using a travel agent

So, that is my opinion of most travel agents Hi Lee You're not saying that after one experience like that you extrapolated or generalized to most travel agents?

One of my first jobs out of college was as a travel agent. This was eons ago, back when we used AA and Sabre and issued hard copy tickets from a special printer. We were essential for longer trips - European travel - etc., although even then (late 80s) it was still perfectly easy to call the airline and make your own reservations. Part of the deal was that the agent did a lot of the schlepping - getting Visa stamps in a passport, picking up the tickets from various offices, things like that. Without the internet, it was tedious work. Nowadays, I would only use a travel agent if I were going somewhere with which I was totally unfamiliar. A trip to Bhutan? For that, I would use a travel agent. Or for something like adventure travel with lots of bits and bobs to be combined - bus from the airport, then a helicopter to get to base camp, complicated stuff lwhere expertise could really come in handy. For western Europe (the subject of this board) it wouldn't even occur to me to use an agent. Everything (and more!) is available on-liine! But I can see the lure. You call your agent - schmooze a little - she chats up the cool possibilities - then presents you with your options. And you didn't have to fire up Travelocity, Hotwire, TripAdvisor, Kayak, Airbnb, etc., And you don't have to keep checking back with sites like this to see if you have made the right decision - or have missed something critical that will cost you money. Maybe if a sack of cash landed on my head I would use an agent for my Big Dream World Trip. Then again, I'e found that much of the fun of travel is in the planning, plotting, perusing guidebooks, thinking about it, seeing pretty pictures, reading mouth-watering reviews and recommendations... And I'd miss that, even with the glossy brochures that travel agents hand out!

We always used a travel agent to get flights for us - she was part of the company we worked for but helped people with personal trips. She always get incredibly good and cheap flights for us. When we moved, we went into a local travel agency, and the agent in there suggested very expensive tickets. We went home and handled ourselves - much cheaper flights. I've never been sure why she couldn't come up with what we did. Now we always handle ourselves.

Jane, I typically arrange shorter regional flights on my own, as there's no point in paying a service charge for those. On flights to Europe, I usually check out my best flight options using a variety of websites (including the websites of the airlines). When I make a decision on which flights I prefer, I book those using a travel agent. There are several reasons I prefer that method: > The travel agent often finds either shorter routing or better prices than I've found on my own. That saves me a bit of money, and compensates for the service fee. Given the overall huge cost of flights to Europe, the service fee isn't a huge issue for me. > Flights booked through a travel agent here in B.C. are covered by a Travel Insurance Fund, which all licensed T.A.'s must subscribe to. If there are any problems with the flights, airline goes bankrupt or whatever, it provides another avenue for getting a refund. > If there are any disruptions or whatever when I'm travelling, I have someone available who can help get that sorted. > I also get my travel insurance from the T.A., so that's part of my pre-trip arrangements anyway. > If I'm going to be renting a car, I use a T.A. to arrange that. I prefer to book Hotels (using the Guidebook listings mostly) and plan sightseeing and transportation my own. Even in the "age of the internet", Rick still uses a travel agent for some things. Cheers!

A few years ago, I saw an ad for a course given my the local community college's travel school entitled "plan you own trip to Germany". I had already planned 3 or 4 trips on my own, but I thought I might pick up some tips, so I signed up for it. The "course" was given by one of the CCs instructors, who was also a travel agent. She had been to Germany one time in here life, recently, on a package tour. She probably got the trip for free, or a discount, because she was a travel agent. She had brought along brochures for the tour, which she just happened to be selling. She also brought along a Rick Steves videotape, which I already had, but she hadn't reserved a classroom with a projector, so couldn't show it. That was her idea of planning your own trip - buy a package tour from her. So, that is my opinion of most travel agents. The don't know anything about the places, only how to sell expensive tour to them. My late F-I-L, who was a retired lawyer and had half the money in the world, wouldn't have had the patience to plan his own trip. He would have been perfectly happy to pay a travel agent.

