Debating whether to purchase my tickets through a travel agent or do it myself online. I'll be there for 11 weeks and doing an open jaw ticket. The agents add about $100 to the ticket, but some say it's worth it, if a change in travel needs to be done, or something goes array - they handle it.
Input??
Thanks!
I used a travel agent the first time I traveled (to Hawaii) but ended up with problems with their bookings (like two single beds for my wife and I) and after that I figured out that I could do as well online. I travel to Europe every summer and elsewhere in the US and have booked all of the elements of those trips myself online and have never had a problem that was my fault. NWA did cancel a flight on us but that was out of my control. I guess it just boils down to how comfortable you are with using the internet and making reservations yourself.
I do ask for confirmation e-mails from hotels and cars that I book and airlines give you one automatically.
I would personally not pay an extra $100 for help you most likely do not need. It doesn't take a travel agent to call the airlines if something goes wrong. You can easily be your own advocate. Like Charlie, my mother had numerous problems that were the direct fault of her travel agent. Since someone else screwed up her trip, it was nearly impossible to fix. I like knowing that I am completely in charge of all the details of a trip. I care much more about my trip than someone else who deals with countless others. If you are a confident, competent, organized person, you are perfectly capable of booking online and saving the money for more exciting aspects of your trip.
Excellent suggestion, Anna. Thanks.
I appreciate your input. I've always booked my own flights via online sites for travel in the US. It was recommended by a RS consultant that I use an agent (of course, they gave me one to contact).
Thanks, again.
For an extra $100, ask yourself the probability that you'll need that help. I figure its pretty low, and book myself. Also while search engines may be useful for quickly comparing fares, I prefer to book directly with the airline if I can find the same fare on their site. Airlines seem to be easier to work with if you can tell them you bought the ticket from them, rather than some 3rd party (because they sometimes tell you to call that 3rd party to get things resolved).
I agree with Mike,that it is easier to book with the airline itself rather than use an online third party booking agent. However, sometimes the price difference is huge and the third party is substantially cheaper. Several years ago I booked separate flights for my daughter and me, both on Lowest Fare (non-blind bidding division of Priceline) for one of us to fly to Indiana to bring my mother here and the other to accompany her back. Due to her Alzheimer's, she freaked out at the last minute and wouldn't fly, so I then had to just book flights for us to go out together and visit her rather than bring her here. We had "nonrefundable" tickets on 2 different airlines. LowestFare told me to just contact the airlines directly. I can't remember which airlines did what, but for a changing fee of just $100 a person, one airline called the other and bought our the segments of our flights from the other so that my daughter and I could travel together. The airlines didn't care that I had booked spliced together flights from a third party. This probably isn't the regular procedure, but this agent in particular went out of her way to help us through a very stressful time.I can't imagine that a travel agent would have been anymore helpful than me calling the airlines myself and explaining my complicated situation.
I would obtain the overseas phone numbers of the airline I'm using before ever leaving the states, just in case I need to call and don't have internet access at the moment. Also, they may not be staffed 24/7 overseas, especially if you're using an American carrier.
Michelle, When you are in Europe, if you need to change an airline ticket's flight date, a local travel agent might do that for you, for free, very quickly and easily. If you need to do that, ask your hotel's manager/owner for a recommended travel agent for that. The hotel owner/manager might have a local friend who is a travel agent. I did that in Athens. The hotel owner/manager sent me to a travel agent, located a few blocks from the hotel. That travel agent quickly used his computer (internet) and a quick telephone call to an airline, an airline ticket for me was printed from a machine in his office. Or, if you have access to the internet, you can change a ticket.
Does the agent have 24/7 coverage? Will there be someone to call at ANY time if there's an issue?
Because if not then the we "handle" it is a LIE. Things never go wrong M-F between 9 and 5 (and if it's a homebased agent even that's a challenge)
I would only use an agent with a good 24/7 service! (Actually I generally don't use them because my experience has been they "handle" very little lOL!)
I went and booked my flights through the airline and they were very helpful. (And it cost less).
Thanks again, for all your input and support :)
I am glad that things worked out for Michelle. There is a role for travel agents but not much of one for the type travel that most of here do. Travel agents are great for helping with arrangements for business travel, first-time trips abroad or for trips involving a lot of complex arrangements.
I book all of my business travel through a travel agent and my leisure travel I deal with myself. That's because I have little margin for schedule changes in my business travel but I am willing to tolerate the risk of delays and problems in my leisure travel. It's true that, when a flight is cancelled or delayed, I could get on the phone and try to rebook myself. But it's been my experience that a travel agent can get through and get action in ways that I can't. For example, once I had a connecting flight through Chicago where my incoming flight was delayed due to weather and it was very likely that I would miss my outbound leg to London, so my travel agent said she'd stay on top of the situation and rebook me if needed. So, when I arrived at O'Hare, I was already booked onto an alternative flight to Amsterdam with connections to London, getting me to London in time for my meeting.
So, if your time table is tight, having a travel agent can make the difference between getting there in time and having the trip turn pointless. (Incidentally, given the fact that travel agents now serve mainly business clients, I think most, like mine, have a 24 hour emergency number to call. I wouldn't bother with one who didn't, since the primary reason to use them is for emergency changes to the itinerary.)
When I travel for fun, though, I'm seldom under the gun as far as timing goes. If the plane gets delayed or cancelled, it's an inconvenience, but hardly a disaster. (A quick email to my first hotel explaining that I might miss the first night but still will need the rest of my reservation is a good idea.) So I am willing to take my chances on flight problems and get into the phone queues with everyone else trying to rebook.
