Do I need a Travel Agent

UK Travel Agent - Business and Holiday Travel

Sam Smith Travel Services

Corporate Travel

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Do I need a Travel Agent?

This article is designed to look at the role of the travel agent and if there is still a place for the agent in the corporate travel arena. As this article is written by a travel agent, it may be easy to suggest that one may have something of a jaundiced view. Nonetheless, I believe that the travel agent still has an important role to play.

It is the "role to play" element that is most important. The way to look at this, is not from the point of view of: "Do I need - or Does my Company - need.." a travel agent; More "Does my booking need a travel agent"

The changing role of travel agents

With the development of the internet and self booking tools, travel agents add no value to simple there and back bookings. As an agent, not only does one see no sense in using an agent to book an out Monday, back Tuesday to Paris ticket. Indeed, for a travel agent, this sort of booking is the equivalent of asking a nuclear physicist to change the battery in the canteen clock. If you know what you want on this sort of trip, it is much more cost effective to simply go on line and book it - or use the self booking tool. Travel Agents suddenly find themselves having to become a proper travel agent.

As long, that is, as you have the time and facilities to check (on a trip to Paris) at least three websites and a self booking tool and having checked them, hope that the first set of flights you saw are still there when you go back to book them. As long, that is, that you then check the fare rules to make sure that the fare is sensible and then check out to see if it is better to book a return or two one ways.

Surely, it cannot be that complicated?

Yes and No. It depends. British Airways, for example, on their cheaper fares, allow changes only up to the day before travel. Book to one ways, and this restriction is lifted - and it is cheaper. There are also some very silly fares that, if booking on a cost factor alone, means that you can waste a lot of money. Lufthansa offer two types of Y (looks like full economy) based fares to Frankfurt. Both these fares have a cost situated in the upper £400's. The cheaper (and only by about £6) allows no refunds, the other does. Get it wrong and saving £6.00 just cost you £400. So, despite looking simple and easy to book on the web, there are still many traps set to catch the unwary.

So when should I use an agent?

At the start, I said that it is not if you and your company should use an agent, it is if your booking should use an agent. The time your booking needs a travel agent is:

2. Anything long haul.
This means anything outside Europe. Especially if you are thinking about business class travel bookings. No matter how many airline sites you visit, most will offer only the so-called "published" fares. The discounted fares are only avaialble from travel agents. They may be online (even Expedia is nothing more than a travel agent) but they are travel agents nonetheless. Airlines offer a range of contract fares to agents. These fares do not differ or may only differ by a very small margin, irrespective of the agent. A travel agent either does or does not hold the contract - and it matters not if you are Opodo or Joe Bloggs travel, if you have the contract, you have the contract.

On long haul flights, this means significant savings in business class - up to half price and often for very little inconvienience. On some long haul flights, this means that you could save £3,000 on one booking. Even in Economy, there are many cheaper fares that, although meaning a chnage en route, can save a useful amount of money for very little inconvinience. Air France and KLM, for example, offer many useful long haul return value for money, economy fare. These involve changes in Amsterdam and Paris - but both these airports have invested considerable money and effort into getting the system right. And dare I say it, in much more pleasant surroundings then those of Heathrow.

1 . If time or circumstance preclude you from getting to your systems.
Many bookings are made "on the hoof" and not everyone has the time to try to figure their way through many websites. A travel agent's fees start at about £20 per ticket. If it takes about 45 minutes to sort out a booking, what is your time worth? And what is it worth when you find out you have got it wrong?

3. Anything that involves C, D and more

As soon as a journey moves beyond "there and back", a travel agent should be involved. The more airlines move towards a policy of "only me" the more complicated things become for anything other than simple journeys. Whereas before, one could assume that any airline could deal with a whole itinerary, no matter how complicated, it is now the case that any one airline can really deal with, at best, members of it's own alliance. More often than not, they can only deal with flights on their own airline. There are many reasons for this but the principle reason is that airline staff receive little, if any, "holistic" travel training. They are merely taught how to book their own flights. The move of many to call centres located in places such as India, has done nothing to make this situation any better. Indeed, it has made matters a lot worse.

