jack

This is to all those who have posted gleefully about travel agents going out of business based on the airlines reducing commissions to zero. Do you realize that the online agencies like travelocity and expedia are going to get zero commission too? What is that going to do to all of you who are so proud of booking your own travel online. When there are no travel agencies---online or otherwise----do you realize airfares will go skyhigh?

doom

Sounds like more dire portents from a soon to be unemployed travel agent. Hehe!

badkarma

Don't worry Jack, all of the nasty people will get theirs someday...

Sad

if travel agents go out of business, then we will have to book everything ourselves.and pay the airlines whatever they ask.and if travel agents stay in business,they will have to charge us.as will the online people.so no matter which way you look at it,we are going to be paying more to travel.and some people are losing their jobs as another aspect of September 11th shows it's ugly face...we will be suffering the consequences of that day for a long time.

no

Sad Sack...er..Sad Times, hate to break it to you, but we already pay whatever the airlines ask. Even after a $15 billion taxpayer bailout.

Where's the logic?

How do travel agents prevent the airlines from charging whatever they want? I just don't get it. Supply/demand and gov't regulations have driven airline prices. There seems to be plenty of competition out there with or without travel agents.

Notme

Just a person here who actually went to one of those "travel career schools". Have never been employed as a travel agent, due to the fact that where I live, I could and do make more money as a secretary!
My point here is that I appreciate having the CHOICE of using a travel agent. Planning on my own is fine, but when we go to Disney or the one cruise we went on, I used my travel agent and really appreciated her!
Why would anyone "rejoice" in not having options? Or in people losing their jobs? Us middle class folks can now afford to fly with our families. Did you all forget how much it cost to fly twenty years ago???
You make a very valid point, Jack.

D

I'm an internal auditor and recently suggested that my company stop allowing the use of travel agents (that is, stop paying for it, its a free country otherwise). I cannot conceive why anyone would pay $30 to have someone else make their air reservations when they can do it themselves on-line in 5 minutes.

I'm sorry for anyone who looses their job, but hey, my grandfather lost his job when the telegraph went out of style.

xxx

I have not seen fare discounts from Travel agents in about a year. Didn't anyone notice when cheap tickets was sold? The emergence of Orbitz owned by the major airlines. Always had travelocity and expedia but all they did was offer slightly more or the same as what the airlines were offering and then did not offer you credit if you decided to postpone travel. Sorry for the travel agents as we all should be but I don't think it will mean much to our ticket prices SOON.

Melissa

But why would you be happy or concerned if the airlines arnt paying us travel agents. It is not like they are giving the consumer the money off thier tickets that they were paying to the agents. They are just not paying us anymore. This will mean that the airlines will have to hire more people to work in their res centres, so the prices will increase. your hold time with a call centre will be an hour or two, when you could just call an agent and have a price in minutes.

Think of the big picture people!!!!

Kristin

So Danna, who are you going to PAY to do the reservations for your company?

Kristin

So Danna, who are you going to PAY to do the reservations for your company? (not sure how big your company is, but if you have as many airline tickets as some corporations I know of, you're going to have a big mess on your hands...

WildBill

Watch out the sky is falling because airlines have decided to not pay commissions to those who do nothing, er, Travel Agents. Roughly within a week of Delta making its annoncement, a fare war errupts among the big boys. Wow, how could there be competition if there aren't travel agents!!! Impossible based on all the unbiased and informed opinions of the TA's on this board. TA's as an outlet for selling tickets and keeping the prices down is minimal and to a large extent laughable. With the exception of consolidators, all most TA's have been doing for the last several years is looking up prices in basically the same search engine(s) that anyone can on-line. Cutting out the commission to Travel Agents isn't going to cost the airlines more money as the nitwit named Melissa seems to think, it's going to save them money. Will they pass those savings onto the consumer? No. Will the airlines still be competing with each other? Yes. Will this competition be what keeps prices down? Yes. The second dumbest post in this string is "Notme's" assertion that prices have come down over the last 20 years because of TA's. Complete lack of common sense.

xxx

Anybody ever use a consolidator for a domestic flight if so who? Wildbill no need for name-calling. Your words will have more credibility without silly slanders. Just makes you look young and ill informed.

Ted

Disintermediation. Look it up.

carl

I'm not convinced that the discontinuation of airline commissions to travel agents will raise prices for all of us, but it certainly hurts people like my 80-year-old mother who doesn't have a computer and wouldn't dream of booking a trip without a travel agent.

I usually prefer to make my own arrangements on the Web, but I've also found that agents can offer charter and package deals to the Caribbean and Mexico that I can't find online.

That may be changing, and if we reach the point where tour operators like Apple and TNT etc. allow consumers to book directly on the Internet, and the folks in my mother's generation die off, there may not be much need for travel agents.

Obviously everyone on this board has Web access and we forget about the people who lack access or aren't computer-savvy. The current trend is not positive for them at all.

Ellen

I am a Fodors travel board junkie and very capable of booking my own travel. However, when traveling overseas I always have my agent book my hotel and air AFTER I have done my research and told them exactly what I want. Why? Because when i get in trouble overseas (canceled flight, hotel double bookings, etc.) I have an 800 number to call for a bail out. Last year in Nice I checked into the Le Meridian, MY choice. It was so awful that I checked out the next day and moved to the Negresco. Meridian didn't even want to discuss the situation with me. One phone call to my agent, and by the time I got home, a full credit was on my AMEX. Was it worth the $25 commission I paid him to book the hotel? You bet! Not all agents will go the extra mile. If yours doesn't, find another one.

nothrilled

Interesting stuff, expecially from the travel agent who implies that travel agents are responsible for the lower airfares of the last 20 years. Gimme a break. Ever heard of "deregulation"?

It seems obvious that the Darwin principle will take hold here. TAs who figure out how to generate business will survive. The others will drop off.

As for that company that's dropping its travel agent, it doesn't surpise me in the least. We dropped ours because everyone here has Internet access and is expected to know how to book a trip -- it's part of the job.

No one wants to see anyone lose a job or livelihood, and I take no joy in the demise of TAs, but stuff happens!

Joanne

I like choices and they seem to be getting fewer and fewer, not just in the travel industry. Box stores are putting smaller stores out of business and I fear it won't be long before the ever popular Walmart (I won't even go in one) will be running the US.

"Ever heard of deregulation?" I certainly have and can't think of one industry that has been deregulated that has benefited the consumer, i.e. the power fiasco here in California last year--and ongoing.

Look at the airlines that have folded up or been acquired. There were at least 10 airlines we used to be able to choose from that are no longer in existence, like Pan Am, Eastern, National.

Carnival has for all intents and purposes ruined cruising for us. They currently own practically every line sailing and are trying to grab Princess as their latest prize.

Ridicule TAs is you must or be satisfied that you can do without them, but this is just one more choice that may no longer be available to us. I personally find that unacceptable.

j

think

You can agree ot disagree about deregulation, but the facts still hold: Dereg is responsible for lower fares, not travel agents, and t's dishonest for a travel agent to assert that they're the ones who caused lower fares.

As for airlines going out of business, the fact is that they, like some TAs, just couldn't cut it in a competitive environment. Simple logic: Why did Eastern fold while USAir expanded from being a commuter carrier (Allegheny Air)? USAir was smarter. Similarly, the smarter TAs will survive.