Well, with probably millions of travel agent in the world, I can't claim to have talked to most of them, but neither can you. I have talked to many, and to a one, their "stock in trade" seems to be a glossy, magazine type brochures of package tours they sell. I suspect if I wanted them to book me in Germany, they could get me a room in the Munich Marriott for $200+ a night, but I doubt they could find me a room in Frau Schmidt's B&B in Kleinestadt, Bavaria for €30/nt. I suspect they could also sell me a Eurail pass for hundreds of $$, but a Sparpreis ticket from Frankfurt to Munich for €29 or a Bayern-Ticket Single for €21 ...? I'd love to go to a travel agent and test them by telling them I want to go here, and here, (and where?) in Bavaria, and what can they do, but I know they couldn't (wouldn't) do it, and I would just be wasting their time.

Hello Jane. I planned eight (8) vacation trips to Europe (and/or Britain). I do not use a travel agent. One year, in the month February, I talked with a friendly travel agent located at a nearby town. I asked for the lowest price for flying to the airport of Frankfurt in Germany (and return to the U.S.A.), in the month May of that year. The next day, that travel agent gave me a total price. Then I telephoned Northwest Airlines. A ticket agent at that airline said a total price for flying to and from the airport of Frankfurt in Germany. That price was 327 U.S. Dollars less than the price for airline tickets quoted to me by the independent travel agent. I bought the airline tickets directly from Northwest Airlines, using my credit card number, via Telephone. I got my favorite seat location in the wide body jet airplane (in the "coach" section), flying to Frankfurt, and flying from Frankfurt. And I got the special diet that I requested in the meals served in the airplane. The airplane lifted off at the scheduled time ! (at the airport of Detroit in Michigan, U.S.A.). I composed a lengthy answer to this question here, today. But when I tried to post it here, I saw on the computer screen the words : "Sorry ... your request could not be handled at this time". I do not want to compose it again.

Well don't know what its like where you all live, but here most travel agents are paid by commission,, so no, they are not going to bust their butts finding anyone a 30 euro a night room.
I think ta's are fine for people who have money, and don't like planning things,, and don't mind staying in chain hotels. I know I can and do book a better trip for myself with less money being spent then a travel agent ever would. And, yes, I actually took a TA course back in the 80s.. well before everyone had the internet,, which as far as I am concerned freed everyone up to plan their own trips. I didn't complete the course as I started to see the writing on the wall,, back then agents got a lot more kick backs too,, now ,, well, lets just say you would go into a career like that simply for the love of the work,, you will never make decent money at it. PS Most travel agents could not possibly been to all the places they book,, or perhaps only once, so they have to rely on brochures and reviews,, just like we do,, so cut out the middleman and make your own choices I think. (Exceptions do exist,, my friend sells cruises and shes been on dozens, and tends to sell the ones that she has been on and liked,, there are a few she would never sell )

I used a travel agent years ago, but now book my own flights, hotels, and do my own trip planning. I find the Rick Steves' Travel Consultants do a better job of giving you valuable advice about European towns and what to do there than the travel agent I used to use. Have used them for trip planning. Take a look at their profiles on this page, and you will see they all have extensive travel experience: http://www.ricksteves.com/about/consulting.htm You can also access this page by clicking on the "Plan Your Trip" tab above, then click on "Need Help Planning?" in the center column. You can reach them by calling 425/771-8303, ext. 298.

I used one only once, in 2008, to help plan my flight to Belgium from St. Louis. I was traveling with another girl in the program who was meeting me at Lambert Airport in St. Louis. I had never met Emily (and she had never been out of the country) and I didn't want to deal with the hassle of researching and purchasing plane tickets for us, and then having her owe me a good deal of money. We went through a travel agent in Effingham, IL (the "big" town nearest to where Emily was from) who got us each $1,400 tickets. Granted, we were flying at the end of June and didn't purchase the tickets until April, but I was very surprised at the price. Looking back on it, I think I could have found cheaper tickets and worked out payment with Emily.

