostly within Europe. There is a fairly exhaustive list of ticketing websites for the Netherlands, some for Germany, one for the UK and a wide variety for worldwide and the USA. On flights, we recommend you not only use the general booking websites, but also check the airline website, and even call them. The airline phone booking services varies greatly with the booking agent on the phone. If you are lucky and have an experiences helpful agent, he/she might get you a better deal. Its always worth trying. 

When investigating, open the flights you are interested in in different tabs, so you don't lose them and can later compare them.

Ahh, make sure you never accept a paper ticket from these web-based sites. They can't make changes on a paper ticket and if you have to change the paper ticket, you can only change it in one of the main offices of the airline or on the airport with the airline that initiates an itinerary, even if it is only a minor part of the route. That airline may be very reluctant to help you. We once almost lost an entire ticket sold from the Orbitz website, because they had sent us a paper ticket. We had to travel an hour and half to the airport, spend 4 hours on the airport until the change was taken care off and had to pay about $400 dollars extra. 

So, if you have to travel with a paper ticket, always go through a travel agent nearby. Its worth the extra $75. For etickets, you are usually better off booking over the web. Agents nowadays rarely match those prices, and always have to charge you $50 to $100 booking costs. Moreover you won't have to sit at the phone or in their office for an hour to listen what they see on their screen while you could perfectly well read that information yourself from your computer at home. 

If you go through a travel agent, make sure beforehand to ask how much their booking fee is. Moreover, travel agents like to charge you twice or three times. For instance, if the first part is with airline X, they will charge you a booking fee; the next part is with airline Y, again, etc. If that is their intention, it may be worth your while to either negotiate or find someone else to do your booking. Never go to a travel agent before having done your homework on-line, so that you have an idea of what the price should be. Be aware that Travel agents have no interest to find you the cheapest ticket, but rather to sell you the ticket which is the easiest for them to find. 

International booking websites

Recently, we have been finding that Kayak has been giving slightly cheaper prices (differences of 10 - 30 dollars) http://www.kayak.com. It investigates the prices of quite a variety of web-booking sites all at the same time. It may be a good idea to at least check it to see what it comes up with. But we found it less userfriendly for the actual booking. So after having checked you may want to go to the cheapest website it lists and book there or check the recommended flight directly from the airline. 
Another website that does the same is: http://www.answers.travel/ 
One first has to register and then log in (I find that annoying, but I guess its only once). After filling out destination and dates, you have to click on each site button individually. You may also like to check:

http://www.sidestep.com 

which claims to do the same is. If it is true, then this seems to be the more userfriendly one, but you don't get to see if it really goes through all the other sites, it just lists the results. 

A relatively new kid on the block is http://www.cheapoair.com, which seems to work with lots of budget airlines, so that certainly is worth checking out.  

Web designs continuously change, and ticket prices often vary by the hour, so you may want to try several websites and actually call airlines before actually booking for a trip.

For travelers from the USA, the biggest one is ORBITZ: http://www.orbitz.com. We find it a bit more userfriendly than most other on-line booking sites, but in may not always have the cheapest deals. It only books flight departing from the USA and I think only for itineraries of 30 days and under. Also rather poor performance for flights with a departure date of less than 7 days from now. But since we use this one a lot, we know its flaws best. We are sure, that many others have similar weaknesses. 

Remember, each booking is an adventure of questionable fun. Moreover, the differences simply change over time. So you may try any selection of the following: 
http://www.flights.com/ 
http://www.zuji.com 
http://www.qixo.com 
http://www.novatravel.com 
http://tickets.priceline.com 
http://www.expedia.com 
http://www.travelocity.com/ 
http://www.cheapticketlinks.com/ 
http://www.bootsnall.com/ 
http://www.cheapticketscanada.com/  
http://www.hotwire.com/  (We have stopped using them. They suggest that they get very cheap deals by not promising which airline or time they fly; just the departure date. It worked in the beginning, but over the last few years, their flights were always more expensive than those from the regular internet travel sites.)

Ahhhh........... Don't forget to bookmark this page. You may need it again in the future.

