Travel Agents

[beerdrinker]

A travel agent friend of mine says that her regular clients

With the Internet, who uses Travel Agents these days. You have to pay them a (approx) 5% commision

[Hartington]

It depends on what I want. Going A-B-A I will use the internet. When things get more complicated I will get on the phone.

Even then it's not that simple. A few years ago I saw an advert for a fare and went to try and book it. Couldn't find it anywhere so I phoned the airline. After a bit of argy bargy I was put through to something like "special services" who were able to tell me that the fare was only available on one flight per week each way from Gatwick and not on the same day each way. With that information I was able to find availability. AN agent has access to that data immediately.

The net doesn't show you THE cheapest fare. It shows you the cheapest available fare for the parameters you input. So, here's another another twist. Suppose there are 2 fares A-B-A 100 and 200. You put in your dates and that you want 2 people to travel. If there's only 1 seat left for the 100 fare the net doesn't say that, it tells you that there are 2 200 fares available.

Then there was the time I was heading to Argentina and wanted to visit Iguassu. The agent I was dealing with pointed out that it was easier to fly to Sao Paulo and change there to fly to the Brazilian side of the falls rather than go to Buenos Aires, go from one airport to the other, and then fly BACK to the falls.

Not all agents are created equal. There are plenty who do little more than take orders in much the same way the internet does. However, find one that knows their stuff and is prepared to think on your behalf and they can be worth their weight in gold, much less their service fee.

There is one place where, unless the agent really knew me well, they probably wouldn't help. I recently went to San Francisco and deliberately came home on the A380 because I hadn't been on one. Had I gone one way to San Jose and back from San Francisco I could have had a 787 out and an A380 back but I didn't realise until after I'd booked so I went to San Francisco and back 777/A380.

[PAXboy]

Travel agents have certainly lost all the cheap holidays and packages but the companies that have survived have plenty of business. I have two friends in the trade, one belongs to a small local business in a wealthy town and the other belongs to an international chain.

Firstly, there is the top end of the market where people are ready to pay for someone to fix it all and, crucially, carry the can if any of the arrangements are wrong! If you book youself, then you have no one else to blame ...

Secondly, there are business' who get big discounts for having all their travel routed (pun intended) through an agent. They often want complicated itineraries that are a series of point to points which, if you book yourself will be seen as separate single flights by the carriers. The agent can link them, sometimes with different carriers not in an alliance and get a lower price with (often) a single ticket.

One friend said last week, that they had to get a group of ten people on a promotional tour that had to follow a certain sequence (as the venues were already booked) and had to have all the group travel together, even if some were in C and some in Y. They also needed hotels and connection taxis etc. With her dedicated system and experience, that took nearly a full day's work.

Lastly, they do often have lower prices as the big companies may have block booked and have regular arrangements with the carriers. As Hartington says, they can be worth more than their fee.

[Metro man]

An agent can be worth their weight in gold for a specialist itinerary such as a safari or lesser travelled countries, impossible to visit Nort Korea without using one.

Cheap hotel deals for stop overs are often best found through the airline, Emirates offer a wide range of packages for Dubai.

For heavy users such as companies, bulk discounts can be offered and agents have access to trade only offers.

However, it's not unknown for agents to steer customers towards packages which pay them the most commission. Low cost airlines often pay nothing and booking fees get tacked on if they are offered at all.

A well known chain was featured on a consumer program not too long ago and older non internet savvy customers ended up paying more than younger ones who had done their research online first.

Find the best deal you can and ask an agent if they can do better, you might get lucky if sales targets need to be met.

[pax britanica]

I use a travel agent depending on the cost of the trip--no point in them booking EZ LGW_PRG for instanmce but long haul things can be very different.

She got me a fare £1000 less on VS to ORD than anything on the net by using a bit of fancy footwork (well finger work really) around a two night hotel stay which I didn't use and the fact that VS had some special promotional fares only available to agents when the route restarted for the summer.

The business has certainly changed but a proper travel professional can really help save money or add value in another way such as routing or hotel stays.

[Pontius Navigator]

Yes, complex, get the TA to quote. By all means try DIY.

We were doing a fly cruise out of Cape Town. Package included 3 days in Cape Town. Thinks Bubble. Asked TA whobwas the carrier. Emirates.

Second thinks bubble. Right, 3 day layover in Dubai and extra 2 days in Cape Town. Easy peasey.

[Metro man]

Business or First Class would definitely be worth using an agent for, economy class fares usually don't have the profit margins to allow much room for discounting.

Be careful of using lesser known internet only agents often located in Eastern Europe, their fares often come out cheaper with the search engines but at the final stage of booking, additional fees and taxes get stuck on which sometimes make it cheaper to book directly with the airline. Also they have been known to go bust or disappear without passing your money onto the airline. Paying by credit card gives some protection but doesn't help when you are forced to rebook at short notice.

[GrahamO]

I have usd the same agent for the last 15 years for all our complex travel arrangements, and never been unhappy. When something did go wrong (once, as it does) she sorted it all out and I didn't have to do a thing.


I wouldn't use them for simple things, but when it comes to exotic type holidays with lots of travel or remote locations, we rely on their knowledge and I am happy to pay. having a UK address still, also allows us to take advantage of holiday protection rules rather than booking it locally with less than safe companies locally.


With the £ up the spout at the moment however, we aren't using them as the exchange rate messes up any value they may add, as I don't live in £ land.