A comprehensive guide to group travel bookings
Are you planning a big trip for multiple people and hoping to make the process as simple as possible?
Then you might be wondering how to make your travel planning easier and if you should book group flights.
If that’s the case, you’ve come to the right place.
In this comprehensive guide, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about group travel bookings.
We will help you to understand the benefits of this type of travel, how to go about booking your trip and why you should use a professional group travel agency to help you.
Read on to find out more.
Who might choose group travel?
When everyone has the ability to book a flight, hotel or trip in their own name and coordinate with one another, where does group travel come in?
Well, for those booking school trips or corporate travel, being able to book group flights can be far simpler and easier than trying to manage lots of individual bookings.
Even those organising a big friend or family getaway can benefit from group travel trips, as this makes booking the trip easier and means different families or groups can all coordinate their travel arrangements.
What is group air travel?
When talking about group travel, we don’t just mean a family of four booking a holiday. Group air travel typically refers to a group of 10 or more people, excluding those who are under two years old.
This is typical for economy travel at least, though smaller groups of seven or more can be considered group travel when booking premium economy or business class flights.
When you start the process of group flight booking, airlines will usually give a tailored quote and specific booking requirements. That is why this process can be a little bit slower than booking directly or searching for flights online.
Though these time constraints can be offset by working with a group travel agency, but more on this later in the guide.
Is group travel cheaper?
Airlines don’t necessarily offer special or discounted rates specifically for those booking as part of a group. However, when you book as a group, you get assurance that everyone in the party will pay the same price for their flight.
This is because when several people from the group start booking their flights, airlines typically raise the prices as demand increases. This could mean that those who try to book at a later date end up paying more than others.
However, when you book as a group, one quote will be given with a set price for every member of that group.
Why book group flights?
We’ve already begun to touch on how group travel planning can be beneficial, for example, ensuring everyone pays the same price for their flight. However, there are some other reasons that you might wish to book group air travel and these include:
Group bookings offer more flexibility allowing you to change times, dates and numbers more freely
It is also possible to pay a smaller deposit for the flights when booking as a group, rather than paying the whole fee upfront
You can guarantee that everyone gets on the same flight (providing there aren’t hundreds of attendees, of course)
You don't always need to provide all the names and identification details of guests when reserving seats as a group
But perhaps best of all, group air travel makes arranging and attending the trip much easier for those involved, which is ideal when booking school trips, corporate travel, university student travel or any other trip for that matter.
How to book group travel trips
The final thing you need to know about group air travel is how to book your flights. Depending on how many people make up your group, this could differ. For the most part, you won’t be able to use standard flight comparison sites online as these will not cater to larger groups.
Instead, you will have to go directly to the airline to try and sort your tickets. This is possible, but you’ll need to call up and give them the details, before waiting for them to come back to you with a quote.
Instead, you should consider working with a group travel agency that can offer their expert services.
A group travel agency like BTG Travel Management will be able to do all the hard work for you. They will be able to get you the best prices, coordinate your itineraries and make booking your group flights much easier.
So, if you’re planning a big trip for work, school or just for fun, using a group travel agency could be the ideal solution. Get in touch with our friendly team today to find out more about how we can help.