Flight Centre experience :(

[smit0847]

My housemate is a travel agent.

I only use go to him where I have found a specific quote with flight details. If he can beat it with those some flights, I book with him, if not I don't.

I do not use him for anything else.

 

[melaus]

Travel agents= Dinosaurs, destined to (finally!) get extinct. If fare rules on international flights were not damn non-transparent to the layman and complicated (and mostly also left over from the dinosaur days -telexes anyone?), they'd be gone already.

I do understand that some very busy people value the time savings and are willing to pay for it but that's rather a niche market in my eyes. I also understand that there are a lot of idiots out there who need "help" with booking a domestic flight. But hey, each to their own!

What a ridiculous statement to make on a forum.

Yes, this is a gathering of Frequent Flyers, but frequently flying does not necessarily mean they need to know or even want to know all the in's & out's of the travel industry.

Many may be super efficient and knowledgeable in the areas of their profession which may be in an entirely different ball-park to what happens as they enter an airport or plane!

 

[Berlin]

What a ridiculous statement to make on a forum.

Someone who doesn't have the brain capacity to complete a simple domestic online booking is an idiot in my book regardless of how well he might, let's say, be painting walls or exploiting natural resources in a mine. Maybe I have a broader (and less political correctness blurred) definition of "idiot" than some others but I can't find anything even remotely ridiculous at all in my statement.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Someone who doesn't have the brain capacity to complete a simple domestic online booking is an idiot in my book regardless of how well he might, let's say, be painting walls or exploiting natural resources in a mine. Maybe I have a broader (and less political correctness blurred) definition of "idiot" than some others but I can't find anything even remotely ridiculous at all in my statement.

If l have to explain to my mum one more time how to send an e-mail with an attachement, l'm going to lose it....

 

[mr mink]

like most people on this forum I would likely prefer to research and book online with the airline directly. Sometimes this is however not entirely possible when it is a perhaps more complicated route, rather than simple point to point. I used Flight Centre to do this a couple of years ago when I was doing a trip to Europe ex SYD via Helsinki and then connecting from Helsinki to Prague and then back out of Berlin to Helsinki. At that time the Finnair flight from HKG/BKK was apparently not available on the Qantas site as a codeshare so likely needed a TA to do this. The first girl was hopeless (despite e-mail instructions still stuffed up connections etc) but the guy I ended up with actually knew something so this was useful - when you are sitting with someone they can tell you things like the fact that QF fights all the way, even as code share, will cost you $300 more than using Finnair - given that you still get points, but not as much, you can then make a call.

The other interesting thing is I just had a conversation with a friend who is booking a trip to West Africa via Jo'burg with SAA. The online price with SAA was $400 dearer than the price he ended up with with Flight Centre. Is this because of bulk discounts to FC or what? Any explanations?

 

[jastel]

20 odd years ago I booked a simple domestic flight QF to BNE and a few nights at a a hotel. Gave my mobile number for any changes. (They were a bit rarer back then)
Get to airport and told flight cancelled, you are on Int flight, made the Int flight just.
The next week happenned to meet the Flight Centre owner, (Graham Turner, the one who owned the WHOLE company), who asked how I travel etc. Told him the story, he wasnt happy. Said he would investigate.
The next day got a call from local FC guy and manager and big apology and promised discount on next travel. Graham rang back to check up as well.
I didnt go back.

Thats customer service...albeit a bit late.

 

[Toolman89]

Just registered to tell my story just the other day with Flight Centre

Booked a flight to Europe and realised the next day I had made a mistake and needed to cancel the flight (so only one day had passed, flight was in a month and a half's time). I contacted flight centre who said the flight was non-refundable meaning they would take all of my $1300 or whatever it was, regardless of the circumstances. I argued and she said she would get a supervisor to call me back. Waited a few days, never got a call, so I called through again and got through to the supervisor who said 'oh yes sorry i had you on the list to call you back was just getting through some work'.. fair enough, but I'm pretty sure that was a lie. After explaining my situation he became extremely arrogant and constantly saying 'sure' in a smartass voice and basically kept cutting me off saying it's non-refundable sorry.