We use a travel agent for our airline tickets, rental car and (maybe) our hotel for first &/or last night. We've also booked entire trips on our own. Our agent is good and she does get us deals and sticks to our requested price range. If there is any problem I do not have to discuss it on a 1-800 phone number with someone who doesn't understand a word I am saying. Lee, Why would you need a travel agent? You always return to the same place.

I have used a travel agent since I had a nightmare flight issue booked through orbitz. My return flight from Greece through New York to Seattle was cancelled and I was booked through NY airport with an invalid connect time (slightly more than an hour to land, go through customs and connect). The other options given to me were to spend the night in NYC on my own dime, or fly Athens to NYC, to Atlanta, to Salt Lake City, then to Seattle. I spent at least five hours on the phone with the two airlines and orbitz to try and get the issue straightened out (five hours is true - I started keeping track of time) - each agency was pointing the finger at the other. Orbitz was useless - you do pay a commission to them for the opportunity to have them book your flight. My friend contacted her travel agent who came up with the solution - I ended up canceling the flight and rebooking with another airline. The next year I went to Africa and had trouble finding affordable flights online - I went through a travel agent and saved $2500 on my airfare. Since then I have used a travel agent to book flights and rental cars - and a special room in a hotel with a specific view. To me it is worth the small commission to have the travel agent (well qualified) deal with the details.

For a quick domestic flight, I book my own. But I live in a more isolated area of the country, so flying to Europe invariably means 1,2, or even 3 transfers/layovers. Depending on the combination, the price could be very different. So I hire a travel agent; it's worth the money to have someone else look at all my options and find the best price. Once she saved me $800! Also, I have no problem pawning some time-consuming activities off on others--and paying them for it.

Never book with Orbitz or any other web site that has no vested interest in keeping you happy. Book directly with the airline. That said, there is virtually no monetary reason to use a travel agent. There is no piece of information they have that you do not have at your fingertips. The only question is whether or not you are interested in spending the time to do it on your own. Some people would rather pay someone else to do it for them. There's nothing at all wrong with that. Time is money. But they shouldn't try to justify it to their do-it-yourself brethren by claiming that the agent had some secret information that saved them money. in 2011, it just isn't true. Our family just booked a trip from Minneapolis to Italy in June/July, 2012. If we had gone to a travel agent with this request they would have done a search for tickets from Minneapolis to 2-3 different cities in Italy and come back with prices in the $1600 range pp. By doing some creative searching on my own, I found a connection on Aer Lingus that got us from New York to Venice and Paris to Chicago for under $800 pp. I'll add the garden-variety connecting flights Minneapolis to JFK and Chicago to Minneapolis later, in addition to getting a deal on the night train from Rome to Paris by buying as soon as they become available. The whole combination will cost us less than $1100 pp and enable us to visit friends in NYC and cap the trip off with a brief and unexpected return to Paris for Bastille day. We are thrilled with the result. No travel agent would have taken the request "Find a flight for us to Italy" and found that solution. But it worked perfectly for us because we were flexible, knew how to search for unconventional options, and have more time than money in our lives.

For travel to Europe, with simple flights and hotel with a few sightseeing options thrown in, though once arranged by Travel Agents, is of course easily done today by all of us with computer skills. For those seniors though, who don't navigate the internet very well, a Travel Agent can still be very useful. Or for those who live in very rural locations where they still need to pay for every minute online, and where surfing the internet can be costly, a Travel Agent can again be quite useful. One area where I see Travel Agents moving into, are specialty trips, those who want adventure vacations or things like safaris. I think generalizing that all Travel Agents are people who have never travelled and thus have no idea what they are talking about isn't very fair to the many who really do know their job and care about planning a good trip for their clients.

