Andreas in SAF:
[ Please understand this is not directed at your agency or yourself directly, merely your industry ]
You talk about the arrogance of the airlines, but you belong to an industry that, in 1990, epitomized arrogance. In those days, a lot of agencies were getting (IIRC) uncapped 10% commissions, and yet were pathetically little more than the consumer could do with Easy SAABRE via Compuserve or the like.
Further, we'd have agents poor choices for the clients simply because they didn't know the airports, hotels, etc. but acted as if they did. For example: LHR-LGW transfers being touted as "convenient" since all the flights were on the same carrier, yet anyone who's ever tried that one would know that interlining at LGW would be a far easier option. Then there's booking "convenient" and expensive hotels, based solely on distance rather than accessibility (e.g. it certainly used to be the case that you could stay in New Jersey more cheaply *and* more easily than you could stay in the New York Financial district).
And so on... (the lament of the traveller with a mediocre agent!)
Another point, from a consumer standpoint, the old agency commission scheme was a total non-starter: what incentive do you have to sell me the lowest fare? You often need to exert yourself more to get a lower fare, which would net you less money. For a repeat business account, that's reasonable; yet for a walk-in casual traveller, are you *really* going to go to great lengths to get the best fare?
Lastly: you complain bitterly about the (now defunct) idea of a AA/BA alliance. Yet AS A CONSUMER what I want _is_ this sort of arrangement. Look at what the frequent Star Alliance travellers think about that deal: getting "FF elite" recognition on other carriers, FF mileage (important, whether you like it or not, to many business travellers), greater ticket flexibility ("VALID AA ONLY" is less restrictive if BA flights have AA codes). And so on...
And this seems like a contradiction in your position: you argue that TA's provide service, even though they're obviously not the cheapest outlet for the product. Alliances provide service, even though there are pricing implications. If you want me to support the notion that TA's are useful, why do you try to assert that alliances aren't?
In the past 15 years I've had precisely ONE good business travel agent (and that's AGENT, not agency), a couple of REALLY bad ones, and the rest all mediocre and thus basically useless. On the leisure side, the stats are a bit better (as you note, side trips and the like can be arranged), but even then its pretty common that _something_ will get miscommunicated between the client, the agency, and the provider...
My challenge to you, now, is to explain why the airlines cutting commission is an issue for you. If, as you allege, you provide such a wonderful service, why won't your customers willingly pay you, directly, for your service?
Malc.