VelocityTours Travel Blog

I always get the question why should I use an agent versus book on line. I have always had an idea why but not really known how to put it into words. I have seen the big discrepancies in price with online booking sites versus what we can find as agents as well I have seen numerous times where hotels are sold out yet they erroneously show rooms available on various sites. The other gotcha with the internet is when you have a problem who are you going to call? Do you really have an extra hour or 2 to sit on the phone and be transferred only to be told no?

Having said that, we do have a booking engine. The great benefit of ours is that a live person goes through each booking and looks for better fares and options before ticketing what has been purchased on-line If we find something better we will call the client to offer them the other option

Recently I had a client that her father was diagnosed with leukemia. She made one phone call to us that lasted a minute and by the next day we were able to get a waiver and change the name on her fathers ticket so someone could accompany her. I wonder how that would have gone if she would have booked with the airline directly or one of the online sites? Now days you usually talk to someone in India or the Philippines when you call the airlines. Getting them to understand you can be difficult at times let alone getting them to change a name would be next to impossible. The airlines just don’t do name changes unless you know who to talk to.

Trent –Velocity Tours and Travel 801-296-8687

Since 2001, Topaz International has conducted comparative studies of corporate travel airfares between actual corporate travel agency booked itineraries and various public internet sites, including Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity and airline direct websites. During the most recent results from 2006, Topaz found that business travel itineraries booked by a designated corporate travel agency averaged $75 less than the same itinerary booked on a public internet site, one of the largest margins since 2002. In addition, the average agency fare and average internet fare were the highest they have been since 2002.

Business Travel Comparisons

YEAR AGENCY FARE // INTERNET FARE // DIFFERENCE

2001         $458         //         $629     //         $171

2002         $594         //         $748     //         $154

2003         $503         //         $572     //         $69

2004         $478         //         $558     //         $80

2005         $427         //         $483     //         $56

2006         $508         //         $583     //         $75

2007         $442         //         $498     //         $56

 Easy to earn, frustrating to use.

FICTION - airlines release a specific number of seats per flight for purchase with frequent flier miles.

FACT - airlines make available seats for purchase with miles that they wont sell otherwise.
FICTION - The earlier you book the more likely you will get the flights you want.

FACT - Seats for mileage are not available 330 days from departure when the flight first comes available. Seats for miles are released periodically depending on the demand for any particular flight. Seats for miles come from the same inventory as seats for sell, so if there are 2 seats for miles available and someone purchases 2 tickets then the 2 seats for miles will most likely be gone unless more are released. If a flight is undersold then the airline will release more seats the closer you get to the flight. People love to use their miles for Hawaii yet the seats are almost never available unless you can plan 3 to 4 weeks prior departure. NOTE: try to avoid booking within 14 weeks otherwise you will get hit with a booking fee. The fee goes even higher for booking 7 days or less prior departure.

Suggestions:

1. check for availability on line.
2. call and check availability. If you get a good agent then chances are they will find you an option. While working for a major airline, I recall many times that I was able to find options for people who asked why the other agents they had spoken to could not. They always asked why I could find them yet the other agents could not.
3. Ask the airline agent to look at their partners availability. Many agents will only look at their airline and not the partners.
4. If it is imperative you travel on specific flights then use double miles.
5. Ask for a waitlist. Many airlines will waitlist a flight if you ask.
6. Just because it is not available today does not mean it wont be available in a few days. Persitance is the key when using miles. Availability changes constantly.
7. Above all other, PUT it on hold if you find something. Chances are it will not be available when you call back.

BEST AIRLINE MILEAGE PROGRAMS

- CONTINENTAL -

• no expiration date on miles. Customer service is excellent.

BEST ELITE PROGRAMS

- DELTA -

• Qualifying for Silver Status is by far the easiest. Other airlines restrict accrual towards Elite status based on the class of service you book. Delta does not. 3 round-trips to Peru or Chile in one year and you qualify for free upgrades for the rest and following year(with other airlines you would have to take twice as many trips to qualify for silver).

- UNITED -

• Upgrades on international flights tend to be easier to get with miles. There are no extra fees with upgrades however you do have to purchase specific class fares. Customer service is excellent.