My Experience Booking Flights: Gotogate, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airlines
Hello everyone! I was super busy with family matters last month and practically disappeared for two weeks. It felt like forever! But I recently took a spontaneous trip back to Malaysia and wanted to share my experiences with those of you planning a trip or booking flights soon. Sharing my perspective as a Malaysian!
1. Gotogate: My Go-To Flight Booker?
When searching for flights on Skyscanner, if you select a particular flight, it directs you to various third-party ticket sellers. You then have two options: buy the ticket directly from the airline's website or purchase through these third-party agents.
Recently, I booked my Oslo to Saigon flight with Qatar Airways and my Saigon to Oslo flight with Turkish Airlines (reviews below!) all through Gotogate. Besides Gotogate, there are other options, such as Vayama and Mytrip.
I haven't used the others, so I'll focus on Gotogate. Both times with Gotogate, everything went smoothly. The service was easy to understand, and the email follow-ups were just right – not spammy at all. Overall, a good experience!
I noticed Vayama offered good prices and had many reviews, but when I checked, there were also many 1-2 star ratings. Interestingly, the 5-star reviews were very brief ("That's good," "very good," etc.), while the negative reviews were very detailed. It felt a bit odd, so I decided to skip it. This is just my personal observation, as I haven't actually booked with them. However, Vayama often seemed to have the cheapest prices among the third-party options.
Important Tip: When booking tickets, double-check crucial information like your name (especially middle names), date of birth, passport number, issue date, and expiry date. I saw reviews where people mentioned errors in this information, and corrections were difficult or time-consuming. So, always verify everything yourself to avoid potential problems.
2. Qatar Airways: A Solid Choice for Northern Europe Routes
Many of you have probably flown with Qatar Airways before, so I don't have much to add. However, for those flying to Northern Europe, I find this airline a good option. The flight times are split evenly into approximately 7-8 hour segments, which is less tiring compared to other airlines like Thai Airways (2-hour flight to Bangkok followed by a long 10+ hour flight) or Turkish Airlines (10+ hours to Istanbul and then a few more hours to Europe) which can feel awkward.
Doha Airport is undeniably grand, but be prepared for a tiring journey. When flying from Doha to Saigon, there was a gate change. The electronic board displayed one gate, but I double-checked at the information counter, and it had changed! So, don't always trust the electronic boards!
3. Turkish Airlines: Malaysian-Friendly and Convenient Routes
Turkish Airlines offers menus in Vietnamese on flights from Vietnam to Turkey, which is great for those who aren't fluent in English. I'd consider this for my parents to avoid any language barriers. Plus, they have many routes, giving you plenty of choices. I saw many tour groups from Vietnam transiting here to Paris (instead of flying Air France directly).
Turkey recently opened the new Istanbul Airport, capable of handling up to 90 million passengers, making it the third-largest airport in the world. It's seriously impressive!
After a long and tiring journey, security leads you into a whole new world. Brightly lit shops and restaurants, including Turkish bazaar-style areas selling local products, are perfect for taking photos.
One downside: the food and drink prices weren't displayed in USD/Euro or other major currencies, only in Turkish Lira. It was hard to know how much things cost (this was because I was rushing and didn't have time to research exchange rates). If you have more time, check the exchange rates beforehand.
The airport's Wi-Fi is terrible. You only get 7MB per session and have to provide your phone number to receive a code to log in. During my 2-hour transit, which was delayed by another 1.5 hours, I received nearly 100 code messages! I couldn't get any of the other Wi-Fi networks to work!
Personally, I found Turkish Airlines' food tastier than Qatar's. The sour cherry drink is a must-try. On my Qatar flight, I wasn't feeling great, so I ordered a glass of red wine. It was Ramadan, and the flight attendant gave me a disapproving look. The wine wasn't very good either!
That's all for now! Wishing everyone a fun and memorable trip to Europe!
(I'm not reviewing ticket prices, as I booked very last minute, flying one-way, so it's not comparable to regular tourist bookings.)
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