Booking through a travel agent or booking direct?

[Fleetz]

I have in all my years of travel booked my flights directly. Whilst depending on where we are going it can be very timing consuming doing the research, checking rates etc I general feel I am in control of the booking. I never have checked with a travel agent wether they could have offered a better deal?

Just wondering what your experiences are in relation to perhaps getting better flight connections, pricing or even upgrades? One would think that a travel agent based on the volume of business they put through would be able to get better pricing than what you get online?

Obviously all airlines are out to grab your business and always seem to have specials running based on certain travel dates but wonder how these special relate to what travel agents are able to come up with.

The one time I did use a travel agent and that must be 20 plus odd years ago I vaguely recall being frustrated that if at anytime I wanted to change a travel time or date on that booking I had to go back through the travel agent. You lost the direct ability to make changes with the airline or hotel......it may be totally different now that everything is online?

Be interested in what your experience and or preferences are between booking direct or via a travel agent?

Regards,

Fleetz

 

[clazman]

Fleetz,

I alternate between TA and direct, generally speaking TA can book more unique routes easier than direct with some airlines.

When I am looking to book a trip, i will generally do the basic search on dates, routes and locations and once I have a plan approach a TA and get them to price it up / make recommendations.

I find reading the following generally gets me 90% of my trip plan asking AFF, AFF TR and Trip Advisor

Obviously a lot has happened in 20 years with the advent of the internet and i haven't come across anything i cant change that has been booked with a TA.

 

[onlycopunk]

Depends how complicated your travel needs are.

Are you just going from point A to point B, or are there a lot of stops in between?

The last time I used a travel agent was years ago. I need a flight from Papeete to Bora Bora and at the time the only way to purchase said tickets was through a travel agent.

There are benefits to using a travel agency, but they're all subjective. Basically is your time worth the added cost?

 

[RooFlyer]

There are good TAs where you have a direct relationship with the person, and TAs where you might walk off the street and book. I use the former.

TAs do have access to special fares and fare combinations ( ie mixed OneWorld and Star Alliance) not available on line. They can also get better rates, or more usually, benefits when booking with hotel chains they have a relationship with, or maybe AMEX or CRUISECO affiliated.

But mostly I'm happy to do hotel research myself and I get the TA the room type and price I am after. If they can't get that, they get back to me and I book direct.

Yes, a flight itinerary booked through a TA can only be managed by the TA, but only before the first sector is flown. Then you can do your own thing.

But conversely, if flights get cancelled, changed etc, the TA sorts it. You aren't left on hold phoning some airline call centre at the last minute. My TA has 24 hr emergency service.

A TA can make a booking, then keep rolling it forward so the payment date gets pushed back, whilst ensuring availability is still there.

They also have access to airline reps to find out why something isn't available, or explore an odd condition.

Of course anything plain vanilla I book myself.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Be interested in what your experience and or preferences are between booking direct or via a travel agent?

Regards,

Fleetz

I can't imagine using a travel agent. Maybe I'm missing out on some specials, but with airfares as cheap as they are, and widely advertised, it is pretty straightforward these days to get the long-hauls in place and then buy the odd connecting flight here and there if you need them.

$1300 to Europe is common these days. $1100 to the states. And Asia from $600. And that's all full service carriers. Then maybe $50 or less to book connecting flights in Europe, and a bit less or more in Asia etc. You get the picture.

Maybe an agent will be useful for round-world tickets. But often those can be cobbled together anyway. There are a multitude of on line booking sites that can compare airfares (like googleflights... not webjet!), and the same for hotels.

Will an agent be bothered to offer me an Australia-Asia cheapie to connect with business class from Asia to Europe for $2500 all up? I dunno.

 

[Mark3000]

I can't imagine using a travel agent.

.

Will an agent be bothered to offer me an Australia-Asia cheapie to connect with business class from Asia to Europe for $2500 all up? I dunno.

Me neither. With a bit of knowledge we can do much better.
Travel agents will never tell you about discount airlines. One tried to send me 7-8 hrs from cancun to panama to Havana and didn't mention the direct flight because it wasn't in his system.

A travel agent will try to send you from NY to Philadelphia for example on a plane and not mention that the train or bus can be much faster if you are going from your mid town Manhattan hotel to the Philly CBD for example.

It might save time but it often leads to much greater costs.

 

[RooFlyer]

MEL_Traveller and Mark3000 - I guess it comes down to the relationship you have with a TA and the type of travelling you do (and I'm only talking international here).