The only people left who have this holistic understanding and so best able to deal with a complicated itinerary, is the traditional, high street type, travel agent. Since airlines have to all intents and purposes, done away with commission paid to travel agents, the advice given effectively becomes impartial, or at worst, nonchalant - it matters not which airline you travel on. Trus, some airlines still offer agents commission and others offer agents "net" fares (that is, discounted). As far as discounted fares are concerned, these can only benefit you, the traveller and as far as those airlines that still offer commission - well, so the travel agents makes a few shillings - and if the price and times suit, so what.

Moreover, an agent equipped with the modern GDS (Global Distribution System - or airline reservation system) can hold flights for a period of time, so enabling the traveller to make any outstanding arrangements without fear of losing his or her seats - and more importantly, losing the fare.

An agent will also be willing to spend time permutating fares. On any involved journey, how the price is calculated is by no means straightforward. Buy combining various flights on specific tickets, even by adding unwanted flights in, the fare may change dramatically. Here is an example:

*A«
1.1BUSINESSMAN/AMR
1 BD 103Y 06MAR 2 LHRAMS SS1 0820 1035 /DCBD /E
NON-SMOKING FLIGHT
2 KL1707C 06MAR 2 AMSMAD SS1 2040 2315 /DCKL /E
3 IB3166C 07MAR 3 MADLHR SS1 1630 1750 /DCIB /E
*IBERIA DEPARTURES/ARRIVALS AT MADRID NEW TERMINAL 4

WPNC«
BASE FARE TAXES TOTAL
1- GBP958.00 73.90XT GBP1031.90ADT
XT 20.00GB 13.00UB 2.70CJ 3.00RN
1.30VV 2.90JD 1.00QV 21.00YQ
9.00YR
958.00 73.90 1031.90TTL
ADT-01 C
LON BD X/AMS KL MAD20M1029.16C IB LON857.62C NUC1886.78
END ROE0.507796

Simple enough itinerary - but taken together the price comes to £1031.90. So, lets book the best we can get for each individual flight. (You will have to trust me on this one!) Flight 1 (to Amsterdam) costs £72.50 - Great! Flight 2 costs £336.60 and flight 3 costs £487.90. Not so great. et us say we just want the best price and changes are acceptable, for a fee. Take a look at the itinerary below:

*A«
1.1BUSINESSMAN/AMR
1 BD 103Y 06MAR 2 LHRAMS SS1 0820 1035 /DCBD /E
NON-SMOKING FLIGHT
2 KL1707V 06MAR 2 AMSMAD SS1 2040 2315 /DCKL /E
3 IB3166V 07MAR 3 MADLHR SS1 1630 1750 /DCIB /E
*IBERIA DEPARTURES/ARRIVALS AT MADRID NEW TERMINAL 4
4 IB7443N 16MAR 5 LHRMAD SS1 0920 1240 /DCIB /E
OPERATED BY BRITISH AIRWAYS
CHECK IN PERFORMED BY BRITISH AIRWAYS AT LHR TERMINAL 1
OPERATED BY BRITISH AIRWAYS
5 KL1700T 18MAR 7 MADAMS SS1 1030 1320 /DCKL /E
TKT/TIME LIMIT
1.T-

WPS3-4‡NCB«
07MAR DEPARTURE DATE-----LAST DAY TO PURCHASE 20FEB
BASE FARE EQUIV AMT TAXES TOTAL
1- EUR155.00 GBP103.00 54.90XT GBP157.90ADT
XT 10.00GB 13.00UB 2.90JD 1.00QV
28.00YQ
155.00 103.00 54.90 157.90TTL
ADT-01 VEUNES NEUNES
MAD IB LON123.01VEUNES IB MAD83.11NEUNES NUC206.12
END ROE0.751949

