How Dangerous is it to Book Your Own Travel?

Article taken from Cooks American Express Travel Blog
New York, NY- Disintermediation - cutting out the middle man - was previously thought to have killed brick and mortar agencies. Wrong. Travel agents are rising in popularity and booking more airfares than ever. According to the International Association of Travel Agents, travel agent bookings are rising by nearly 10 percent in the second quarter of 2010, despite the presence of internet booking engines. Why? Here are five reasons.

Travel Agents Get Stuff You Can’t
They get upgrades, special treatment from vendors, and discounts that you can’t get. Many airlines won’t guarantee assigned seats, even in business or first class, but travel agents can. Try getting an upgrade or a special seat from the airline, or from a booking engine; you can’t, but your travel agent can, according to Julie Barsamian at CookTravel.Net.

Travel Agents Have Insight to Possibilities (and Problems) You’ve Never Thought of
Inclement weather, medical emergencies, visas, baggage restrictions and ever escalating fees, delays, cancelations, what to wear, where to eat, what not to wear, what not to eat, when and where to reserve bulkhead or exit row seats. Try finding that information on a booking engine. Maybe it’s hidden somewhere in the fine print with the fees.

Vendors are in Cahoots with Travel Agents, Not You
You have to leave to Dubai in three hours and the name on your ticket is spelled wrong, or you have to get on a later flight, what do you do? Call customer service, of course! What does that really mean? You’ll wait on hold for ten minutes before you talk with the lowest level drone available. It ultimately takes an hour to navigate this quagmire, and you don't get what you need. Travel agents don't start from the bottom up; they can make adjustments much quicker than you because they know the vendors, you don't. Aren’t you too old or too busy to put up with outsourced customer service reps from Asia, who don’t know anything?

Would You Let a Gas Station Attendant Drill Your Teeth?
If you would, maybe you should suffer the potentially disastrous blowback of booking your own travel. People specialize for a reason. Maybe you’re a cardiologist, or a writer, or a truck driver…keep it that way, and nobody gets hurt. “There’s a reason why travel agents are not going the way of the dinosaurs and, in fact, are still responsible for over 51 percent of airline bookings around the world,” says Julie Barsamian of CookTravel.Net. “ They have first-hand industry experience and they know the short cuts to savings that you don’t.”

But They’re Expensive!
Travel agents are actually more upfront with their fees than hotel and airline booking engines, or even airlines themselves. True, many travel agents may charge a small booking fee, but it is worth it for a discounted fare. Booking engines and airlines often hide their fees by building them directly into the cost of the ticket, or burying them in lines of fine print. Plus, if you find yourself faced with an emergency and need to cancel or change your booking a travel agent can do it for you. Good luck talking to someone in Mumbai. You get what you pay for.