Some European booking websites:
http://www.Onetravel.com 
http://www.attitudetravel.com 
http://www.skyeurope.com/ 
http://www.buzzaway.com/
www.farebeater.com 
http://www.jetonly.com/ 
http://www.corendon.com/ 
http://www.jetssky.com/ 

For those with flexible travel dates:
http://www.air-hitch.org Air Hithc, 
http://www.lastminute.com 

Around the World Tickets:
http://www.thetravelleruk.com/ 
http://www.bridgetheworld.com/ 
http://www.travelbag.co.uk/ 

UK booking websites:
http://www.bookbmibaby.co.uk

Nederlandse ticketing websites:
http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/ 
http://www.vliegtarieven.nl 
http://www.goedkoopopvakantie.com 
http://www.waarheenwaarvoor.nl 
http://www.vrijetijd.com 
http://www.ltur-ams.com 
http://www.vliegwinkel.nl  , +31 -20 - 7942183
http://www.seatonly.nl 
http://www.cheaptickets.com 
http://www.tickettracker.nl 
http://www.atp.nl/ 
http://www.skyscanner.net/ 
http://www.vliegticketvergelijker.nl/ 
http://www.etn.nl/lcostair.htm 
http://www.tickettracker.nl/ 
http://www.vbird.nl/ 
http://www.scandinavian.net  
http://www.lowcostairlines.nl  
http://www.kilroytravels.nl 
http://www.elmarreizen.nl 
http://www.d-reizen.nl 
http://www.kras.nl 
http://www.arke.nl/ 
http://www.hollandinternational.nl/ 
http://www.wegolo.nl/ 
http://www.vluchtendiscounter.nl/ 
http://www.vliegticketvergelijker.nl/ 
http://www.bimanair.nl/ 
http://www.broerelvliegpassages.nl  
http://www.worldticketcenter.nl/ 
http://www.skybreakers.nl/ 

Belgische ticketing sites:
http://www.brusselsairport.be/# 
http://www.airstop.be/ 
http://www.wizzair.be 

Deutsche sites:
http://www.gexx.de 
http://www.ltur.de/ 
http://www.opodo.de/ 
http://www.statravel.de/ 

We used this for traveling to Serbia from the USA:
Jat airways: 1 212 689 1677, jatnewyork1@msn.com, of reisbureau 212 319 5256 DPajevic@aol.com en 718 497 0485

Some European pricefighter airlines:
http://www.Ryanair.com 
http://www13.germanwings.com/ 
http://www.virgin-express.com/ 
http://www.airberlin.de/ 
http://www.easyjet.com/ 
http://www.basiqair.nl/ 
http://www.airberlin.com/ 
http://www.budgetair.nl 
http://www.skyeurope.com 
http://www.welcomeair.com 
http://www.flybmi.com 
http://www.atlas-blue.com 

