Let me preface this by saying that I have travelled around the globe hunting and have been to Africa numerous times. Point being, I know how to book a flight, and I know how to deal with delays, bumps, and cancellation. Now: I was doing my routine Air 2000 communication when she told me that something new has happened (TIA) and it is now suggested that everyone bringing guns through JBG need to book through a travel agent. So I thought, OK, let me check with them to see if their prices compare. Well, they were not even close. The flights they suggested were nearly $700 more than what I had found on my on. Forget about the additional fees they want to charge. So, I try again with a different agent, thinking a fluke. Wrong. $500 more than what I can find and book on my own through Bing, etc... Before anyone jumps on the "you forgot" bandwagon, I have included the additional lay-over factors, additional taxes and fees from websites, and possible over-nights in some connections. SO, with all that said, why should we use travel agents? Is their advocacy really worth aproximately $700/ticket?? BTW, with a wife that's $1400 or an additional Kudu not had. Is there some issue that I haven't experienced with guns through JBG that makes booking with an agent easier? Thoughts? Comments? Thanks

To me, it's a tossup. I'm a retired airline pilot and I can find my way around on my own, but last hunt we had a couple coming in from Mexico and I came in from the states, so there were different day arrivals at AMS, hotel and limo bookings, and our destination was Tanzania, so I can't comment on the JNB situation.

I used Gracy travel with excellent results. Your mileage may vary. I've seen guys reports where they had problems with Gracy, but Debbie and Shawn pulled our fat out of the fire a couple of times. It's nice to have a 24 hour number or you can email a schedule change and have a new booking in a couple of hours so you don't have to go to the airport and try to sort it out with some African counter person who may not have their stuff well stacked.

We're supposedly going to Zim in 2011, so I'll probably book through Gracy again.

Steve,
What I've found is this, I could reserve the flights way in advance without having to pay any money, which was really great, because we had people who were planning on going and at the last minute didnt.

So that was one thing, also, we had some flight changes after we booked the tickets, and if we would have gone to the desk to change our tickets, there would have been some serious penalties. My agent, actually changed our return dates, an hour after we flew out of DFW, when we landed in DC, our itenerary for coming back was fixed, and we didnt have to pay any fees. Which we were expecting, to the tune of about 600$ each. Also, when using a website that give good deals, it normally won't let you change any of the flights in the middle, for instance: there's multiple flights from Joberg to Namibia each day, well, using the online services, I could only get a good price taking the 1st flight out at 6am. Well we landed at 6pm, and I didnt want to wake up leave the hotel having only been there 8 hrs...my agent got us on the 930 flight..which is what I wanted.

Another thing, with my agent, (which I will give you the contact info for at the bottom) she would send me updated ticket prices for the entire time we were booked. So we reserved our tickets in October for a trip in August the following year... when she first priced them for us, they were roughly 2250 each, by late may, they came down gradually, they were 1910, and thats when we finally bought the tickets.

Online stuff is a pain to get refunded, and some take serious percentages when you do...I suggest you use Debbie Trinidad at Custom Travel 414-433-0096...I called her so many times, because of changes/opinions I wanted to talk about. I can tell you, I would have been rather annoyed, but she was always helpful cheerful and I would recommend her services to anyone. Also she knows the layouts of those planes, she got me a great seat without anything in front of me, seriously, I stretched out my legs and couldnt touch anything. She's super.

Steve,

My expereince has been the opposite of yours. I spoke to a prospective client yesterday who told me he didn't want to fly during the World Cup because he had been quoted fares of $3,400-$3,500 which brings the fares up about a S1,000 over normal pricing. He also discovered if he found an on-line cheaper fare in reality no seats at those prices were available. I got on the phone with Gracy and had him 3 fares that would cover his needed hunt dates and include his cost from the nearest airport to Zim and return. The prices ranged from $2,615-$3085. To me this example is enough reason to use a travel agent.

I do admit that a very experienced traveler has less need for a travel agent than a novice but the additional services that an outfit like Gracy Travel provides makes using them in my opinion the only way to go. Their gun permit/meet/greet service in JNB is only one example of why I use them and recommend that my clients do. You send them you personal and gun info and they fill out the SAPS forms and submit them for you. You pay a $100 for the permit and postage and all else is handled for you. Simple on international travel is pricless in my opinion.

Mark

Mark pretty much summed it up!

I believe in using a Travel Agent.

I tell them when I need to be there, and when I need to leave....

I have used Gracy Travel 4 times and have been perfectly satisfied.

I used Wild Travel, and will again...
Let somebody else fiddle with it.

Rich

On the other hand, I think it would be good for you to DIY and report back to us afterwards. Let us know if anything got lost, of they kept anything like rifles because you didn't find out about the new permit(s) required somewhere here or in Africa, or between on a layover or transfer. Like the British government keeping your rifles if you are traveling to certain African countries. I would tell you who they are, but I would not want to spoil your journey of discovery.
Heck, you might be the guy who shows us all how to save enough for a free kudu hunt. Or, report on jail conditions in some third world African country. Along with your wife.

