I'm heading to South America later this year and I am booking my air tickets myself. Have you considered making the reservations yourself? I looked at this in detail and thought I'd be better off making my own reservations, most travel agents wanted to set up everything (hotels, flights, sightseeing, etc) regardless of whether I wanted these services or not.

I too am worried about flight delays and cancellations. What would you expect your travel agent to do in this case? If an airline isn't operating a flight for whatever reasons the travel agent can only rebook you on an alternate flight. If you're thinking of booking a package with hotels, etc with a travel agent and you encouter a flight delay which causes you to miss a night of prebooked hotel insurance will cover you (if you purchase adequate insurance) not the travel agent. Honestly, I don't see what advantages you'd have if you booked with a travel agent.

Good points, RJames. I just wasn't sure which airlines to use for the South American flights, and it worked out that exitotravel managed to get me prices which were better than what I would have managed to get on my own. As for delays etc, I was hoping that I could get some advance warning from the travel agency and hopefully they would be able to get me on the next available flight without too much hassle for me. Anyway, I hope things work out well for both you and I.

Happy travels
Sandlady