I think that the whole idea of giving agents commissions in the first place was a mistake. How can an agent watch for the passenger's interests while being paid by the airline? That is a conflict. Airlines should be forced to sell their product at whatever net fares they can and if you use an agent let them charge for the service. Works like that in every other industry. I know I will NOT fly Pakistan Air for free, but happily pay full fare on the same route flying Cathay. Agent or not. Next when I see how poorly the online systems deal with overseas flights, everyone needs an agent. Then paying for the service is OK. When flying in the US, especially Southwest, who needs an agent? We live in a (US) world where we have full service brokers like Merril Lynch and discount brokers like Schwab. Both make money becuase the markets likes both. Travel agents should embrace the new world becuase they are free of the airline tyranny once and for all. Service is a very "sticky" product - people stick with their providers because the service providers know and understand them. If you disagree tell me how your online ticket agent (Expedia, Travelocity et al) took care of you on Sept. 12th. I know I stood in line in downtown DC for 3 hours like the rest of the folks on UA...it wasn't pretty. Had I used an agent I likely could have done it all by phone. -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Mark Greenwood Sent: Monday, March 25, 2002 6:42 PM To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU Subject: Re: Airline Travel Agent Commissions And why Nick, do you feel that the airlines should have a free distribution network? Mark Nick Laflamme wrote: > At 11:42 AM 3/25/2002 -0800, Matthew Montano wrote: > >Now let me see if I get this right... > > <snip> > >The funny thing is those extra 'fees' is that they never end up in the > >originators pocket. If airlines figured out how to raise their prices AND > >keep the sales reps for 75% of their product happy they would of done much > >better. The customer would still have ended up paying the same price anyways. > > > >The first person in an executive board room that announces "Let's achieve > >growth by dismissing 75% of our sales force" would be asked to leave, > >point blank. > > > >I guess the airline industry continues to show they just don't get it. > > With all due respect to list members who are travel agents, I'm not sure if > it's the airlines or the travel agents who "just don't get it." (And I'm > tired of hearing travels bemoan each cut in commissions.) > > Airlines like Vanguard, Sun Country, WestJet and maybe JetBlue ought to be > paying commissions. Why? Because they need something to level the playing > ground against the advantages the majors have: name recognition, schedule > advantages, and convenience. > > But why should Delta pay a travel agent a commission for a ticket? How > often does a customer choose Delta over a competitor just because a travel > agent recommended them because of a commission? People choose American, > United, Delta, Northwest, and Continental because they're convenient and > well known. In lots of cities both large and small, it's not hard to figure > out a relatively fast, comparatively cheap way to get to some other city. > It's a no-brainer for me to look at both United and Northwest when I'm > considering travel between Washington and Minneapolis. Why would either > United or Northwest pay a travel agent? Heck, United wants me to call them > directly so there's no chance for someone to say, "Or you could fly Sun > Country." The airlines want me to come directly to them; they've got call > centers and web sites with retail access because customers look for them. > > The first person to walk into a board room and say, "Let's pay someone else > to sell what we're already equipped to sell ourselves," has some explaining > to do. > > I'm not saying I never use travel agents. But when I do, air transportation > is never the driving factor; I'm looking at things like resort trips where > once I've picked a resort and a time, the air travel will fall into place. > And even then, if the travel agent says, "I'll just put you on Airtran for > the travel," the majors know I'll ask, "Can I get there on..." and name two > or three majors. No amount of commission paid to the travel agent is going > to get me to pick Airtran. United, Delta, and the others don't have to pay > that commission. Airtran and the other non-majors ought to try. > > None of this applies to Southwest, of course. They're in a class by > themselves. :-) > > >Matthew > > Nick