Review: Zenith Travel Agency in Seoul, South Korea

82-02-508-5781

www.zenithtravel.co.kr

I recently booked a trip to Bangkok, Thailand from Seoul, South Korea with Zenith Travel Agency for January 2009 and the experience was a positive one. There are a handful of negative reviews roaming around the internet regarding Zenith, but I want to set the record straight and tell you about my positive experience with Zenith Travel.

The price is much cheaper

I must admit that I was nervous because the price of my tickets seemed too good to be true. I bought 2 round trip tickets for 1.3 million won. Currently that's $900 US dollars, which is an amazing deal. I checked with about 5 other agencies and was quoted the equivalent of $100-$500 more. While they were all very nice and pleasant to deal with, I love a good deal so I went with Zenith Travel.

I looked around online and found a few annoying reviews. I realized that people like to complain about everything. One complaint mentioned that a woman paid 10,000 won more (about $8USD) than what she was quoted and another group was annoyed because they booked a tour and only Korean-speaking people were with them. Harmless issues, if you ask me.

So I went on and payed for the tickets. It was very easy - all I did was wire the money to Zenith's bank account which was convenient considering I live about 2 hours away from the agency itself. I then received my e-confirmation that same day.

How is the ticket so cheap?

Here is where I got worried, but I would soon realize that my worries were not necessary. When I called Thai Airways to confirm my ticket, they said that all I had was a confirmation number, not an e-ticket. That meant that my ticket had not yet been paid for. I freaked out, clearly. And, after reading further reviews online I realized that other people had similar experiences and went off the deep end.

Let me explain to you why you shouldn't freak out. You see, Zenith Travel works a bit differently than a number of other agencies. They get their (very) cheap tickets through an airplane ticket consolidator in order to get the discounted fare tickets. So you pay for the ticket and about a week later, after deals are made between Zenith and the airlines, you get your e-ticket via email.

Mine came just when Zenith Travel said they would and after confirming with Thai Airways again, my ticket's are valid (and still cheap!).

So what's with the negative reviews?

You are going to find that any company has negative reviews. It's the quantity and repetitiveness of those reviews that should make you weary of an organization/company. I found that the negative reviews of Zenith were quite old (as in several years) and often petty. Also, the majority of the negative reviews were not from first hand experiences, just passed word-of-mouth from ages past. I found many positive reviews that commended Zenith for getting them the cheapest tickets.

Zenith is best for...

Those who are planning a trip in advance. Because Zenith Travel works out deals after you pay to get you the cheapest ticket, it's not advised to book a ticket if you need to leave in 1-2 weeks. I planned my vacation 1.5 months in advance.

In conclusion, Zenith has done me well. I saved about $3-500 US dollars and was pleased with the convenience of obtaining/paying for the tickets as well. Hopefully this sets the record straight.