Wow! I had no idea there would be so many responses, and such a range of opinions and experiences. We did have one not-so-good experience with Orbitz, and since then I've always booked through the airlines and been satisfied with the results. I suspect that's what I'll continue to do, but one of these days I may experiment a bit with a travel agent. Thanks, everyone, for your input. Jane

I don't use a travel agent because I don't mind researching my options and booking myself. The best travel agent won't know my preferences perfectly. How much extra is a direct flight worth? How much more an I willing to pay to arrive at 8 am rather than 2 pm? I'm not sure I could write a set of guidelines to cover how much value I place on all the different options. Even when I do a business trip and have to use a travel agent, I research the options and tell the agent exactly what I want.

In this day and age when you can book almost anything imaginable online, travel agents are somewhat obsolete for individual or small group travel... to Europe. Different story with large groups, though. If you're intested in a package deal to the Carribean or something similar, travel agents can still set you up with a deal not otherwise available directly to the general public. And unlike the example quoted above about an agent having no experience with the place they're recommending... the resorts regularly pay for the agents to fly down and stay (my mother worked as a travel agent for years, and she often enjoyed gratis trips to the Carribean and Mexico). "suspect if I wanted them to book me in Germany, they could get me a room in the Munich Marriott for $200+ a night, but I doubt they could find me a room in Frau Schmidt's B&B in Kleinestadt, Bavaria for €30/nt. " Do you honestly expect a travel agent to know every small town that well? Hey, Mr. Steves, can you recommend a hotel in Hamburg? No? OK, how about Düsseldorf? Nothing? Lübeck? Heidelberg even? Hannover, Essen, Dortmund, Bremen, Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Braunschweig, Stuttgart? If someone who does extensive research trips every summer doesn't even know some of a country's major cities and resorts, how can you expect the average travel agent to have first hand knowledge of Frau Fischer's Gasthaus in Nirgensdorf?

Make and book my own plans; as previous posters said, planning is part of the fun. Every time I have tried using a travel agent (often on recommendations from family/friends), it has turned out to be a mini-disaster. Last year, booked a package with a special book-by-x-date incentive.....when I received confirm from TA, no special rate...inquired/no immediate answer/would have to check....corrected invoice had new, additional weird fee....no immediate answer/would have to check...and on and on. Cancelled booking within 24 hours (due to problems w/ that package provider).....got hit w/ an odd cancellation fee....called agent....no immediate answer/would have to check. Finally took bull by horns myself and received refund. No value added; convinced whole process would have gone more smoothly if I had handled myself. Booking oneself, one can confirm details of arrangements, prices, etc.. Not a case of hearing third-hand. But, that said, like in any profession, there are superb ones, good ones, iffy ones, bad ones. A quality travel agent should be checking the math, date, times, prices, details and confirming everything before forwarding on to his/her client. A quality travel agent should add value,....not merely be another method of taking a booking (which could simply be done w/ a phone call or on line). Listen, understand client desires/match trips to fit. Last year I read an article in Conde Nast about top travel agents ....the rock stars of the industry, if you will.....each of them sounds like a jewel. I kept the article in case I ever want to book a truly special trip, doing things like riding an Elephant in India or dining in a castle overlooking blah, blah, blah, etc. The article went on to say how those agents have connections and KNEW who to call and how to make special trips come together seamlessly for their clients.

Every Blue Moon or so ETBD offers a Saturday class on using a TA. Has anyone taken it? I'm fairly certain ETBD uses one but of course their circumstances are quite different to "ours".

