Buying airfare for Hungarian friend to US - Cheapest Options?

petewsh61 wrote:

I would like to buy an airline ticket for a friend to come to the US later this summer.  Someone told me it may be cheaper to buy the ticket in forints from a Hungarian agency than to book in dollars from Expedia or Kayak.  Any advice?

Thanks, Pete.

Almost all air tickets are effectively priced in USD. The HUF price is just shown on the paper ticket along (usually) with a ROE (Rate of Exchange). The airline applies its own exchange rate which is more important. If you are British, buying with a UK card, use a credit card, not a debit card. Consumer Credit Act then applies.

Most of those online agencies just show you the tickets they want to sell rather than the tickets that are available. I buy a lot of tickets and I use a mixture of those online agents, travel agents and airlines own web sites. Online I find Travelocity better than Expedia. It used to be that Vista Travel (chain in Hungary) had good special offers and they can book separate but sequential tickets (e.g. separate inbound/outbound legs to destinations on one airline with onward travel on a different ticket with another airline). They can also reserve tickets and hold them until a certain date which is useful if you need a reservation for a visa application.

I think you'll save money with special offers rather than on exchange rates. Check with Vista. UK agents are quite good as well.

Might be useful financially for your friend to fly to the UK, then take another flight to the USA. Choices will be enhanced out of LHR than BUD.