Thursday, 23 June 2011 16:56
Travel Agents - A Dying Profession?
With so many travel sites offering great deals on flights, many people don’t think to consider using travel agents anymore. I was one of them up until recently. I had formed my opinion after numerous attempts to get agents to provide competitive pricing or, at a minimum, match the online prices, which they never could for one reason or another.
A Case for Using a Travel Agent
A few months ago I spent a significant amount of time trying to find a good deal on 6 return plane tickets to Indonesia. I used all of the usual techniques to get the best deal – keeping my dates flexible and searching on different days of the week, trying various times of the day, looking at a number of different sites, etc. After 3 weeks of solid searching a friend of mine recommended an independent travel agent. At this point I was ready to try anything so I went to see her and she quoted me a price that was approximately $300 less than the best online rate! Multiply this by 6 tickets and you’re essentially buying 5 tickets and getting 1 free. Not only was the price better, but the route and travel times were as well and she managed to get all 6 of us seated together.
The Dreaded Flight Cancellation Scenario
A few days ago the agent called to tell me that one of the flight segments had been cancelled. She said that the best option would be to leave 1 day early, but this would mean that we would have to forfeit 1 night of accommodation that we had already paid for so this was not an option for us.
She then made a few more calls and was able to find us a much better alternative. It would mean that we’d have one extra connecting flight in Vancouver and would arrive later in the evening rather than in the morning, but it also meant that we had extra time in Seoul, Korea. Knowing that we would have 8 hours to kill, the agent mentioned that there were affordable city tours designed specifically for tourists in transit that leave from the airport so we would have something to do with our spare time. Though we now have one extra stop along the way home, we also have a full day to spend in a city that none of us have seen before.
Positive Outcome
Had this trip been booked online, we probably would have had to either leave one day early or incur some sort of penalty. Our ever-resourceful agent was able to negotiate with the airline to find us an amazing alternative that would not impact the price, or our stay in Indonesia. Based on this experience, I have to say that from now on, whenever I go to book a vacation I will definitely include a quote from this (or any other) independent travel agency.
