5 reasons to consider a travel agent for a simple trip

Over and over again, I read travel writers saying that travelers should use travel agents for complicated or exotic trips, but that generally they can just book “simple domestic trips” on their own online.

And as a travel agent, I can say honestly, that the service fees most agents get from domestic trips are often not what’s keeping us in business, so this isn’t a pitch for more sales. But actually, there are five reasons travelers might consider an agent, even for “simple” trips.

Delayed or canceled flights
The first reason is if the flight is delayed or canceled. Service cuts at the airports and all those check-in kiosks mean that the wait to speak to a human is longer than ever. Travelers with an agent can get on the phone and be rebooked before they get to the front of the line.

Schedule changes
Also, if a trip is booked in advance the chance of schedule changes is high. Sometimes these schedule changes are trivial, other times they can result in a missed connection or hours waiting at an airport. An agent can get this resolved, even say, changing travel cities if a service cut means no good alternative.

For example, I have talked airlines into changing tickets from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, and San Jose to San Francisco recently. Which an individual can do too, but it make take a while.

Seat assignments
Then there’s the issue of seat assignments. Lately, it seems as if, except for bookings made months in advance, there are no decent seat assignments left — sometimes even for elite mileage members. Most good travel agents, however, will keep checking back for seat assignments for their clients, and most of the time, something opens up. (And then there’s Northwest, in a class by themselves by only pre-assigning seats 90 days in advance.)

In addition, a few airlines, like British Airways and United Airlines, have special deals with some agents for seat assignment priority.

Another pair of eyes
And finally, it’s another pair of eyes. I lose track of the number of requests I get for a flight say, on Monday May 17. Except that May 17 is a Sunday. It’s an easy mistake to make, getting day and date wrong, but the airlines are not terribly sympathetic. An agent is more likely to pick up these and other discrepancies, name issues, misspellings, etc., before a ticket is issued.

Fewer hassles/time saved
One of my favorite clients finally gave up booking online some years back after several airport problems. He likes to tell his co-workers, “You know, I am just thrilled when I have paid Janice her fee and she only had to do a few minutes work for it. Because it means everything went super smoothly. Unfortunately, with the airlines these days it happens a lot less often than I would like.”