Let us know how that all works for you two...

Rich

I've been booking my own flights for a while now including flights to various places in the world.
the savings can be substatial.

I've only booked one flight to africa, on emmerirates to dar a couple of years ago.

Had no problem including taking care of the gun deal on emmerirates.

Having said all that, i've also missed flights, lost luggage(temporarially), been bumped etc. In fact my family missed a flight to Dar and had to be put up for the night in Dubai. (Emmerates took care of it)

If you are patient, kind and considerate, you can usually take care of the problem at the airline counter. That's a big IF.
I've seen traverlers who were irate and when that happens the irate traverler can have problems where it would be nice to have a good agent.

To me, it is fun to take care of the logistics, but it can be nerve racking and not everybody wants to deal with it.

On our flight to Dar we saved enough $$ by DIY to pay for another ticket.

Airlines pay almost no commission to agents so agents have to tack something on to pay for their services. Is it worth it? To many it is. I guess I've been lucky.

We experienced a delay due to weather when leaving Michigan going to Atlanta (Atlanta was closed), by the time Atlanta was opened up again we could not make the connecting flight to J'Burg. Delta got us re-booked on their flights for the next day but could not do anything for the flight going from J'Burg to East London (SAA) or our hotel in J'Burg. One call to Safari Line took care of everything for us, within an hour or so (new hotel arrangements in J'Burg and seats on the flight to ELS). We could never have done that ourselves (this was about 6:00 P.M. our time). I had considered a DIY thing when we were first booking the safari, but glad that we had Safari Line to bail us out on this.
Based upon this I think it was well worth the additional money.

haven't used a travel agent in 7 years(6 flights to Africa and 1 to New Caledonia with a a stopper in Sydney). but i always travel on freq. flyer miles and refuse to pay a travel agent $200-300 fee for booking a flight for me that i can do with 1 phone call and about 30 minutes of time. also i never travel with a gun anymore. if it flies, floats, f--ks, or fires, it's cheaper to rent it!!

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:
Mark pretty much summed it up!

Yep. He sure did.

I like using travel agents for international stuff. Too much can go wrong and an extra pair of hands fixing it could be a trip saver. Cheap insurance IMO.

Domestic, no way would I use a TA.

quote:

Domestic, no way would I use a TA.

Me, either.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
haven't used a travel agent in 7 years(6 flights to Africa and 1 to New Caledonia with a a stopper in Sydney). but i always travel on freq. flyer miles and refuse to pay a travel agent $200-300 fee for booking a flight for me that i can do with 1 phone call and about 30 minutes of time. also i never travel with a gun anymore. if it flies, floats, f--ks, or fires, it's cheaper to rent it!!

That last line is a classic!!

On the original question -
1. I have made about 500 international flights in the past 10 years. I have had trouble on about 10 or so.

2. I used a travel agent on every one except 5 or 10.

3. My most stressful experience occurred when arranging travel for a group of 17 heading to RSA. I hired an agent that was experienced and she managed everything without any problems.

I agree that I do not like to pay the fees to use agents, however, the cost of the trip and the assurance that I have someone to call if I get jammed when I am in Zim or Zambia or Siberia is worth the price as I cannot usually reach the needed person at an airlines from a remote place.

For domestic travel and to Canada, UK, Europe or Mexico, I book myself and have yet to have a significant problem that I could not handle.

If I were going to J-berg or Cape Town as an end point, I doubt an agent is needed unless you are worried or have guns. Those are basically European cities with excellent infrastructure. But beyond that, I would use an agent.

My 2 cents.

Like selling your house with or without an agent. If you understand the market, you don't need an agent.

Stephen,

With your experience do it yourself. The commisions paid by the airlines have about dried up so now you pay the agent in the ticket price.

The only caveat I can think of is, some of the agencies or consolidators buy up blocks of tickets and get a discount in this fashion. This probably explains Mark's experience.

I do suggest Air 200 or Rifle permits.com when transiting JNB. What I really suggest is AVOID JNB LIKE THE PLAGUE.

Adrian

I don't use travel agents. I have made 9 international trips and I don't know how many domestic trips. The first two international trips were with travel agents. One of those was a disaster. The 7 that I booked (including Africa) myself were without incident (maybe my luck will run out). I am not opposed to using agents to book a hunt, because the price is no different in most cases.

For those who think their travel agent will be there for them when things go wrong may want to consider time changes. When your problem occurs at 2:00 am your travel agents time, what will they do for you?

If it makes you feel at ease, then by all means use them. I am certainly not opposed to travel agents, it's just that I can do it myself with less hassles and in my experience, cheaper. My African trip (air fare) last March was much cheaper than two quotes I got from agents. I know that one of those agents said to me that they buy blocks of seats. Well, I paid $1,208.00 (Grand Rapids, MI - JNB) for my ticket, which was way cheaper than the agents quotes.