Sort of following Judge's post I was a little curious how much typically one can save percentage wise by booking your own fair? ON a $2500 flight are we talking $200 or closer to $500? What kind of commission are agents getting? I've always used one just in case a problem arises and always thought it worth some amount of money, but wonder if it was justified. Thanks

Personally, I would never consider booking any trip except through an agent, especially in today's climate of travel.

On several occasions while we were in Africa hunting - and totally cut off from the outside world - changes have been made, and the travel agent took care of things so we can stick to our schedule.

If we had booked directly, I would imagine we would have had a few nightmares on the way back.

3 weeks ago friends of mine were travelling through Europe. One individual was so proud of having bought his ticket directly from the airline's web site. The rest had tickets issued by travel agents.

One flight was cancelled - Alitalia was on strike. All the group were able to get alternate flights, and got back home on time.

Except our hero who had purchased his ticket directly.

He said he had the worst trip of his life.

Alitalia arranged for him to stay at a hotel for the delay until they could arrange another flight for him and others.

He was told to be ready to be picked up by the bus at 7.00. He followed instructions and was ready.

The bus arrived at 10.30. By this time all of the waiting passengers have lost their sense of humour.

At the airport, he discovered that his weight allowance has come down from 30Kgs to 20 Kgs - the 30 was agreed on by Alitalia because he is a frequent flyer with them.

The replacement airline would not budge. He had to pay 9 Euro per Kg over 20 - he had 32.

Eventually he arrived nack home, a day and a half later than he had originally expected, with a promise to NEVER, EVER book any flight directly again.

I've always been amazed that people somehow think travel agents work for free. I used travel agents for years and then when they got scarce I started booking on my own for an extremely busy traveler (business and personal). Now that they are coming back, I will definitely use them if I'm doing anything other than a simple domestic flight.

Think about the time agents spend working out detailed schedules for people who don't book. I think you make it known up-front what type of ticket you want. I always get totally refundable, changeable tickets. They cost more, but changes are a fact of life. Others are more interested in the cheaper tickets - but penalties & fees are a part of that.

Personally, if I've had a travel agent make arrangements for me and I have to cancel for some reason, I always ask about the fee and offer to pay it before they ask. They work for a living. JMO

I booked my flights to RSA via the travel servie by gold card provides(as a Canadain I can;t use gracy). They were very good, I used the points towards the tickets, the price was a bit cheaper. When my flight was cancelled they got me onthe next available one. I can tell you that I would not have been able to reach any of the travel agents I know at 9:00 pm on a weeknight.

I do know that you can reach Gracy after 9 pm on a weeknight.

Positive experience regards

we've always gotten better rates from gracy than on our own, plus they get a bunch of paperwork headaches done for us, plus once when my sons guns were misplaced they had found them before tha airlines even knew they were lost (thru louis at afton house) the rates were about 200 less than on our own. lattter this month when we head to zambia on air miles they took care of getting us seats (business class) for a nominal fee doing all the leg work which they are set up to do and we aren't

For domestic and even most close by international flights (Caribbean and Canada) I will almost always book myself. It's usually just easier. However, for my African trips, I have always used Gracy. I could have saved about $200 on the AirNamibia leg from Frankfurt-Windhoek-Frankfurt if I had booked it myself. With all that can happen on international flights, changing planes in Europe, traveling with firearms and the fact that Murphy if fully ensconced in Africa, knowing that I had someone who could help with possible problems when I am in a jet lagged induced fog was worth the $200.

1. Travel agents
2. Homeowners insurance
3. Tetanus shots
4. Seat belts

All of these things are useless until you need them. But when you do need them, you really need them.

Since 9-11 the airlines have made travel with firearms more difficult. Using a travel agent who does a lot of business with traveling hunters is essential. Rules change, problems arise ...

I would never book my flights with a company that did not offer support. Gracy has come through for me and my clients on so many occasions.

The only flight I ever booked myself was a disaster! I had a plane break down in Ewr, and ended up haveing to fly back to D/FW, spend the night, fly to LAX, to get a flight out to Heathrow, and connect with a flight out of there to Lusaka, Zambia, spend the night again, and out the next day, to fly to Indola, Zambia to get a filght into Mfuwe, for the PH to pick me up, four days of hunting lost, before I got into camp! Never Again! I flew 6,000 miles before I got out of the states!

"HELLO!.... IS THIS GRASY TRAVEL?"

