TA v online flight booking

[tbd]

I haven't used a TA for many years but thought that I would dip my toe into the waters for an upcoming J trip to SIN. Pleasantly surprised when the quote on SQ came back slighty cheaper than webprice (around $50 or so). My plan was to try to burn some points and upgrade to suites (as finally travelling solo without kids!) while crediting status credits to VA. I did ask the travel agent if this was possible before proceeding and was reassured that it was OK. So went ahead then logged into my Krisflyer account but found that upgrading and entering FF details (ie VA number) was impossible online. Thus had to do everything by phone and SQ refused to apply 15% online discount. Ultimately, the time spent toing and froing with the agent (very quick to take payment, very slow to respond to requests such as entering FF numbers) along with the loss of 15% online point discount far negated the small difference in price - my feeling is that I should have just done it online (would have saved a hour or two of time and quite a few thousand points). Interested in thoughts and comments...

 

[RooFlyer]

Regular readers will know I'm a TA fan and have used mine for over 7 years for great deal of overseas travel - flights, tours, hotels...

First I'd ask what sort of Travel Agent was it? If it was a 'Flight Center' type, then your experience wouldn't surprise me. You shouldn't go to a TA to get cheaper prices. I sometime get cheaper hotels but for flights its the same price as airlines charge. Sometimes I pay a bit more for hotels, but I find its worth it as part of the wider 'package'.

I use my TA to:

* Find out the optimal routing/timing of often complex itineraries, and then book them - sometimes keeping flight bookings pushed forward to delay payment; often combining bookings on different airlines that you can't do on-line;

* Find out airline deals that may not be available on-line AY and LH often offer these;

* Take responsibility to make urgent changes if flights get cancelled, or other last minute crises

... and much more.

Sorry to hear of the issues with slowness of service. If the TA was Flight Center type, then you get what you pay for. But with any service provider, the service should improve with a lengthening relationship. With mine, they do things I forget to ask because they know my travel preferences possibly as well as their own!

 

[Andyzx]

I have used Flight Centre First and Business a few times and found the service, access to fares and less hassle very useful. On most I found the cost to be the same or cheaper than Expedia or QF website.
They also arrange a few "extras" insurance, cars etc. or manage them for you. And very useful if you are delayed as you have a contact number other than an airline.
The last time they found a considerably cheaper companion fare with JAL that i would never have found although it ultimately ended up $200 dearer than the online fare on a $6000 fare that QF quoted $7200 for and I delayed the payment to my next credit card payment cycle.

 

[Bolthead]

I haven't used a TA for many years but thought that I would dip my toe into the waters for an upcoming J trip to SIN. Pleasantly surprised when the quote on SQ came back slighty cheaper than webprice (around $50 or so). My plan was to try to burn some points and upgrade to suites (as finally travelling solo without kids!) while crediting status credits to VA. I did ask the travel agent if this was possible before proceeding and was reassured that it was OK. So went ahead then logged into my Krisflyer account but found that upgrading and entering FF details (ie VA number) was impossible online. Thus had to do everything by phone and SQ refused to apply 15% online discount. Ultimately, the time spent toing and froing with the agent (very quick to take payment, very slow to respond to requests such as entering FF numbers) along with the loss of 15% online point discount far negated the small difference in price - my feeling is that I should have just done it online (would have saved a hour or two of time and quite a few thousand points). Interested in thoughts and comments...

I too have not used a travel agent in years but I am sure that if you can find a good one then they are worth their weight in gold. I guess it depends on the question you asked the TA. Was it upgradeable... Yes. Perhaps your question should have been can I upgrade these online and can I take advantage on the 15% discount by doing so. I think your answer would have been different. His or her response most probably would have been. 'Don't know'. I find a lot of TA's are ignorant when it comes to these types of questions. My SIL is a TA and she knows very little about FFP's, the rules etc... Their job is to sell tickets, not arrange free/points flights. Up to about 10 years ago we always used our local Harvey World Travel agent (now Helloworld) but she basically priced herself out of the market for us. I used to give her the opportunity to quote occasionally but in the end she lost interest and was slow responding because I would always find a better deal on line.

Another experience I had recently was just this year when I had to book some SQ flights in Y. I had 2 x Y+ upgrade certificates to use that we got last year due to some flights that we booked in Y+ on SQ but the flights at the time had no Y+ on them. (hence the upgrade certificates) I went to book these flights utilising the upgrade certificates however I was not allowed to do it online or over the phone. I had to go to a TA and they had to verify the authenticity of the certificates. I choose the local Flight Centre branch as I figured they would know all about the certificates. I was wrong, out of the 5 staff not one knew what to do and it took an hour of phone calls to SQ to sort it out. Anyway to cut a long story short she then wanted to help me with some other things like some internal flights in China and accommodation. She took forever to get back to me and in her system she couldn't find 2 of the Chinese airlines we wanted to use as they were direct flights. Her accommodation options were crazy and her alternative flights were twice as expensive and not direct. I gave up in the end and I have declared never to go back to a TA. Sorry I might be waffling here and got a little OT however I think you can find a good TA then keep feeding them. If not, stick to online.

