Any suggestions which websites I can use to buy international plane tickets? Anything would be helpful, thanks :)

can you read and speak and negotiate in Chinese very well ?

If you go to xpedia.com, in China you will be given two choices. One site for domestic, and one site for international.

It may not be the cheapest, I don't know, but I have never had a problem and I have been using xpedia for years.

I have not connection with this company, other than being a satisfied customer.

Wow. I just did a comparison of Expedia to China Eastern Airlines own website. For the same flight, CEA quoted 690 Yuan, while Expedia was $349 USD (about 3 times as much)!

www.ctrip.com

There is a free number to call on their website.You need to speak to an english operator to get the best deal on international price.

I like elong.com, but for China to international it's probably as good as expedia.com

qunar.com has good prices, but it's in Chinese and some tickets are difficult to buy

kayak.com and skyscanner.net are pretty good for any international

I used elong for several years, then it was bought by expedia and went to hell. I do not have a credit card and they ask too many questions anyway.

I get my tickets from CAYA, a KM travel agent. I check elong for flights and prices then call CAYA which is listed on GoK. Every time I get the elomg price. They deliver and take cash.

gokunming.com/en/listings/item/cay_22219/caya

It's almost impossible to purchase anything online without a credit card anymore these days (or an equivalent debit card with the visa/mastercard logo) so I don't know how you go about purchasing air tickets online, geezer, but anyway good luck.

However, while we're on this point, elong makes a big fuss about scanning and sending confirmation of your credit card details to "verify" the card before processing your transaction and issuing your ticket. I used them over a year ago to purchase a ticket on Vietnam Airlines to Vietnam for a friend without a credit card. The reason I didn't use the Vietnam Airlines website, which wouldn't have required all these documents is that we only booked the flight less than 24h before departure and as such, the VN Airlines website doesn't allow that, but elong did. However, long story short they accepted everything after talking to me over the phone but I do have to admit the phone calls and emails were frustrating.

Also, when it comes to the best websites to purchase international flights, it will depend on where you are going and who is flying there. However, you will be better off purchasing from the airline's website directly than an agent if you fly with such major carriers as Dragon Air/Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways Int'l, Silk Air/Singapore Airlines etc. from Kunming.

I don't think agents can get discounts on these carriers and undercut them anymore like in the past, except for student fares, which are generally not available from China anyway (except perhaps in Shanghai and Beijing or Guangzhou but even then only from statravel or flight centre).

@yuanyangren

You are right as far as china goes. A credit card is a must. I have several US debit cards but they can't used without giving a lot of 'security' info.

In China, buy at amazon.cn. Free delivery and COD. Safe as you pay when it gets to you. Service is pretty good.

For airline tickets CAYA provides the type of service we had in China, in Beijing anyway, years ago. They come to you to collect the money and hand you an unnecessary E-ticket. And, as I said, I have always got the elong price.