As indicated above, I have an excellent TA - she has been organising my business and personal travels for over 5 years now and knows exactly what I want, and how I want it. As mentioned, I usually research routes and hotels I want (like many here, I think that's the fun part) then get her to book it, with target prices for hotels. For complicated flight itineraries she nearly always comes up with a better way. Mark3000, I can't agree with your generalised and sweeping comments about TAs!

If you just walk into a shop-front TA chain and ask for a particular booking or quote, yes, you may not get the best outcome. I wouldn't do that for any service that was going to cost me thousands.

But I am not a lowest-possible-price traveller and usually travel in J. There are definitely travel-agent-only fares that can be booked in all fare categories (QR to Europe is a recent one she brought to my attention - 10% cheaper than I could see on-line). A TA booked regular fare or hotel room should never be more expensive than the regular on-line price. On-line specials yes, can be quite a lot cheaper, but they are usually pretty restrictive on booking or flying dates and/or conditions.

I guess the main reason I keep using a TA is not for the pricing but for the saving of time. Its all put together for me without my stressing about connections, fare rules etc; advice on visas, etc. I know if something changes, it'll be sorted for me in the background. In an up-coming trip to Sth America I have about 4 different tours/cruises as well as about 17 flight segments, most of them on LAN. I'm learning what others know that LAN is constantly changing flight times and breaking non-stop flights into 2 segments. All sorted!

Obviously TAs are not for everyone and if you have the time and patience to do it all yourself, good luck to you. But if something changes or goes wrong, who ya gonna call?

 

[albatross710]

I think you have to do your own research. The retail TA will give an acceptable fare in the price range of acceptability. They have the experience with their system and resources.

Doing your own more thorough research on-line can optimise the arrangements.

Recently I identified the itinerary on ITA Matrix for for some QF flights to HKG & MNL then QF site would always give me a price $300 higher than the ITA. The travel agent was able to ticket it.

I've stopped using the 'corporate travel agent as they were charging us booking fees for the itin and fare deals that I was spoon feeding them.

Happy travels,

Alby

 

[ellen10]

I like to book flights and hotels myself.
Planning and researching is part of the enjoyment of taking a trip.

I am always cautious of Travel agents but I have had dealings with a couple of good ones. But I have heard some very worrying stories from family and colleagues who have dealt with travel agents. For example we are travelling to the east coast of the USA and friends have decided to join us. I had already booked my flights and our friends went to a TA who had them flying but adding an unnecessary extra stop, supposedly the best deal flying Delta. However I researched and found a much better deal through Qantas and one less stop. They went back to the TA and yes they could do that deal??

 

[Mark3000]

MEL_Traveller and Mark3000 - I guess it comes down to the relationship you have with a TA and the type of travelling you do (and I'm only talking international here).

As indicated above, I have an excellent TA - she has been organising my business and personal travels for over 5 years now and knows exactly what I want, and how I want it. As mentioned, I usually research routes and hotels I want (like many here, I think that's the fun part) then get her to book it, with target prices for hotels. For complicated flight itineraries she nearly always comes up with a better way. Mark3000, I can't agree with your generalised and sweeping comments about TAs!

If you just walk into a shop-front TA chain and ask for a particular booking or quote, yes, you may not get the best outcome. I wouldn't do that for any service that was going to cost me thousands.

But I am not a lowest-possible-price traveller and usually travel in J. There are definitely travel-agent-only fares that can be booked in all fare categories (QR to Europe is a recent one she brought to my attention - 10% cheaper than I could see on-line). A TA booked regular fare or hotel room should never be more expensive than the regular on-line price. On-line specials yes, can be quite a lot cheaper, but they are usually pretty restrictive on booking or flying dates and/or conditions.

I guess the main reason I keep using a TA is not for the pricing but for the saving of time. Its all put together for me without my stressing about connections, fare rules etc; advice on visas, etc. I know if something changes, it'll be sorted for me in the background. In an up-coming trip to Sth America I have about 4 different tours/cruises as well as about 17 flight segments, most of them on LAN. I'm learning what others know that LAN is constantly changing flight times and breaking non-stop flights into 2 segments. All sorted!

Obviously TAs are not for everyone and if you have the time and patience to do it all yourself, good luck to you. But if something changes or goes wrong, who ya gonna call?

