B away is an independent travel agent, nestled in the walkway from Pinner High Street to Marks &…read moreSpencer. They have several arms of their business, and have a cruise specialist too. They seem to have every brochure ever printed and definitely can help you plan an amazing trip! I've been in a few times, which is saying something as I'm quite happy to book all of my own travel online. Travel agents can just do the odd thing easier than I can. They were very helpful when we had a completed flight booking for one person, and wanted to book for another person and link the reservations and book seats. They did come up more expensive than if I had done it online myself though, as they charge a flat commission on some things (like flights). When I mentioned that I'd just go home and book it to save the £25, as I found it cheaper online, they immediately matched the price and made the booking. The other couple of times we've been in is to discuss cruises. We've been on a few and really enjoy them, but as we're new to it, some advice is always helpful. I'm very keen to go to St Petersburg and they even suggested a specialist ferry/cruise service that they can book, that I'd never even heard of (it wasn't for us, but still!) I do find that the cruise specialist is really knowledgeable but he does push the more expensive lines. But when it comes down to it, he is right, the lines he's suggesting are a better fit to our personality and what we want out of a holiday - even though we can't yet make it there with our budget. And while he may encourage us to upscale, he doesn't discourage us from our choice. A good compromise! A great place to go for lots of information and advice.

My experience with B Away was excellent. They really know their stuff! I'm sure if I spent hours…read moreand hours on the internet I could match or better a price but their expertise is priceless, saves time while offering very competitive quotes. I found their cruise knowledge was second to none!

when you call the call centre on a saturday they say they cant do anything and you have to call…read moreback on monday!! this is for an urgent date change - and time is everything. they also lied about not having the same class tickets - i called air india and they had plenty lying and cheating customers. they dont even listen to you as soon as you call no customer service training whatsoever do not use them

Travel Hub used to be our preferred travel agent, but our regular agent went on maternity leave and…read moreso we had Vikas handle our booking instead. Having checked the prices offered by Travel Hub against the online prices for jet airways, they were always comparable. This time we made the mistake of not comparing, and Vikas charged us over £100 above the internet price. It seems that Travel Hub have changed their policy and are now keen to rip off their loyal customers. When we tried to discuss the matter with them, Vikas was always too busy to take our call. I would recommend anyone using them to book through the airlines directly rather than waste your time with the Travel Hub team.

My husband and I booked flights to Australia through Carlton Leisure at a very good rate. When Air…read moreFrance altered our first connecting flight, meaning that we would have over 12 hours to wait in CDG at the start of a very long journey, Sarah was very helpful in rebooking flights through KLM. Thank you Sarah. Jan W

I've booked the tickets through Carlton Leisure and must say that their services are simply beyond…read morecompare. I was really impressed with the way the prompt behaviour was demonstrated on the call. Cheers and good luck . . . .

Rare Escapes is a specialist at UK Activity Weekends and Micro Adventures. If you're fed up of…read moreboring weekends then have a look. They only work with the highest rated suppliers to offer both scheduled and private dates - all year, throughout the UK, from £60 - £320

This company advertises everywhere -- constantly on TV and across multiple channels -- and they're…read morevery quick to take your money. Unfortunately, when something goes wrong, their customer service is one of the worst I have ever experienced. I made two flight bookings with Southall Travel in May 2025 from London Gatwick to Amritsar. Six months later they changed the flights, including my disabled, wheelchair-bound mother's return journey to a nearly 24-hour stopover in Doha instead of the original 2-hour transit. Had this been shown at the time of booking, we would never have agreed. We contacted them immediately. We were told to reply "OK" to an email so they could call us to discuss options -- not to accept the change. After doing so, they later refused to help, claiming the "OK" meant we accepted the new flights and now had to either pay £250 per passenger to cancel or pay extra to change them. After days of trying to resolve it and being unable to reach anyone helpful, we were left with no choice but to cancel the flights and pay a £500 cancellation fee. Trying to resolve this was impossible: * Advisers refuse to give surnames * You cannot get through to a complaints team * Managers never call back despite promises * They do not follow up or escalate cases * Staff are dismissive and rude The treatment has been shocking -- especially considering a disabled passenger is involved. They are excellent at selling flights, but if the airline changes your schedule you are left completely on your own. I will never book with Southall Travel again and would strongly advise others to think twice. Everything is fine if your trip runs perfectly -- but if your flight is cancelled or changed, be prepared to spend days chasing them with no resolution.