Hmmm , Jo, I don't recall anyone posting that travel agents have never travelled,, perhaps I need to reread thread,, I know I said that no agent has been everywhere,, which I stand by,, and whether they care or not was not my point either,, I simply pointed out the obvious,, if one is paid by commision,, they are not going out of their way to find a 30 euro room,, and I stand by that too . I think its very easy to generalize about everyones postings,, but should be avoided also. Most people concede there is a place for TAs ,, they are good for those who do not enjoy the planning and research,, or are simply too busy,, or as one poster mentioned, there are those who are not adept at using the internet. There is a place for travel agents,, but frankly its a smaller place then it ever has been,, and most smart ones are specializing( adventure , cruises etc)

I've never used a travel agent. Over the years I have gotten very good at budget travel by using priceline, ita, etc... I would be very surprised if a travel agent could book a trip cheaper than what I can do on my own. Plus, at least for me, hunting for deals, watching airfare, and researching hotels, is almost as fun as the trip itself. It gives me something to do at work, you know, instead of actually working.

@pat, It's interesting that you "saw the writing on the wall" about the travel agent business back in the '80s. Was the business being squeezed even then?

"Jo, I don't recall anyone posting that travel agents have never travelled," 4th response down, although the implication was "seldom" and not necessarily "never".

Thanks, Tom! I stand corrected. I should have written "seldom traveled", since it is from the post about a TA traveling only 1 time to Germany and with a package deal at that.

Will,, yes, people were becoming more proactive in their planning,, used to be a person might wander into a travel agency and say they had x amount of time and wanted to go somewhere warm, or whatever,, and literally let the ta suggest where they go ,, Even back in late 80s people were becoming more knowledgable about destinations,, travel shows were on tv. more middle class people travelled off the continent so there was more word of mouth.. it was the beginning of the end of hand holding. The guides( Frommers, Fodors Baedekers,Lonely Planet started up, and of course LETs GO) were out is full force,, suggesting you plan your own trip, suggesting hotels. When I grew up in 70s I remember there seemed to be two sorts of pleasure travel,, Europe on 10 dollars a day,, budget backpacking, for the young,, or expensive glossy package tours.. then the middle aged and middle class wanted to really start travelling too, not just to grandmas a few states/provinces over,, but somewhere foreign,, and they wanted deals,, but they did not want to sleep in hostels etc.

Interesting comments from every one! I am a travel agent (part time) from the past 2 years. First thing, TA don't get to travel for free anymore unless the agency pay (sometimes) one trip a year. Those trips where TA used to go for free are no longer there. When we go on Fam Trip, we have to pay, yes it's less then customers would pay but it's not free. Second, when I want to book a trip for a customer, I do it as if it was my own trip. This means that a research to get the best deals possible, the best hotel at the best price possible and yes I would get my customer to Mrs XXX B&B at 30$ a night if that meets my customer's needs. I plan the trip with my customer. Third, talking about commission, people don't know how low it can be you would be very surprised! Finally, let me tell you a thrue story. An airline went bankrupt and it was announced very early in the morning. The owner of the agency called every agent available, every one got in the office early and got on the phone and rebooked every customer who were booked with that airline before every body tried to do it. Our customers did not lose money, did not lose their trip and did not pay more money. With that being said, have happy travels thru a TA or not! Chantal

I almost always use a travel agent for flights for business because I have to be where I'm going in a timely way. If something goes wrong with my connection, it's worth the small commission to have a cellphone number that I know will be answered by somebody who will work their tail off to get me to my destination. For example, I was once going to Austin via Denver with a two or three hour layover there before my connecting flight. When I arrived in Denver, it was snowing hard and people were saying that the airport was probably going to be shut down shortly, so I wanted to get my connecting flight changed to ensure I got out of Denver. My TA immediately got me a flight out to Chicago and told me to call again when I got on the ground and she's have my connection to Austin. And sure enough she did, and I got to Austin in time for my meeting the next morning. Orbitz won't do that for you, and neither will the airlines. You're left to fend for yourself on hold on a call center to India, or left in a long line of unhappy, impatient people at the airline's so-called customer service desks. Good luck with that. It's true that you can hustle as good a fare as a TA, but a low fare isn't all that a good TA can do for you.