We just came across a website with most European low cost airlines:
Aegean Airlines : Flights within Greece (home base) and Greece to Western Europe
Aer Arann: Flights within Ireland and from Ireland to England, Scotland
Air 2000 : Flights between England (home base Manchester) and Portugal, Spain
Air Baltic : Flights between home bases Riga (Latvia), Vilnius (Lithuania) and Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Rep., Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine
Air Berlin: Flights within Germany and from Germany (home base Berlin) to Austria, Cyprus, Egypt, England, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey
Air Finland: Flights within Finland (home base Helsinki) and from Finland to France, Italy, Spain
Air Scotland: Flights between Scotland (home base) and Spain
Air Service Plus: Flights between Italy (home base Pescara) and Brussels, Paris
Air Southwest: Flights within England
Alpi Eagles: Flights within Italy (home base Venice)
Baboo: Flights between Switzerland (home base Geneva) and Czech Rep., France, Italy, Spain
BelleAir: Flights from Italy to Albania, Greece, Turkey
Blue1: Flights within Finland and from Finland (home base Helsinki) to Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden
Blue Air: Flights between Romania (home base) and France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey
Blue-Express: Flights within Italy and Italy (home base Rome) to Austria, France, Germany, Libya
BMI Baby: Flights between England (home base) and Czech Rep., France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Wales
British European: Flights between England and Channel Islands, France, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Netherlands, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Ulster
BudgetAir: Flights between Ireland (home base Dublin) and France, Greece, Portugal, Spain
CentralWings: Flights between Poland (home base) and Czech Rep., England, Germany, Italy, Malta, Spain
Clickair: Flights between Spain (home base Barcelona) and Czech Rep., France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland
Condor: Flights from Germany to most European countries
Corendon: Flights between Netherlands and Turkey
Dau Air: Flights between Germany (home base Dortmund) and Poland, Switzerland
EasyJet: Flights between England (home base London) and Denmark, France, Greece, Netherlands, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Ulster
Evolavia: Flights between Italy (home base Ancona) and France, Russia, Spain
Excel Airways : Flights from England and Scotland to Egypt, France, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Turkey
Fare4U: Flights between Malta (home base) and London Stansted
Fly Dba: Flights within Germany and from Germany to France, Spain
Fly Me: Flights within Sweden (home base) and Finland
German Wings: Flights within Germany and from Germany (home base Cologne) to Austria, Czech Republic, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey
Globespan: Flights between Scotland (home base) and France, Italy, Spain
Hapag Lloyd Express : Flights within Germany (home base Cologne-Bonn) and from Germany to England, France, Italy, Spain
Helvetic Airways: Flights between Switzerland (home base Zurich) and Austria, Belgium, Spain
Iceland Express: Flights between Iceland (home base) and Denmark, England
InterSky: Flights between Austria (home base Wien) and France, Italy, Switzerland
Itali Airlines : Flights within Italy and Italy - Croatia v.v.
Jet2: Flights between England (home base Leeds-Bradford) and France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain
LTU: Flights from Germany to most European countries
Meridiana: Flights within Italy (home base Florence) and from Italy to England, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain
Monarch Airlines: Flights between England (home base London-Luton) and Gibraltar, Portugal, Spain
My Travel Lite: Flights between England (home base) and France, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland
MyAir : Flights within Italy and between Italy (home base) and France, Romania and Spain
Nordic Airlink: Flights between Sweden (home base Stockholm) and Norway
Norwegian Air Shuttle: Flights within Norway (home base) and from Norway to England, Portugal, Spain
Pegasus Airlines: Flights within Turkey and Turkey - Germany v.v.
Ryanair: Flights between England (home base London-Stansted) and Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden
Scandjet: Flights between Sweden (home base) and Bosnia, Croatia
SkyEurope: Flights between Slovakia (home base Bratislava) and Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland
Smart Wings : Flights between Czech Republic (home base Prague) and Denmark, France, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland
Snalskjutsen: Flights within Sweden (home base) and from Sweden to France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland
SnowFlake Airlines: Flights from Denmark (home base Copenhagen) and Sweden (home base Stockholm) to Czech Rep., France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Turkey
Sterling : Flights between Denmark (home base Copenhagen) and France, Greece, Italy, Madeira, Norway, Spain, Sweden
Sun Express: Flights between Turkey (home base Antalya) and Austria, Germany, Switzerland
ThomsonFly: Flights between England (home base Coventry) and France, Italy, Jersey, Spain
Transavia: Flights between Netherlands (home base Amsterdam) and Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden
Virgin Express: Flights between Belgium (home base Brussels) and Denmark, England, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
VLM Airlines: Flights between Belgium (home base) and England, Germany, Guernsey, Italy, Jersey, Luxembourg and Netherlands
Vueling Airlines: Flights within Spain (home base) and from Spain to Brussels, Paris
Windjet Vola: Flights within Italy (home base Sicily)
Wizz Air: Flights from Hungary (home base Budapest) and Poland (home base Katowice) to Czech Rep., England, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden
For more information and booking consult: 

http://www.etn.nl/lcosteur.htm 
This website is extremely slow though. Some day we may extract all websites from there, but we don't have time for that right now.


Links to airlines in the USA can be found here:
http://www.kls2.com/airlines/n-america.html 

Phone numbers for airline offices in the USA (Some numbers have changed and some airlines no longer exist):

For Kyrgyzstan we have used the following contact:
Jyldyza
KYRGYZ CONCEPT
aero1@concept.kg
100 Razzakov Str., Bishkek, 720001, Kyrgyz Republic
tel.: +996(312) 661-331
fax : +996(312) 660-220
http://www.concept.kg

Some visa services, mostly in the USA Washington DC area:

PVS International
Telephone: (800) 556-9990
Fax: (703) 908-0332
Web: PVS International, LLC
2.

1700 North Moore Street
$310
Arlington Virginia
22209 VI

Travel Document Systems, Inc.
Telephone: (800) 874-5100
(202) 638-3800
Fax: (202) 638-4674
Web: http://www.traveldocs.com 
E-mail: support@traveldocs.com 
3. Intourist USA

Please share your experiences at our forum so that together we can slowly build up a world-wide travel information exchange for the world. 

Don't forget to bookmark this page. You may need it again in the future!

All sales and travel details are arranged with and purchased from Neotropic Turis, legal license holder of the lodge. This is the website of the owners of the Cuyabeno lodge. Any other website mentioning the Cuyabeno lodge belongs to sub-contractors