T/A Commissions
 

I usually make my own arrangements but we are planning a trip to Ireland involving airline tickets, a car rental & several bed & breakfasts. I enlisted the assistance of a travel agent who booked our flights & tacked on a charge of $25 per person.

He is making a commission on the car rental & hotels. Am I wrong in thinking that charging for the airline reservations I could have made on line is not correct?

Thank you for your input.

Airlines no longer pay commissions to travel agents in most cases, so it's now customary to charge the consumer a "service fee" for the convenience/work done by the travel agent. This doesn't sound unusual to me at all.

You should have an agreement, or read their policies, before this possible dispute came up. I really don't know of any rich travel agents, so I doubt that the commissions on car / B&B are that much. He *DID* do the work that you asked, right? $25 doesn't seem unreasonable.

>"reservations I could have made on line"

An analogy: I could have broiled my own steak last night too, but chose to go to a local steakhouse. When you dance, you gotta pay the band.

Leona.....It sounds like teir was no mention of the service fee until after the tickets were issued.That might be a little tacky.Howvere, my TA has a sign right on his desk in clear view of anybody that his Ticket Service Fee is $30 per ticket issued.If it's a "package" he booked with the car rental and B/B's then likely he will earn some commission.I could easily book my own airline tickets but I'd rather just shoot him an email and have him issue my tickets.While $30 a ticket can add up, I can be making more fruitful use of my time.I do enjoy being top dog to somebody on this planet!!

Love that answer rb_travelerxATyahoo!
Great analogy for many things!

Leona - TA's stopped receiving commissions from the airlines a few years back and most of them now charge a fee to book flights. I can understand you being upset if the TA didn't explain this to you, but there's nothing unusual in the actual charging of a fee.

Thank you all. I know that airlines no longer pay commissions and that's why I mentioned the commissions he will receive for the hotels & car rental. I guess I unwittingly thought that those would be enough. Making an airline reservation via computer takes about 2 minutes.

Actually, I wouldn't be sure that he's even making those other commissions, Leona. I used to work for a large hotel company and we stopped paying commissions on many of the lower-end rates. Basically, the only commissions we paid after 2000-01 or so were the corporate and 'rack' rates. If he found a rate that was as good as what you could have found at a discount website, chances are he's NOT getting any money off of it!

I'm glad I haven't had someone tell me the commission I am earning. i.e. my paycheck, is enough by their standards. If you have someone in a business setting doing a service for you why would you balk because they charge you for it? Making a reservation may take two minutes but you're not taking into consideration all the additional time and energy that may be put into that reservation if something goes wrong on your end.

Many B&Bs and small non-chain hotels in europe do not pay commissions to travel agents at all - or if they do they tend to be small.

I don;t know of any travel agents that assemble packages like that without charge. Usually the only things "free" are the cruises or set packages that the agent gets a bigger commission on.

I gladly pay my TA money to book my tickets for travel outside the US.

My TA has a fair amount of pull with my airline. One time when we were bumped, not of our own accord, we were able to contact her, she contacted her contact at USAirways, and we were put back on the flight all within about 15 minutes.

The agency she works for has a 24 hour hotline.

I book my domestic travel myself but she is worth her weight in gold.

bjork...unfortunatley it is a consumer market. anyone can call the airline direct on an 800 number or the internet and book the same reservation for no fee. and yes...the airline direct, or the internet can do complicated reservations, and has the same information (literally) that any travel agent would have. it is not good business sense.

jasper........so you are saying that if I call United Airlines,they are going to quote me schedules and fares on American Airlines if they dont have what I want? I am sure Marriott would know very little about Ritz Carlton either.Travel Agents do that sort of thing you know...

jasper probably means access to the GDS via a website such as Travelocity.
Yep, you do have access to the database via an online tool that preferences the responses to maximize their revenues.
They may even strip out entire supplier offerings if it suits their purpose.
And, while it may appear you have access to the same content, you do not... as many agencies have access to negotiated rates that CANNOT be viewed by the websites.
Anyone who works in travel automation can tell you a million variables in the scenario.
One thing you cannot get online or through an 800 number is experience.
My TA specializes is travel that is not familiar to me. She's been on 50 cruises and traveled (and toured) hotel in most leisure destinations AND she gets detailed trip reports from her clients.
Yes, she is a great TA and worth every penny I pay her.