I was already in a pretty bad mood so I had a massive go at him at how unreasonable the situation was and that I had called the airline myself previously (I hadn't, but thankfully I read some reviews on another forum before the call about FC and how insignificant the cancellation fee is with the airline compared with FC) who said they would have cancelled it for me for around $100 if I had gone through them and that they are basically stealing x amount of profit from me and leaving me out to dry. Phone call ended with me abusing him, then 2 minutes later I get a return call from the same guy offering to cancel it for me now for $124.

So if I hadn't of pushed the issue and accepted the defeat I would've lost over $1000 to them and the guy tried as hard as possible to make this happen.

 

[mannej]

No offense, but you should be aware if the flight is non-refundable before you book it, and I'm sorry but why are you gloating about abusing the FC agents? Play the bluff (as you did) fair enough but there are much better ways than abusing someone over the phone.

 

[Toolman89]

No offense, but you should be aware if the flight is non-refundable before you book it, and I'm sorry but why are you gloating about abusing the FC agents? Play the bluff (as you did) fair enough but there are much better ways than abusing someone over the phone.

Um no. There were no other options, I had already been extremely nice and explained my situation. If I hadn't of pursued it and went down with your mindset I would've lost $1000. The airline agreed to the refund with FC so I obviously had a pretty valid reason didn't I? Just trying to let people know that all they wanted to do was take my money instead of help me by making 1 simple 1 minute call to the airline on my behalf requesting the refund based on my circumstances.

 

[mannej]

I can bet your bottom dollar it was your bluff and not the abuse that got you your money back.

You can stand your ground without abuse.

Also if the fare was non-refundable, to which this information is available before you book, why do you think you were entitled to a refund?

 

[Sprucegoose]

Travel agents= Dinosaurs, destined to (finally!) get extinct. If fare rules on international flights were not damn non-transparent to the layman and complicated (and mostly also left over from the dinosaur days -telexes anyone?), they'd be gone already.

I do understand that some very busy people value the time savings and are willing to pay for it but that's rather a niche market in my eyes. I also understand that there are a lot of idiots out there who need "help" with booking a domestic flight. But hey, each to their own!

Disagree. Bad agents will go extinct.

A good agent will always survive. A god send.

 

[eosphoros]

Also if the fare was non-refundable, to which this information is available before you book, why do you think you were entitled to a refund?

This. You should be aware of the fare rules before you book.

 

[mannej]

Someone who doesn't have the brain capacity to complete a simple domestic online booking is an idiot in my book regardless of how well he might, let's say, be painting walls or exploiting natural resources in a mine. Maybe I have a broader (and less political correctness blurred) definition of "idiot" than some others but I can't find anything even remotely ridiculous at all in my statement.

That still doesn't make them an idiot. Has nothing to do with brain capacity...

 

[serfty]

Note that many airlines allow cancellation of bookings on non-refundable fares if done within 24 hours. This may have been the case with Toolman89's anecdote.

 

[FrankC]

My experience with FC

I have found a 'good' FC TA for simple transactions - like the recent SYD-OOL return
I used them because
* They beat the price by $1
* They don't charge me credit card fee - I have been to quite a few FC, and this is the only 1 that does not charge me
* I can even use the $20 voucher from the previous price beat
* I can do everything through email & phone - as I have used them before

I take the risk that if I don't use the ticket, I won't see much back

Cheers

 

[harvyk]

Someone who doesn't have the brain capacity to complete a simple domestic online booking is an idiot in my book regardless of how well he might, let's say, be painting walls or exploiting natural resources in a mine. Maybe I have a broader (and less political correctness blurred) definition of "idiot" than some others but I can't find anything even remotely ridiculous at all in my statement.

I do know what you mean, in this day and age we do associate computer literacy with intelligence, but it's not really a good measure at all.

A week ago I put on my trainers hat and provided training on a database for a group of consultants, who are anything but computer literate, but you could tell that any one of those guys (and girls) in that room could run rings around just about anyone else when it came to chemicals used in farming. They would use computers to to access the database, but I'd bet virtually anything that just about everyone of those guys used a TA (or their kids) to book flights to CBR for the conference.

