On Fri, 29 Mar 2002 09:37:15 -0800, you wrote: >My (partial) list of services that travel agents have provided that you >can't get from a web-site or a single airline. > >1) Consolidator fares. UAL wants $2400, Consolidator fare for same >flights $1000. Duhhh. > >2) On fares between $400-$3000 my travel agent CONTINUALLY beats the >best fare from www.itasoftware.com, www.ual.com, www.orbitz.com, >www.tripeze.com, www.qixo.com, www.expedia.com WELL in excess of any >ticket issue fee (in most cases 2x and 3x) > >3) Rental car rates, hotel rates the web sites can't even touch. (and I >DO check.) > >4) Travel agents can tell you how full a flight is, in what fare classes >etc. Web-sites and airlines won't. > >5) Travel agents have the best user-interface in the world -> The human >voice. > >6) Ever shopped for competitive travel insurance on the web? Agents can >handle it with ease. > >7) Some airlines and fares can't even be booked online in conjunction >with other travel (Tobago Express.) > >8) One point of contact for a complete, complex, interline travel. (UAL >won't touch an AC res, and can't even SEE an AA one.) > >Dealing with a web-site or an airline by airline/hotel by hotel basis is >a self-service concept. It, for a good amount of travel, is not the >cheapest or best service model. With well over 60% of the market capable >of self-service for travel, less than 25% actually do it. That's a bit >of a gap. > >SABRE and it's compadre's have been built over forty years, it's quite >premature to think the entire model can be replaced in a matter of a few >years. > You have not mentioned charter flights. This may be no big deal in the US, but it's big business in Europe, enabling Europeans to travel cheaply and safely both short and long-haul. Many agents have access to the operators' offerings, either by phone or by electronic means such as viewdata or the Internet. And some deals are spectacular, especially close to departure when the operator is under pressure to fill his unsold allocation of seats. And, of course, most holiday packages are still booked by agents. The big difficulty concerning agents, I think, is actually finding a good one.