I don't really like travel agents. I've been travelling a few times and never used one. I actually…read moreenjoy browsing around for the best deal for a flight, reading hotel and hostel reviews to make sure there are no cockroaches and making up the rest of the details when I get there. However, as far as travel agents go, STA isn't a particularly bad one. Rather than intimidating orange ladies with red neckerchiefs, this branch of STA usually has about four chilled out 20-something year old lads in checked shirts behind their desks. I've never seen the queues that Thomas describes but maybe this is just in the run-up to the university holidays. I went into this branch with a friend (who annoyingly pronounces it staaar travel), as she thought it would be the cheapest place to buy our tickets to NZ. Despite the friendly staff and fact that they apparently give discounts to students and under 26s, the prices they quoted for the flights to NZ alone were more expensive than flights I had found on the Quantas website which included 3 free stopovers. I've also been tempted to buy STA's travel insurance in the past but have always found better deals for my requirements elsewhere. As for volunteering, unless you fancy paying a grand to work for free, then you can find much cheaper (and some free) volunteering projects with companies such as Concordia. Only good if you are a student with no time and no imagination.

Sta travel is a hubbub of excited students planning their next jaunt. In those desperate few months…read morebefore the summer things get a little mad and I recall my experience of waiting in a queue for upwards of an hour as a very frustrating experience. Couple this with me not actually going on holiday it made for quite the wind up. I'm trying to see the light with this place, it is student orientated they have lots of well sorted trips that can be booked to pretty much any corner of the world apart from maybe Afghanistan (the army careers office is further down the road) or maybe the poles. Yet again though these trips draw me into another pet hate apart from queuing, the gap year was for me about really plonking you in the middle of nowhere, no guides nothing. Then through your experiences, developing an interpretation of local culture and perhaps even a temporary role within the community; that's real travelling. In recent years more and more websites and travel stores have become gap year orientated creating series of frustrating package deals wrapped up as the real deal, go nurture lion cubs in the outback making a real difference £1200, go diving in some of the most beautiful reefs in the world in the name of conservation (aka a body to drag a measuring tape across the coral) £800 and teach English in Ethiopia amid the savannah grasslands (£900). In my opinion you may as well book yourself two weeks in Magaluf.

First class service from Thomson on this visit. Myself and…read moreAdam Y had spent a couple of weeks deciding where we should go on holiday this August and couldn't come up with any ideas within budget so we wandered around Bolton one day and picked up some brochures from various travel agents. Eventually we resorted back to the internet and just doing any old search with the main search being 'Adult only hotel' - we hate children. We found a 5* hotel within (almost) price budget on the Thomson website, but decided to go in-store to see if they could better it. Of we popped down to the late opening Thomson shop on the Fort shopping park on a Wednesday evening and we were warmly greeted by a young chap who happened to be the manager. He asked us to sit down and explain what we wanted. He searched and unfortunately the price his system was giving him was £250 more than the website. Not to worry he said, he would price match for us and even waiver the admin fee because he could. How nice! However, he was going away in two days so if we wanted it we would need to book with him before Friday to get this deal. We couldn't decide there and then so had a wander around the car park and came to the conclusion that we would only spend the next two days looking on the internet more and only coming back here. So we walked back in and booked it. The young man was very friendly and gave us advise on the resort and travel tips without being patronising as some travel agents can be. I would definitely recommend using Thomson, this one in particular.

Ok so I booked with Omega via Skyscanner - THEN read the online reviews and absolutely panicked !!…read more Rang them - admittedly took several goes to get through and the person I spoke to wasn't the easiest to understand.. but I explained to her that I had changed my mind and wanted to cancel. She told me there was a cancellation fee of £30 per ticket ( which is clearly explained in the T &C section of their website so I was prepared for this) I said I wanted to go ahead & cancel & she sent me a cancellation form by email. Had an email back from them on Friday to say refund was being processed and would take 5 working days. Lo and behold the money is today ( Thursday) back in my account. I told my daughter the tale and apparently she flew to Thailand with them without any problem last year. SO they might be a bit rubbish but they're not crooks. I have my refund and if I hadn't panicked I might have had my cheap flights !

Omega Travel (Omega Flightstore) is the most terrible booking agency I ever dealt with. They booked…read moremy wife and 3-year old son on a wrong flight (!!) and caused them stuck at the airport!!! When we called as emergency they said they would 'investigate and come back' then nothing happened!! After we complained to ABTA they even denied any fault and blamed us for not check our itinerary with the airline prior to travel!!! Which means as their customer you must check for their mistakes for them! Even the booking was confirmed in written! How could someone be so shameless to deny their fault with written evidence just in front of them?!! Unbelievably terrible customer service and shameless company! Hard to believe they could survive for so many years. VOID THEM!!! VOID THEM!!! VOID THEM!!!

I used STA Travel to book my trip to Canada a couple of years ago, and I have to say that I think…read morethey're a really great company. With so much package holiday booking nowadays being the domain of massive websites like Opodo or lastminute.com it's refreshing that you can still go into somewhere like STA and talk to a real, knowledgeable person about your options. STA specialise in finding the best deals for students and young people, and I would heartily recommend anyone who would put themselves in that category visiting STA and finding out what kind of deals they can get for you.

It's not bad. They should have a database for their…read morecustomers. I need to give my details every time I book a flight. So that the processes take too long to complete

i've done my research and these travel agents are he cheapest for flights to the far east. Friendly…read morestaff, book on phone or call in. They cater for lots of airlines and have specialist agents who find you the cheapest deal. Try them and you will not be disappointed.

This is an amazing online travel agent which has some of the best deals available online. They…read moredon't offer package holidays, you simply find a flight to whichever destination you choose and once you've chosen one, it then gives you literally hundreds of hotels from which to choose from. From real budget hotels to high end the hotel options are fantastic. I have used them several times and they haven't let me down yet!

This is my first review, and I believe in giving credit where credit is due. I have gone into this…read moreThomson three times for various reasons to book a holiday for June, and each time the staff have been friendly, informative and helpful. I have been into all the other big-name travel agents in Manchester and would definitely recommend Thomson above all others.

Everything was no trouble when booking but since then they have not returned any phone calls or…read moredone any of the things they said they would. You can see why people just book their own holidays because using a travel agent like this seems to have no perks at all, just frustration.

Used this company to get a Visa for China, and once I'd sent it through didn't hear back for 2…read moreweeks. I then phoned them and they said my photo needed changing, which I did immediately, but didn't hear back for a few days. I'd purposely sent the application early in order to get my fingerprints taken before my holiday, however was told I had to do it the day after getting back otherwise there would be problems. The man on the phone was very impatient and quite demanding. I understand it's a busy time for them, but for the price I expected a better and more efficient service, and not to feel as though the blame is on myself.

I've had many good experiences of Trailfinders over the years. However, with the popularity of…read morebooking flights directly over the internet I feel they are losing their way somewhat. They need to offer something more. Maybe I was served by the wrong person but the passion or enthusiasm and love of travel was just lacking. On a positive note, they don't charge any extra for credit card payments which is unusual nowadays.

This is a brilliant travel option. Especially good if you are planning a travelling trip, ie a…read more"round the world" trip etc. Many different independant travel companies are available and all branches have many different brochures to look through. The staff are very helpful and friendly and have undergone specialist training in this area.