We searched for the Prague Hyatt Hotel using our hotel directories and couldn’t find one listed. We also used the Hyatt.com website and discovered that the closest hotel of that chain is in Berlin.

As of August 2012 there is no Hyatt in Prague.

For recommended alternatives, we suggest using our hotel search facility and narrow down the choice to the 5* properties. You’ll be surprised by the choice and rates offered.

Our recommendations for centrally located Prague hotels are:

Four Seasons Hotel,
Jalta Hotel
Prague Marriott

But do use our comparison site to ensure you find the best deal.

Skyscanner offers low fares on China Eastern Airlines to Australia from four travel companies, all at a similar price.

So who should you choose to book through? Who offers a reliable service?

We put them to the test.

A search for London to Sydney flights resulted in a cheap price offered with China South Eastern Airlines but the return journey requires a stopover in Shanghai.

Three companies offered fares of approximately £666 return:

Travelup, Omega Flightstore, 9Flights.co.uk and Travelpack

I called each company enquiring about the stopover, about the free hotel offered in Shanghai, and most importantly, would I need a visa as a transit passenger? I did not want to rely on a Google search for this information, because China visas can be very expensive, so I wanted to know before I chose to book. And I was reading conflicting information about visas, online.

Travelup phones appeared to be answered in India. The consultant seemed only capable of asking repeatedly what my departure date was. When he eventually addressed (or understood) my question, he couldn’t help and said I’d have to contact the Chinese embassy.

Omega Flightstore on their London Number, no reply, no queuing system, nothing!
Telephone: 020 7484 8909. The 0844 493 8888 did offer English or Chinese but nobody answered

Travelpack in Wembley 08444 930 461 understood the question but suggested that I phone China SouthEastern directly 020 7935 2676 where a very responsive consultant gave clear advice….

No China visa is required for a UK passport holder in transit and holding an onward international ticket, and a free hotel is provided. China Eastern suggested that we contact the online travel agent after making the booking as they need to obtain the stopover voucher from the airline.

Our advice: Travelpack is the best known to us, of the three quoted, so I would choose them in preference to the others.

But always use our recommended search engine for your initial comparison.

Skyscanner is our favourite search engine for economy flights worldwide, so we feature it under our Flight Search page (see above)

It is especially good for European fares because it offers direct availability from low-cost-airlines that may be omitted by many travel agent systems. That’s because most of the low cost carriers have a direct sell policy and don’t “distribute” their flights via the global reservation systems that travel agents use.

Unfortunately, there are no Business Class fares on Skyscanner.

UPDATE 22nd October 2014. SkyScanner includes business and premium economy class but you need to edit your search after using our search form.

Because of the complexity of business class fares, we recommend that you focus on two companies, namely Expedia and Opodo.

Both offer the reliable service that Business Class requires.

We provide search forms for both companies here on our site under the Expedia and Opodo headings above, together with some useful booking tips

The Heathrow Express App is a very simple application for booking full fare tickets on your mobile.

The most annoying feature is the date selection. Instead of a user friendly calendar , you need to select from a date wheel. It does not help by providing the days of the week, so you need to make sure that the date you request is the correct day.

Furthermore, as only “full fares” are offered, you could do better by booking discount fares as advised in our blog articles.

Search our site for Heathrow Express and you’ll be directed to the most up to date online discounts.

This article is written to help you find the best easyJet discount fares, impartially. We do not want to sell you a ticket!

easyJet and the travel trade

Unlike the Ryanair policy (see my article here)  easyJet do work with travel agents, travel management companies, both online and offline.

They facilitate the booking processes and in the case distribution through Travel Management Companies reservation systems they charge a small fee of perhaps £3 per flight

From our experience to date, unlike the traditional airlines (Air France, Lufthansa, etc.) easyJet do not offer discounted fares via the travel trade.

Some online agents package easyJet flights with hotels and add a mark-up. You can do better by booking your flights independently of your hotels. The only factor to consider is that you’ll not have the benefit of ATOL protection should everything go wrong.

So, where do I find easyJet discounts?

For an impartial search of easyJet flights and all the other airline options (including some that you may not have considered before), our flight search tool is invaluable, saving you time and money.

But always choose to book direct. Never select the online agents that are included in the comparison, because, by the time you complete the booking, extra charges and fees will increase the total fare.

In this article, we discuss the variety of sources of Ryanair discount ticket prices in 2012 .

Ryanair fares are offered by travel agents, package holiday companies and the airline itself.

1. Travel agents and Travel Management Companies (TMC’ s) simply book direct on the Ryanair website and charge you a transaction fee to do so. This is the case for online and offline companies. Unless the agent has marked up the fare, you’ll pay exactly the same as booking yourself online although if you pay the agent by credit card, you’ll pay two credit card surcharges (the Ryanair and the Travel Agents merchant fees). And you may incur problems because you haven’t booked direct and you may not have been informed of all the baggage and other restrictions.

2. Package Holiday Companies (online and offline) will bundle hotels and flights together, add a mark-up and sell that online or through brochures. Ryanair does not offer discounted prices to these companies. They may claim to offer a discount but you can achieve better prices if you follow our summary advice below.

3. Ryanair Direct. Michael O’Leary is disliked by the “travel trade” in general, because he does not want to work with them. Instead, the airlines distribution model is to sell only direct to the public. Indeed, Ryanair has taken some trade companies to court to try and stop their unauthorised access to his reservation system. An exception to this situation is our flight comparison search facility, on our Flight Search page (see above).

So, to summarise, the fact is that you will never find a discount Ryanair ticket cheaper than that offered by Ryanair direct.

Always use our authorised Ryanair Flight Search because you will be offered live Ryanair prices at Ryanair.com prices AND alternatives such as British Airways.com , easyJet, WizzAir, Jet2 etc.

Even if you know that Ryanair is your choice, you may see an airline that you had never considered before.

And for the cheapest hotel rates, with a low price guarantee, our comparison site will find you the best deal. See our Hotel Search above.

British Airways says “book before 10 July” but we always check the small print. You can book up to 23:59 GMT on Tuesday itself.

Travel is generally from 10^th September through to dates as far in advance as March or even June 2013

Changes to booked tickets are allowed at a fee but refunds are not permitted.

Please see our British Airways page for more details and for British Airways booking tips

We have been asked to find a hotel near to or within walking distance of the Council of European Union, Justus Lipsius Building, Rue de la Loi 175, Brussels.

The closest and best standard appeared to be the Renaissance Brussels but the normal rate was EUR239 and well above the European Body guideline rate of EUR140 per night.

Even the EU Government rate for this hotel is EUR189.00

By using our comprehensive “Hotel Search” as above, we found promotional rate of just EUR 69.00 including tax, per night. This rate applied to midweek too. NB Rates subject to change, exchange rate fluctuation and availability.

Business travel needn’t be expensive – try our Hotel Search engine to see. And remember, the site works just as well for your leisure trips and holidays.