I guess I've been lucky. I've booked a doz flights out of the country on my own.

This last trip to Tanzania I saved over $600 per ticket over what agents quoted. On 3 tickets that savings is substatial.

I have had problems with cancelled flights and missed flights in the past and have found that when you are 7 or 8 time zones and another continent away you pretty much have to solve you own problems and I have been there.

Booked my own trip to Tanz on emirates thru Dubai and took care of the dubai gun permit on my own.

when I asked a travel agent to book thru emirates rather than klm they pretty much said no.

I highly recommnend emirates airline although at 6'2" the seats in economy are a little short on leg room.

My wife and son left 5 days before me and missed their connections at Dubai and Emirates fed them and put them up in a swank hotel and offered to show them around the town all on their tab.

Next time, and God willing that will be soon, we plan on doing a lay over in Dubai.

Clearly, it depends. It was not travelers who cut travel agents out of the loop, but airlines. It was also the internet and the advent of universal access to airline schedules.

Nowadays, if your trip necessitates traveling via only a single airline, there is little benefit or utility in utilizing a travel agent. If you have difficulty with cancellations, delays, or bumps due to overbooking, all the travel agent can do is sympathize with you and serve as an extra step between you and the airline; in the end it is the airline that will have to "fix" it. Unless, of course, you are prepared to pay though the nose for last minute alternatives that an agent might arrange, but in that case, why were you flying on a non-refundable 30-day pre-purchase ticket to begin with?

On the other hand, if you are flying a complicated route that involves two or more airlines, the knowledge, and sometimes intervention, of the travel agent can be helpful. Simply knowing which airlines have baggage handling agreements with connecting airlines can save you a ton of grief. Knowledge like that, although widely and commonly known by travel agents, is often difficult to find for simple consumers.

Travel agents have had to adapt to the age of internet competition. The good ones have done so by offering services and benefits that are valuable to travelers. The others simply take advantage of the laziness or ignorance of their customers by charging them more for what they could buy for less.

Luckly for me I only have to go from Heathrow (UK) to Joburg and then onto Zim, Bots, Moz, or where ever the hunts are... so I book my own flights. Mind you once in Africa I normally stay for the whole hunting season.

I would probably use an Agent if I were in the states though, seems there are lots of change overs etc just to get from the US to SA....

Stonecreek...excellent post!
Peter.

I was self-booked on SAA (using Delta air miles) during the SAA strike bebacle. Despite it being a total clusterf***, Delta was Johnny on the spot to take care of me, though it took several hours on the phone. I went to Atlanta once, stayed the night, and Delta/SAA couldn't get me out of town, so I flew home. A couple weeks later, they flew me back to ATL and sent me on to Joburg. There was no additional cost to me. As stated, if you're only dealing with one airline (or contact), you can probably get by on your own, particularly if you don't mind yelling at people on the phone to get your way. If you're relatively meek, and don't want a confrontation to get your way, you should use an agent to do it for you.

To emphasize one of the points Saeed made above, while on safari I have had to postpone flights home twice. Both times I did it simply by calling Kathi from the bush via satellite phone.

Both times, Kathi helped me instantly.

If I had been forced to make alternate arrangements on my own, my life would have been much more difficult.

IMHO, a good travel agent is well worth the expense.

When travelling in Canada or the US, I generally book flights myself. When travelling outside of Canada or the US, I always use a travel agent, for the extra services and advice they offer. My philosophy is when travelling in new country it is wise to seek local knowledge, and until you get there, a travel agent is as close as you are going to get to local knowledge. Having said that, I've never gotten into a problem abroad that I needed a travel agent's support to solve, but there's always a first time.

quote:

Originally posted by martinbns:
...(as a Canadain I can;t use gracy)...

??? I'm a Canadian and I used Gracy Travel...

I book about half of my flights myself and a half through a good agent. The agents are useful especially when there are a series of connecting flights, different airlines etc.

3 trips to Africa, all self-booked.
LAX-Heathrow-Joburg-Botswana: not a single hiccup

LAX-JFK-Joburg-Windhoek: Missed connection at JFK thanks to Delta and JFK using the same gate numbers at every terminal.

LAX-Schiphol-DAR: not a single hiccup except trying to get out of bush due to AVGAS shortage in DAR. Had to cough up additional $400 for jet fuel for turboprop plane.

Next April to Windhoek, I think I try Kathi just because.

Dave