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Agents Are OK
Cheap Charlie · August 25, 1999

In my e-mail I have come across several missives telling me to give some credit to travel agents. I have written about making reservations directly with the airlines and through the Internet, but I have not mentioned the benefits provided by a travel agent.

OK, here goes.

Even though Internet and online booking is tossed around in my columns, the basic fact of the matter is that travel agents sell most of the airline tickets and hotel rooms in America. Hence, a travel agent often has clout and know-how that can make your trip easier and more enjoyable -- and cheaper.

A good travel agent who knows how to work the system is a gold mine. More important in most cases than clout, travel agents have access to one of the major central reservation systems. These high-powered systems allow agents to have real-time access to airline seat inventories and the systems provide programs that ferret out the lowest prices available between points for air travelers.

If anyone has tried to compare prices using the Internet booking engines, they know how time-consuming it can be. Better yet, from Cheap Charlie's point of view, they don't cost a penny more. Most travel agents work hard, have access to the latest in travel technology and don't charge you anything.

Legally, travel agents contract with airlines to sell passengers airline tickets. Until recently, travel agents have been paid by the airlines to sell you tickets. Keep this in mind when you work through a travel agent -- they represent the airlines -- they do not represent you.

But if a good agent wants repeat business, he or she will get you the best possible flight at the best possible price. You make the rules, not the airlines.

Recently, with the cutbacks in travel agent commissions, some agencies have begun to assess a small fee to offset their costs. Now that travel agencies are collecting a fee directly from passengers, a new legal relationship is being forged. This relationship has not been tested to date, but the rules of the game are changing. Now that some passengers are paying the agencies, the agency now is working to some extent for the passenger, not the airline.

NOTE: All travel agents are not the same. Some specialize in European travel, others are experts in Asian travel, others deal with cruise ships, and yet others provide bargain-basement travel throughout the year. However, the following points apply to all of them:

-- Your airfare is the same whether you purchase your tickets directly from the airline or through a travel agent. Though some travel agents have begun to charge minimal fees, the services travel agents provide often more than make up for the small charge. Note below.

-- Some travel agents will check fares periodically for you even after a ticket is purchased and alert you to a lower fare and then will change your ticket to save you money. You will never find an airline calling with a lower fare and offering to change your ticket.

-- There are no advantages to buying your tickets directly from the airlines. With airfares changing as quickly as they seem to, travel agents provide the easiest way to change tickets in order to get a lower airfare if one should be implemented between the time you purchase your ticket and your flight. Though airlines claim they can reissue your tickets at the new lower rates, you have to go to the airport, or an airline ticket office, which in most cases is less convenient than a local travel agent.

-- If you purchase your ticket from an airline Internet site you may not have complete flight information. Though Internet reservation systems have improved, their computer linkups are not as good as those used by travel agents connected directly to the airline computer reservation systems. Many times a travel agent can find a better fare. Until the Internet systems are brought into line with the travel agent systems such as Sabre, Worldspan and Apollo, careful bargain-hunting Web surfers should check out Internet listed fares against what a good travel agent can discover.

-- If you purchase your ticket through a travel agent you have more leeway for payment, since agencies normally make their payments to the airlines once a week. If you work frequently with a travel agent they will let you know their payment day -- normally Tuesday at noon. They may sometimes cancel a ticket if you change your mind within a day or so. They can also place last-minute reservations before special fares expire and then bill you for the ticket, giving you about a week before you actually have to pay.

-- You have some protection. If there is a problem, your travel agent is probably a member of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) which has an excellent consumer protection program.

These two organizations provide good industry-based consumer affairs programs:

American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA)
1101 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 739-2782

United States Tour Operator Association
211 E. 51st Street, #12B
New York, NY 10022
( 212) 944-5727

ASTA may be able to help if your complaint is against a member travel agent or one of the travel suppliers booked through a travel agency. You must submit complaints to ASTA within six months of the incident. The United States Tour Operator Association represents about 40 large wholesale tour operators. Their assistance programs are very helpful when member organizations are involved.

If you find a good travel agent treat him or her like a treasure. But keep checking on fares periodically to keep them on their toes. For the most part they do what you ask, and if they know that you keep a close eye on your travel costs they'll be more diligent.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at cheapch@aol.com or access his Web site.