WPS2/5‡NC«
06MAR DEPARTURE DATE-----LAST DAY TO PURCHASE 24FEB
BASE FARE EQUIV AMT TAXES TOTAL
1- EUR104.00 GBP69.00 50.50XT GBP119.50ADT
XT 8.50CJ 8.80RN 1.30VV 2.90JD
1.00QV 28.00YR
104.00 69.00 50.50 119.50TTL
ADT-01 VPXKL TPXKL
AMS KL MAD45.88VPXKL KL AMS92.42TPXKL NUC138.30END ROE0.751949
FARE RESTRICTIONS APPLY

On the right is an example of a business travel agent doing his job. The trip from Amsterdam to Madrid and Madrid to London have been made into return tickets. The price now comes to £157.90 to get home from Madrid and £119.50 to fly from Amsterdam to Madrid. The agent has done several things, firstly he (or indeed, she) has recognised that something can be done (holistic training), knows how to get around it (fares knowledge) and knows how to book it (GDS training) Instead of paying £824.50 you are now paying £277.40. Given that changes cost about £30 you may still change the flights and come out on top.

There is no website or self booking tool that will do this for you. Only a travel agent can do this. An airline will tell you that you can't (unless you are already in the know and just start out by asking for return tickets) Most business people want their travel arrangements made, if they wanted to be a travel agent they would train as one. As the travel agency saying goes : "You worry about making the million dollar deal and we will worry about getting you to the right office at the right time - to make it" The business travel world is now littered with amateur travel agents, the mistakes and cost they all run up, is staggering.

What about low cost airlines?

You certainly do not need a travel agent to book low cost airlines. You may have a friendly agent, that is, if they are worth their salt, one who is prepared to say "The best flight is on El Cheapo, they are online" and let you get on with it. Many agents are quite happy to work on an on-balance basis, that is, as long as they are getting reasonable fees, when the odd one comes up, they should just tell you to book online. The travel agent should work for you on an added value basis (or, better, a reduced cost basis). As the system becomes more of a partnership, so too will this kind of relationship develop.

This applies to the simple stuff. The message written above still holds true, however, if C and D or more are involved, your booking still needs a good corporate travel agent.

To summarise, then, a travel agent has a role to play depending on the type of booking you wish to make. Travel technology is supposed to be progressing. Yet as it progresses, the potential pitfalls become greater. As airlines, in their search for cost savings move away from traditional selling systems, though simple off peak travel may become much cheaper this is being paid for by the business traveller. The money has to be made up somewhere. By using the internet, the business traveller can easily pay far more then he or she needs to - by hundreds of pounds. Internet booking engines cannot and do not include the "wrinkles and work arounds" known to agents - and there are strong vested interests in keeping these quiet. So the role of the travel agent - a good travel agent - is that of a partner, a travel P.A. If you can find one (and they are a fast diminishing breed) nuture them!

How do I find a good travel agent?

Make sure that you are interviewing the travel agent. Not a salesman. Those that you see, especially from the big Travel Management Companies (TMC) are skilled in selling. They may have been travel agents at one time, but they are salesmen. Any travel agent - big or small - is only as good as the person who answers the call and deals with the enquiry. It is this person that you need to see. What experience they have - and travel is one of those businesses where experience of years counts much more than anything else. You are not looking for bright young ideas, you need a wily old fox who knows all the wrinkles. You need a holistic thinker, who can look at what you are trying to do and think of the best way of tackling a problem - not an order taker. If you have to call your agent and tell them exactly what flights to book, where and when you do not have a travel agent. If you can call your agent and say "Next week I need to go to Paris, New York and Los Angeles and the meetinigs are at 11:00, 15:00 and 09:00 on such and such a day - fix it for me" you have a travel agent. You must have confidence in your agent, having told them what you like (and dislike) they should be able to take these points into consideration, they should have already considered visas, if, say a train is better than a flight - or even a car, considered a hotel. You must feel you have the confidence that the arrangements will work. You must be able to get hold of them when you want to, not some call centre, your agent.

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