In November, Vandana of Southall Travel was brilliant and booked us cheap direct flights to India…read morewith Virgin. Last week, we were scammed by two crafty individuals pretending to be Southall Travel. They kept saying that payments had not gone through. In fact, they were repeatedly taking money from our debit cards. They also took money via a Western Union transfer. We have reported them to the Police, Indian authorities and UK banks. TO HELP AVOID BEING SCAMMED: 1. Do not communicate with agents on Whatsapp 2. Directly call Southall Travel yourself, using the number from their website. Currently 020 8843 4444 3. If you are told that a payment has not gone through, please check with your bank before giving more money. 4. Southall Travel do NOT use Western Union at all. 5. Please check the email address carefully. This company had a similar (but different) email address. With the real Southall Travel, I have only had good experiences.

Not for Kids and Non-Gujaratis. Do not travel with them if you have kids and you're not Gujju. We…read morehad horrible 9 days tour with them where: 1) they were late at every stop, I mean every stop whether it was 15 mins bio break, 2) in bus, hotels, restaurants people speaking loudly in Gujarati, bring noise cancelling ear buds but even then your ears will not thank you after long 9-12 hrs everyday, 3) my son's seat was hit 20+ times from back and tour manager (Vikas) took other passengers side and was super rude, didn't even listen to our concerns, 4) I filed a complaint with their office but no action was taken (or we don't know what action was taken), 5) very cheap hotels, smelly carpets, squeaking beds, no AC or not turned on, 6) rest area stops on expensive Autogrill shops (must have some sort of commission), 7) cash only optional night tours, if you do not say yes, they will yell and sell very hard, some sort of hawala going on. We wanted to abort the tour but they didn't even give us a ticket back to London. Never ever book with these scam artists and very rude people. The only good part was the amazing driver (coach captain) and good overall food, rest was a trip to HELL!

Two Words: Neverrrrr Againnnn I took the 12 day Europe Tour…read morewith my family and here are the things to note if you consider doing the same: 1. Every day we ate Indian food. When I say every day, I mean every single day. At Rome, go to an Indian restaurant for dinner, in Paris, go to an Indian restaurant, in the hotels, get Indian food catered to you. Me and my sister were so sick of having the typical Indian food for every meal: Punjabi entree, naan, biryani, salad, etc. We barley ate for half of the trip because we were so tired of Indian food. It was annoying because when you're in Italy, you would want to try native food like pizza or pasta, but we were stuck comping down on chew naan and over spicy paneer. 2. You will spend so much of the time in the tour bus, the traveling from one city to another is insane. They drive 5 hours in the morning, 5 hours at night and it gets very annoying after a while. They would stop at rest stop areas for restroom breaks which I was thankful for, but don't let that fool you. The restrooms are so disgusting. Because we always ate at Indian restaurants, we always used the restrooms there and it was the worst. There was always just one stall for 15 women in the tour. 3. Everything is so rushed. The tour guide would take us to a popular area, leave us there for an hour or 30 minutes to roam around and then we would meet again at the same spot for the next event. What bummed me out was at the Colosseum in Rome, we were rushed because we had a mini tour to attend so we barely got times for pictures and did not go inside. When was I ever going to visit the Colosseum again? This happened at multiple cities, we did not get to see a lot of places we wanted to explore. 4. The hotels were mehhh. I still remember the hotel in Rome and Switzerland, both were runned down, old, and dirty. Some hotels were on the better end, but be prepared for some that are not. I would say if you are Indian and are okay with eating Indian food every single day and do not want to plan anything, you may think about doing this tour. My parents enjoyed this tour because they did not have to worry about anything, just paying. They did not have to worry about reserving hotels, activities, and safety concerns in Europe. The others in our tour group were all Indian families so if you are not Indian I would not suggest this tour. There was an Australian family on this tour and they absolutely hated the tour and the food as they ate plain rice for most of their meals. I would love to return back to Europe and travel without a tour to revisit the areas that we did not get to spend as much time as I wanted.

Trailfinders are an amazing survivor in the travel world, in the age of internet bookings -…read moreespecially when, I suspect, most of their core clientele are capable of using the internet. (Other travel agents presumably only survive catering to that shrinking number who don't have internet access). But Trailfinders know their stuff - they are good at recruiting seasoned travellers, including (but not exclusively) lots of antipodeans and South Africans, who have themselves been there and done it. As Shopoholic says, they are good for complex itineraries, or advising on odd-ball plans like train travel in exotic places, or booking adventure activities before you go, not all of which feel secure on-line (it can be hard to check out the credentials and liability insurance on-line). A very useful new service is providing innoculations and other such preparatory medical advice for visits to the tropics. There are several addresses in the Kensington High Street area, each specialising in a different part of the world. Recommended.

It seems really odd to be writing a positive review of a traditional travel agent in 2007; I do…read moremost of my bookings online, but I have to say that for complex itineraries, it is still difficult to beat Trailfinders. They know their stuff, they advise according to your budgets and your tastes, and their prices are very competitive (although you might want to check hotels separately, I got some better rates by going direct or online). Staff is generally really pleasant and intelligent!