THE TRAVEL AGENT MIGHT STILL BE THE WAY TO GO

I enjoyed this article from the New York Times this morning (CLICK HERE) about the return of the travel agent.

We used to roll our eyes (when I was in the biz) when a customer would think they deserved specal treatment because they were a "frequent flyer".  When asked how often they flew the answer would often be "3 or 4 times a year".

3 or 4 trips a year might seem like a lot to the average person but the airline sees thousands of people, every week,  who are in the air, at least, once a week.  I had many customers, at the club, who would make three or flights a day to make contacts with all of their customers.

Those folks are REAL "frequent flyers" and they know the airline and hotel business as well and, many times, better than the airline and hotel employees do.  They know all the tricks of the trade and know how and when to book their flights and hotel rooms.  The internet is a great way for those folks to book their trips.  For the rest of us, however, "not so much".

A lot of folks are discovering that the Travel Agent isn't a luxury but a necessity if they want to have the best possible trip at the best possible price.  This is true, today, more than ever before, with the high cost of travel and the full loads on all the planes.

DONNIE COMMENTS:
I had earlier heard of the return of the travel agent, so I tested it myself. In January I contacted an Austin agent and asked for her best deals on a trip to Uruguay. Within a day, she got back to me by eMail, saying she thought current prices too high, and she'd have to do more research. Never heard from her again. And of course we have not been to Uruguay.