I have a friend who wants to book a flight but wants me to do it for him as he has no credit card, and will pay me.
I would prefer to give him the info on how to do it himself. Does anyone know if he can just go to any travel agent and get the same price as ebookers.ch?
I'm sorry, I don't have the answer to your question, but I have a question...how can someone in this day and age not have a credit card???? Tell him/her to get the migros or coop credit card, it's free!
What you really need is an AMEX GOLD (or above) card. The travel insurance is worth the annual membership fee alone. Book flights on it and if there you have baggage issues you can go shopping and AMEX reimburse you.
Nice
EDIT:
A quick check revealed all GOLD cards with Bonviva (CS) provides travel insurance - including CDW for hire cars upto 80,000chf. If you hire a car more than once a year this pretty much covers the monthly cost of the account.
Not easy for some folks, I was unable to get anything in CH until I physically had my B permit. Also, some people won't get a credit card because they have a Beitreibung or a Konkurs (bankruptcy) against their name, or because they are on the social.
A travel agent won't be the same price as ebookers.ch unfortunately. I once had to buy tickets directly at the airport with cash (I was buying 6 tickets at the time, and was way over my credit card limit). You can buy them directly from the airline, but I believe there will be a surcharge. Just call the airlines to find out where and when you can buy them.
You can get a prepaid credit card without a B permit or with bad financial situation, because you can only spend what you load on to it. It's all UBS would give me when I had an L permit.
In my experience, they don't usually work for the purpose of guaranteeing reservations online (or for the purpose of buying airline tickets), at least not outside the country that issued them. The issue seems to be that those cards can be bought anonymously in some markets.
I lived here quite happily for nearly 7 years without one, and I've only just got around to getting one. I didn't want one, but by my hand was forced due to the fact that so much stuff that used to be availble in bricks and mortar shops is only easily purchasable online these days.
Edit: OP, I don't know the answer to your question as previously all my flights were booked using my GF's credit card.
Not sure about doing it thru ebookers or other travel sites but once my tickets cost more than the credit card limit so I had to pay cash. It was with KLM and on their page they have the account info. I took the cash out of my bank and walked across the street to their bank and deposited it.
Make sure you have the cash in hand before you make any booking. Also watch the terms and conditions. Some airlines reserve the right to make the traveler produce the credit card used for the reservation (to prevent fraud). OH always books my travel with his card, and I've never been questioned...but we have the same last name.
If there aren't any reasons usuch as bancruptcy or unemployment stopping someone getting a credit card, I would recommend getting one for online purchases.
A credit card offers better payment protection than a debit card. As it is not drawing directly on your bank account you are also safer from online fraud. There are often special prices that are only available online.
I have a card that I keep just for these reasons with a direct debit set to pay off the total amount each month.
I know that doesn't really answer the OPs question if they are unable to get a credit card. In that case, I woiuld suggest booking through a travel agent but expect to pay more.
Based on personal experience, KLM, AirFrance and Swiss/Lufthansa offer bank transfer payment options when booking from their respective websites. I doubt any third party website like ebookers.ch will have a similar option, however if planned well, the best rates are offered by the airline websites directly, and I would always choose them to make a booking. I prefer these third party websites when I have to make bookings for multiple legs/multiple airlines in one instance.