A guaranteed aisle seat, special meals, access to the VIP lounge _ and tickets to a musical? A guaranteed aisle seat, special meals, access to the VIP lounge _ and tickets to a musical? Airlines want to raise new revenues by selling such extras alongside tickets and are locked in a battle with three companies that dominate the bookings industry over the introduction of a new global reservation system. (www.onenewsnow.com) More...
For a constant traveler in/out of the same areas, it's not a real big deal to book off an Airline website, especially if choices are limited anyway, BUT, for unfamiliar areas or planning time involved,a travel agent is generally much simpler, even with additional cost, as they can see all flights in/out of a particular location, whereas an individual cannot. There will have to be some middle ground here somewhere. Of course, with a CC service like AMEX or so, you can see all flights, and can make your choice, so it's a catch 22. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
I think this is more of a battle against ticketing systems than travel agents. The legacies like United, American, and some other defunct airlines fought hard to keep WN from using these systems. Which led to Southwest's exclusive internet sales. I bet the legacies never anticipated their plan would have backfired to this degree.
I always book through the airline sites and I spend a great deal of time digging around finding which flights I want. The last time I flew I never found a better price than I did through the airline sites, though I paid a bit more for upgrade opportunities and such. I think the average traveler doesn't quite care as much as I do about what kind of plane and where the layover is going to be and all of that.
You're probably right. It seems to me in times past that we never incurred extra charges from the TA's anyway and I remember all the verbage now from a few months back when AA fired the opening salvo against them. You are right on about the backfire but you wouldn't get a one of them to admit it.lol
Well, it's like I said, if you know where you're going and who flies there, or if you have a carrier preference, it ain't no deal. If there is a big carrier selection, you will spend some time. I can rememember a few years back though, when a fare war started between KCLT and KGSO and at the root of it all was higher fees at KCLT and naturally the Airlines had to pass it on, but our TA, by being able to look at both of them simultaneously and different carriers,saved us about $800 a pop by offering not only the other Airport but an alternative carrier. Now, I guess we could have eventually found that on a website too, but how much is your time worth?
it's also funny how things come around and bite you in the hiney. A lot of folks won't remember that AMR started Sabre and then spun it off a few years ago. I can't remember all the reasons but in today's light they would probably border on stupidity.lol
