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Whither Agents?
Kirby's Korner · March 17, 2000

Come the Internet revolution, how will we buy airline tickets, make hotel reservations, and book cruises or packaged tours?

Will it be as in the idyllic days gone by, when we were ushered into lush travel agency offices and urged to take our time meandering through overpowering brochures that outlined our options, only to be met by experts who then filled in any remaining details before setting forth our perfect trip and wishing us bon voyage?

Or will those of us who can afford an Internet connection be hunched over the keyboard alone, captive of the limited choices the airlines decide to present us?

Those seem to be the options travel agents from the brick-and-mortar world presented the last time this column raised a similar question. (Read the first, second, third, and fourth installments.) Actions taken last week by the agents' trade group, the American Society of Travel Agents, may go a long way toward answering the question posed by this column's headline -- which most of the agents who responded to the previous articles would rewrite as a command from the airlines: "Wither, Agents!"

I wouldn't bet the house on a clear-cut answer any time soon.

ASTA last week sent a letter to the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice requesting the department to "investigate and undertake enforcement action" in response to a plan by four of the five largest U.S. airlines to start an independent Web site selling travel directly to consumers. (If you can handle Adobe Acrobat files, the letter is worth downloading if for nothing else than the image on its last page, which is testament both to the connections between airlines worldwide and the ability of graphic artists to manipulate facts to make a point.)

Since announcing the venture originally, the four carriers -- Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, and United Airlines -- have signed on 23 U.S. and foreign carriers as "charter associates," most notably the largest U.S. carrier, American Airlines, and US Airways. These carriers control 68 percent of U.S. air traffic, according to ASTA.

(Missing from the list are industry giant British Airways and mavericks Southwest Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Arlines. But that may be immaterial. British Airways Chief Executive Officer Bob Ayling this week let slip the fact that BA is near the end of discussions with nearly a dozen European airlines to build a similar airline-centric Internet retail business.)

ASTA doesn't like the idea. "By investing in existing online travel companies and creating a conglomerate airline Web site, the airlines are attempting to drive travel agents off the Internet and increase their stranglehold on the air transportation industry," said ASTA President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Galloway.

The antitrust division hasn't said a peep yet. But there is that little dispute with Microsoft that has been eating up overtime hours recently.

The problem is, no one knows yet how big this Internet thingie will be. British Airways is expecting to sell half its tickets online by 2003 -- not all through Web sites it controls, but, still, a figure twice as large as the most optimistic pundits predict for the travel industry as a whole.

Currently, optimistic investigators say 5 percent of travel is booked online. That may be a little low. It doesn't include the "managed business travel" segment, consisting of the 25 percent to 40 percent (take your pick) of the travel industry that includes business travelers from large companies who are controlled by corporate travel policies. No one's sure how many of these people are booking online, but it's a safe bet that the figure is higher than the 5 percent for the general public.

If you knew that in three years 10 percent of your business would be stripped away, how would you react? A complaint to the Justice Department might not be a bad first step, but an evaluation of the business model might also be in order.

Check with customers to see what they want. (I'll try to link consumers with travel agents if both groups will contact me here) But don't always blame the suppliers.

Taken as a whole, the image of the airlines is as bad on this Web site as anything you'll see outside the pocket of the seat in front of you. But agents, both online and off-, need to investigate the strengths they have.

David Kirby is the editor of Interactive Travel Report. His column appears on Friday. You can reach him at david@ticked.com.