PS: However when it comes to cruises I find TA's normally can get you better deals. I use VA's Cruise Pilot and they are great with responses and you get points as well.

 

[wandering_fred]

I have found that online booking (in order to get country based fares) has been quite useful. Though when looking for specific booking classes (UL R class is one increment up from V class and earns 100% Asia Miles, V class 50%) the (CMB) travel agent can't be beat.

YMMV as is the case with all wandering

Fred

 

[SuzieQ68]

Interesting question. For the past few years have been booking online, however tried a TA late last year to see what they could come up with. Was looking at Flexi Saver Y fares from ADL-BKK via SQ. The TA came back with a pretty competitive price, but it was the T&C's that stopped me from booking. The change fees etc were where it was going to come unstuck as I wasn't 100% sure if I'd need to change the date of the return leg and the cost to do so (just the TA's costs - not including the airline's fees) was too high to make it viable. Totally understand that the TA's need to make money somewhere (especially now they're competing with online bookings), but the saving on the fare itself wasn't enough to make it worthwhile to book with the TA. So back to online bookings for me - which are becoming more creative since joining the wonderful world of AFF!

 

[harvyk]

I haven't used a TA for anything serious in years. I used to do all my bookings via a TA, however a couple of bad runs eg getting a hotel voucher faxed to me at the J Lounge before departing, lest I spent a night sleeping on park benches, or on a different trip getting a hotel in the bad part of town (ok, so it was highly convenient if I wanted to get hookers, drugs, or be shot at).

I felt this was stuff which you pay a TA to know about, and especially as I was doing the research on flights and bringing them in a list, apart from being able to use their EFTPOS machine I wasn't exactly getting anything from the deal, so I stopped using TA's and now book online for everything.

 

[UpInTheAir:)]

I've had some success and some failures... My latest experience put me off though... flying to LAX return my TA used my credit card direct with VA and paid the associated AUD30 credit card fee. They then charged my credit card separately for a AUD182 AMEX surcharge!! So my CC statement showed $$$ to VA and $$$ to TA. I don't mind paying for a service (I pay an insurance broker for my insurance) but I did not like the guise of it being a credit card fee

 

[marki]

I haven't used a TA for anything serious in years. I used to do all my bookings via a TA, however a couple of bad runs eg getting a hotel voucher faxed to me at the J Lounge before departing, lest I spent a night sleeping on park benches, or on a different trip getting a hotel in the bad part of town (ok, so it was highly convenient if I wanted to get hookers, drugs, or be shot at).

I felt this was stuff which you pay a TA to know about, and especially as I was doing the research on flights and bringing them in a list, apart from being able to use their EFTPOS machine I wasn't exactly getting anything from the deal, so I stopped using TA's and now book online for everything.

I have had similar experiences the TA would charge more for the same travel. So was not particularly interested as their own self interest trumped any real interest in helping me. I do online exclusively now.

 

[amaroo]

Recent changes to One World interline policy has encouraged me to use a TA... it's been a Win - Win relationship.

 

[wandering_fred]

The TAs I have dealt with were up front with what the CC fees would be (typically 3%). This sometimes being offset by ability to make later changes that would have been awkward online. As far as the actual ticket charges, it really depends on the route being discussed. In the case of CMB, she does very well exCMB. Though occasionally less well for tickets that would transit CMB as sale location restriction hits the possibility of getting the sale fare classes (exSIN exBKK). Historically, one of the "worst culprits" was QF with exSIN ticketing (when thinking about getting back to PER from CMB). Haven't tried that recently though the code sharing by QF to UL now appear as "normal".

exPER the only "strange" fees were the consolidator charges in relation to getting xONEx tickets plated with AA. But again I was told in advance. Having the AA RTW desk able to make easy date changes was (and still would be) worth AU$100.

YMMV as we are wandering

Fred

 

[empressjo]

Dealing with 1 now who lives on opposite side of country, but grew up with my daughter after my SIL TA became my ex-SIL! Will price match anything we find online, which helps as she's happy to help her quotas, if not her commission on us!

 

[drron]

Like Rooflyer we use a TA though not exclusively.The reason is the service.
So for this trip we have paid the TA an extra $A400 in fees for services I could book online.For that though we have a $US1500 On Board Credit.Plus the peace of mind that any problems will be dealt with.EG-with the QF shutdown we were to fly out on the Tuesday.I read an email from our TA changing our QF SYD-SIN flight to the BA flight before I heard of the shutdown.