Horses for Courses
I am quite happy booking A-B-A flights on the net. I would be happy booking a simple package to somewhere like Spain or Turkey on the net. I regularly book hotel rooms and cars on the net.
BUT
In 2001 I went to Argentina. I had about a month to get everything arranged. I found Last Frontiers (an agency near Ayelsbury who specialise in South and Central America). I took a morning off work and drove to see them. They asked me questions about my interests and expectations, made suggestions and we worked together to put together an intinerary. This year we went to Japan and this time I used Inside Japan (Bristol). In both cases I was well served.
Next year we're off to New Zealand. I went on the Air NZ website to try and make the booking but the routing I wanted (LHR/HKG/AKL/SFO surface LAX/LHR couldn't be booked on their site so I had to phone them. Quite apart from the routing because I made the booking in February 2008 for travel in January/February/March/April 2009 they could book the LHR/HKG/AKL but had to "register" me for the onward sectors. The onward flights have since been confirmed but I paid the fare in February and it won't change; no new fuel surcharges. Interestingly, the Telegraph carried an article about a month after I had completed the booking (and before the onward flights had been confirmed) that said it was impossible to do what I have done/was doing.
Agencies do have a place. They can do things that the web sites haven't been programmed for (I mean how many people book a year and more in advance?!). If you choose your agency they can provide expertise, knowledge and information that you don't have. But too many of them are still little more than order takers and I can understand why people shun them.