So I called regular agent and was quoted airfare. Seemed all good until I went online and found significant savings. Have not paid for anything yet. Is it better to let booking expire and buy online or ask agent for online price? Exactly same flight/ date. Thanks in advance.
Travel agents vs online......
- Thread starter toptech
- Start date
I have found savings (at time significant) when booking on-line compared to with travel agency.
As IM469 stated, if you use the larger online booking sites (Expedia, Travelocity) you are safe as they are covered by TICO (Travel Industry Council of Ontario) and in case of any issues with the booking you can go to TICO.
As IM469 stated, if you use the larger online booking sites (Expedia, Travelocity) you are safe as they are covered by TICO (Travel Industry Council of Ontario) and in case of any issues with the booking you can go to TICO.
Here's a tip for online booking. If you you're repeatedly search for a particular flight on the same site and have cookies enabled, they know you're interested by the number of views and some will bump the price up a bit each time you search closer to the departure date. To avoid this, clear your cache before each search. Use CCleaner or a similar program for best results.
Interesting.
I just went through this.
Planning a trip for January. I was looking for all-inclusive with air and golf to some locale I am not familiar with. I have a very thorough, knowledgeable agent. Talked about several locales etc., etc. Finally was ready to make a choice but was gonna ponder it over the weekend. During that time I found the same package on Red Tag for about $250 less. I called her on Monday to inform her. She booked me the Red Tag deal, no prob. Now I have her setting up tee times for me and tracking down some other info I'd like that are not listed in brochures or on websites.
I'm satisfied how it all worked out.
Use the internet as a basis for information then get face got face with an agent. Using the same one pays off over time. If you looking for vacation where you can actually talk to someone at the resort or hotel by phone, do it. You can often get better non advertised rates.
Make sure you are also making an apples to apples comparison even if it's the same flight on the same day. As most people know, seats on a plane aren't simply "first class" and "coach". There are a multitude of fare codes that each have their own benefits and restrictions. Most of these don't matter to the average leisure traveller. But maybe you do care if you can change flights to an earlier or later one, how much luggage you can take, if you can choose your seats in advance or take your chances at the airport, whether you can change the name on a ticket, or in what order you will be bumped when your flight is oversold.
Also, with a travel agent, they don't make a commission off almost any airfare, so many have an agency fee of some sort. This may or may not apply depending on your business relationship, and what other commissionable items you might also book with your flight.
Also, with a travel agent, they don't make a commission off almost any airfare, so many have an agency fee of some sort. This may or may not apply depending on your business relationship, and what other commissionable items you might also book with your flight.
It's amazing the premium people will pay for the ability to alter their flight details.
yeah, travel agents are good for senior citizens who don't use/trust computers, and still desire a face-to-face transaction
they're also good for group tours, as fuji said
i would have my doubts about them though; i mean, how can they know more about other countries than what you'd be able to research yourself?
they're also good for group tours, as fuji said
i would have my doubts about them though; i mean, how can they know more about other countries than what you'd be able to research yourself?
Well, the good travel agents actually do travel as well.y
i would have my doubts about them though; i mean, how can they know more about other countries than what you'd be able to research yourself?
Yep, and they usually don't have a lot of choice (and quite often, it isn't out of their pocket anyway). Say you come up to Toronto from New York for meetings. It's hard to pin down when you can go home, so you pay for the flexible ticket so you can get on whatever flight is most convenient (space permitting of course).
And always buy travel (medical) insurance if you're not covered through your work. It can save you thousands even if all you need is one simple medical treatment. My buddy cut his foot on a beach in Mexico and it cost him $900 for 7 stitches.
Did anyone catch the CBC Marketplace this week? It was all about the insurance industries pitfalls in travel and car insurance. the travel policies questionnaires are so tricky to answer correctly, on mistake and the policy is null and void. The car insurance policies have an amazing claus regarding diminished value of your car.
I suspect your buddy got taken to those special clinics for rich america tourists.
Check out the MP broadcast.
I book online.
I once had a gift certificate to Marlin travel and had a hell of a time spending it as the base price was far higher than what online sites like expedia could do.
Furthermore, I went to more than one Marlin agent and got drastically different prices. Both were higher than online but there was a discrepency even between locations/agents.
They try and sell you on how you are paying for customer service in the event of a problem. Having never had a problem either way I can't compare but I doubt that it is worth paying as much as 1.5 time for the same trip.
I once had a gift certificate to Marlin travel and had a hell of a time spending it as the base price was far higher than what online sites like expedia could do.
Furthermore, I went to more than one Marlin agent and got drastically different prices. Both were higher than online but there was a discrepency even between locations/agents.
They try and sell you on how you are paying for customer service in the event of a problem. Having never had a problem either way I can't compare but I doubt that it is worth paying as much as 1.5 time for the same trip.
This - a live agent can usually match or do better than an on-line rate. Don't be shy about asking. i've only ever been told by an agent to book online 2 or 3 times because they couldn't do better.
Having an agent is good simply because it's nice to have someone to call if something goes sideways with your travel plans (botched hotels, car rentals, etc). I'd rather someone else fix it than waste my valuable vacation time...
My experience with two different Marlin Agents at two different locations is that they could not match expedia.
But maybe they viewed me as a captive audience as I had a sizable gift card.
After getting pissed off at a travel agent for stringing me along with a newspaper-advertised tour that fell through, I recently booked flight and hotel in the Middle East via Expedia. Not only did I get a good price and good hotel, it was interesting and fun checking out all the available options and figuring out which best suited my needs.
Kayak and google flights are the only ones that provide a radically different experience from the others, which I find are all the same in terms of routing and pricing options and method of search (expedia, travelocity, bookings, flightcenter, redflag, lastminutetravel, itravel200, a couple others). To me that list is all extremely similar in terms of a travel surfing experience. I normally do my preliminary research on kayak and google flights, then triple check with expedia before making a decision. I've booked through expedia, redflag and travelocity, at various times, as well as kayak and even handatravel. No one site seems to consistently outshine the others in terms of deals.
I'd say, pick whichever site you like the look and feel of, and cross-check your trip on one other site. Beyond that is probably a waste of your time.
Sadly, after several weeks of researching our next major trip, I found the best deals and the ONLY direct flight for the destinations we were looking for, at......... I hate to say it........ aircanada.com.
I'd say, pick whichever site you like the look and feel of, and cross-check your trip on one other site. Beyond that is probably a waste of your time.
Sadly, after several weeks of researching our next major trip, I found the best deals and the ONLY direct flight for the destinations we were looking for, at......... I hate to say it........ aircanada.com.
