Monday, November 23, 2009

What Does A Travel Agent Do for You?

By Brian Newton

Do you actually require a travel agent to find you the hottest flight offer. If you are merely considering a domestic trip what exactly does a travel agent do for you? These days not a great deal, they merely click a few keys on their keyboard to locate you a flight and add on a reservation fee for just doing it.

In the past before the net took off people did not have access to all the special prices and deals on offer. Now matters are very different and the airlines do not have to bank on leechlike travel firms to sell their flights for them. Travel agents have been bypassed as a cheap distribution option for numerous airlines and holiday firms. It was wasteful for airlines to open agencies everywhere so they paid travel agents a commission, which was added on to the fares.

Now many airlines no longer give agents any commission as they have now deducted this portion of the fare to reduce prices to enable them contend better with the low cost airlines that do not give travel firms anything. So if you do visit a travel agent they will normally be more high-priced than an airline business would be by booking direct with them as they will probably add an extra booking charge.

Fortunately for some travel agents there are still individuals who are quite happy to just go into their premises and have it all done for them. There is a position for travel firms despite the arrival of the internet but not for simple trips especially on standard flight routes such as Las Vegas to Los Angeles or London to Edinburgh. These routes are simple to check and there is no need to get a travel agent to do it for you.

It is better to use a travel agent for complicated itineraries or for a tailor made journey seeing a few different countries and that involves a few assorted flight alternatives. If you are designing a journey like this search for an agent that specializes in this and check around as there will be a large difference in prices.

Save yourself cash by simply going on the internet and find all the airlines that operate the itinerary that you want and compare the deals. Why give a travel agent extra just to input in your credit card details on your behalf.

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