As far as I'm concerned, booking websites exist as simply another method for booking flights and accom. They are not the be all and end all for booking travel, and there will always exist people who are unsure on how to DIY, and there will always be people who are willing to pay a bit extra to get a TA who is familiar with the region, and can give advise like "if you stay in that neighborhood, expect to be robbed in the first 3 minutes". For some reason hotel booking sites like to leave little details like that off their fancy websites.

 

[YQY]

FC remind me of this sketch

[video=youtube;_3mswfndknU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3mswfndknU[/video]

 

[melaus]

I do know what you mean, in this day and age we do associate computer literacy with intelligence, but it's not really a good measure at all.

A week ago I put on my trainers hat and provided training on a database for a group of consultants, who are anything but computer literate, but you could tell that any one of those guys (and girls) in that room could run rings around just about anyone else when it came to chemicals used in farming. They would use computers to to access the database, but I'd bet virtually anything that just about everyone of those guys used a TA (or their kids) to book flights to CBR for the conference.

As far as I'm concerned, booking websites exist as simply another method for booking flights and accom. They are not the be all and end all for booking travel, and there will always exist people who are unsure on how to DIY, and there will always be people who are willing to pay a bit extra to get a TA who is familiar with the region, and can give advise like "if you stay in that neighborhood, expect to be robbed in the first 3 minutes". For some reason hotel booking sites like to leave little details like that off their fancy websites.

Yep, "One mans' meats anothers' poison! Certainly doesn't qualify the "IDIOT" comment.

He may even be a better cook than his wife..............Now then; Is she an idiot?

 

[shellthom]

I have worked for flight centre recently - (2010) - I also didn't like the nature of the business.

There are good agents and greedy agents and its hard to find a good one that will stay long enough to get lucky and score a good client to make the job worthwhile. They get a base wage of less than $20 an hour, booking Jetstar or Virgin gives no commission. Qantas pays commission but the people who book these flights are usually adamant virgin/jetstar are the cheapest and insist on that. Even if you can show Qantas is 1 cheaper and 2 better value as food and luggage is included.... they tend to decide that what they want is virgin so they will stick to that -- therefore for domestic travel travel agents by no means have any incentive to find you a better deal.

12 weeks for refund - that is a standard line. It will usually come through faster. The flight refund should go right back to the store (not accountants) as each store is operated individually (most also part owned by the store manager) and they have accountants that do monthly and 3 monthly audits to ensure no fraud is occurring,

International flights pay 6-10% commission depending on the airline so a lot of agents will mark up the fare so they get a decent amount of money. The agent is only paid about 10% of the commission earned on the travel they sell... they change the structure of the pay but the 10% always stays the same. There are higher levels but nothing over 40% (which is not on all of the commission only on the commission over a certain amount) ... so for a 2500 ticket the agent would be lucky to increase their pay buy $50.

The perks of an agent also aren't as good as you would expect. I won a load of free holidays/hotels/flights but I was never given the leave to take them. I got to take 1 hotel stay because it was in sydney. Flights and hotel in asia, cruise and hotel in fiji, flights and 3 day trip to fiji ... all things I won in the same month - got to take none

I was a good travel agent to most, others I would have been so so, but I am friends with a lot of my clients on facebook. why? because I was honest, I cared about their holiday, i put my effort into finding the best deals, and I charged exactly the rrp (exepct I discounted insurance to make sure everyone took the best level of cover)... being a travel agent was about making sure people had a good time... so I wasn't there long enough to make any kind of mark. But before I left I did tell my store they needed to get their heads out of their coughs and start giving a damn about people and not just money.

Now?? I work in International Travellers Emergency Assistance working 12 hour shifts... making sure sick/injured and unfortunately sometimes worse are able to get home, get well, be treated, be evacuated to a decent place for treatment or follow their family wishes in regards to the body ... I make a lot more, I work a lot less, and I enter peoples lives at their most devastating and hold their hand through it all ... much more rewarding than meeting them at the most exciting and devastating them through it - like this 12 week refund has done.

 

[melaus]

Thanks shellthom:

Great informative post.