Travel Agents: it’s time to pack your bags
I’ll be flying to New York shortly, and on a whim walked into a travel agent this morning to see what kind of fares an expert could get me. After typing for a good 20 minutes while I twiddled my thumbs (and twittered), this is what she offered:
SAA: R10,252
Delta: R10,432
Air France: R9,652
Not bad, but I’d prefer to fly through London and have three meetings there while in transit. I had already researched this possibility, and knew that Virgin offered a good deal. I asked the travel agent to investigate, and she came back with a fare of R13,855. She said the taxes alone are over R5000, and it just wasn’t worth it.
Now, normally, you’d take her at her work, right? After all, she is a professional, an expert in her field. She must have some connection to a database of flights that you could never hope to have. Right? Wrong.
I got back to my office, logged into Travelstart.co.za, plugged in my dates and within 2 minutes was booked on a Virgin fight, via London to NYC for R8,317, all inclusive!!!
So: without having to drive to a mall, find parking, wait for an available agent, wait for 20 minutes while she types and types, give away my contact details etc etc, I was able to get a fare at about 40% LESS than she could.
Online travel booking - what a pleasure. Travel agents: Bon Voyage.
I’m glad I left the travel industry years ago - even when I was still a part of it, I used to do my bookings online. Alot of travel agencies are closing down - since last year. It’s about time.
Flights you can most of the time find cheaper online, its your holiday packages where you need accommodation that travel agents help. Holiday resorts and hotels rates for a “walk-in” client are more expensive than travel agents, and sometimes its impossible to find accommodation as they all pre-sold to agents!
I’ve often had travel agents tell me to book my own flights and then book the accommodation with them - works out the cheapest!
@JBagley
Good point. For a trip to Mauritius, I’d certainly visit a travel agent, or call WLH directly.
I am going to put your theory to the test and see what kind of accommodation deals for NYC a travel agent can get. That might inspire a follow up post!
it is obvious you do not have me as the agent and when you compare make sure you compare apples with apples, 1 day more or less makes a huge difference
I agree that it is still worthwhile to have a good travel agent as a backup, esp for accommodation packages or multiple journey trips.
But overall, the convenience of online bookings, plus the obvious price advantages should make any new entrant into the job market think twice before choosing a career as a travel agent.
And, btw, I did give the travel agent the option of flexible dates. This was definitely a case of apples and apples.
(But you’re more than welcome to prove me wrong by finding me a killer accommodation offer in NYC. Looks like I’ll have to bond my house to pay for anything decent there ;-)
I travel too much and book flights via travel agents (sometimes I have to, because of reimbursements or procurement policies), online sites (both the airlines directly and aggregators) and via telephone from the airlines directly.
Online is the way forward, but these are the things that are missing in the perfect online travel booking service:
* Full control over the base fare you want to fly in. Most airlines as well as travel sites will search “cheapest” or “more flexible”, but there are many fare levels in between (with impact on how likely you will be upgraded, how many miles you receive, etc.). The only way to book a specific fare base is via the airline directly of your travel agent.
* Inclusion of special offers and promotions by airlines. Travel agents are usually aware of these (and will try to find you a flight on a particular airline for that reason), but you might not consider that airline for your travel.
* Frequent traveler miles calculation across airlines. For example, if I fly SAA to Europe, there are some classes that will pay 100% Lufthansa miles (I collect miles with Lufthansa) and others that don’t. Even travel agents often get this wrong and it’s worth double-checking. Virgin flights between SA and LHR for example don’t pay out SAA miles - even though the two airlines have an agreement.
Now, all that, with an easy to use interface … maybe Apple should get into the travel business.