Sounds like you have a much better than average travel agent. Someone like that could perhaps change my mind

 

[drron]

I'm with Rooflyer.We have a good relationship with our TA.Occasionally we do have to push but rarely.The amount of money she has saved us over the years is larger than the commissions she has received.
We like booking early.So if I booked direct we would pay up front.With our TA we only pay 4-6 weeks before flying.As still using an overdraft this saves a fair bit.
Also if a special comes up we can jump on it and not have to post on AFF how unfair it is we cant take advantage of the special as we have already paid the higher price.Or if our TA is notified of a fare increase eg once on a DONE4 we can do the sums and decide to ticket before the increase if it is sizeable-it was that once.

I don't use a TA for domestic flights.Most of mine are paid for by someone else and often they also do the booking.This has just worked out fine for me right now as because they delayed the booking I have to fly in and out of DPO instead of BWT.So no worries now about luggage weight or carryon size.

Hotels-we generally book our own apart from some special occasions as long as what I pay them is no more than I can get.Though I remember one occasion deciding late to go to a conference in Anaheim.The Hilton was the conference hotel,I was Hilton diamond at the time.Directly I could force a room to be available but the rack rate was $US1500.Our TA got it for $A300.At check in the agent expressed surprise at our room rate being as low as it was.

Cruises-we use our TA as exactly the same price as we can get online.Plus we then get invited to special events and twice when there have been problems and asking directly got no resolution the TA has been able to extract generous compensation.

So I am still going to use our TA.But we get the service we do because they are a "bespoke"agency and we have shown our loyalty to them.I would never use a High street TA.

 

[Fleetz]

Thanks for all the input.

Yes I would and do all local air travel and and simple point to point Australia to a single international destination. This represents my typical travel.

In August looking to travel from Adelaide to Ontario and there are a number of connections, different airlines that would be required to get there. Doing my head in with combinations and not having travelled with some of the airlines that looks like I need to use to get there.

Seems like if you have a good relationship with a TA you are set but it might be a pig in a poke if you just walk in to TA. I suppose this is where recommendation help. Happy to give TA an opportunity.

Happy to take a TA recommendation.

Regards,

Fleetz

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for all the input.

Yes I would and do all local air travel and and simple point to point Australia to a single international destination. This represents my typical travel.

In August looking to travel from Adelaide to Ontario and there are a number of connections, different airlines that would be required to get there. Doing my head in with combinations and not having travelled with some of the airlines that looks like I need to use to get there.

Seems like if you have a good relationship with a TA you are set but it might be a pig in a poke if you just walk in to TA. I suppose this is where recommendation help. Happy to give TA an opportunity.

Happy to take a TA recommendation.

Regards,

Fleetz

I would suggest perhaps doing a test... get a quote from an agent, and come back here and get some advice from AFF. Will be an interesting comparison to see who can get cheaper!

 

[clazman]

What route are you thinking of to Ontario?

 

[TheRealTMA]

A good TA can be very useful. Sometimes they can find better flights but that's getting rarer these days if you do Your homework.

But, we are taking more and more flights on EK instead of QF these days so I find that there's a big problem with booking direct and paying using Westpac Earth Plat, and that is the 3.5% CC charge for FOREX fees on direct EK bookings. Although EK don't add fees, Westpac define the charges as overseas since despite booking through the EK Australian web site in A$, westpac say this is processed through Dubai so attracts forex fees. (Expletives Deleted.) If I booked same flights through QF then not. So, if we fly EK, I decide the flights I want then book through TA for EK. They are excellent in that I usually get 1-5% discount on the total fares, no AMEX fees and no foreign credit charges. Saved me $950 in forex fees and $750 in discounts on the fares on last trip and I still get the FF points on the card.

 

[RooFlyer]

And don't forget you needn't accept just the scenario presented and don't just ask for "the cheapest price". I usually ask for pricing 2 or 3 scenarios. For instance, if going to Nth America, I might ask for a OneWorld Circle Pacific fare, a plain vanilla most direct and 'any thing that's going right now, even if indirect'.

If going to Toronto, I might ask for a price and conditions (when to pay, flexibility, allowances) for: Virgin/Delta via LAX (or is it SFO?); any of the gulf airlines via the Gulf and maybe Air Canada via YVR and then either Westjet or Rouge to YYZ, plus 'the best rock-bottom fare, anything goes'. Unless you know the conditions of each fare, its hard to compare fares. And you might also want to specify if connections can be slack or not. Usually routing with an inconvenient connection (say, 5-6 hours) might be better priced than a normal connection.

This is where many people may come unstuck with TAs new to them - they say they want to go from A to B, usually best price or most direct and the TA quotes on that, without presenting other options that might be as good, or better.