Benefits of transferring an existing reservation to a TA

I was tempted to clarify, but was reluctant to bash TAs in the public forum. Perhaps our TA was just a lemon, but is has jaded my opinion of them in general.

 

I booked online, but contacted a travel agent to help arrange some excursions at our destinations. Within minutes, I got a phone call, and she "recommended" transferring my reservation to her in order to make things easier. I had heard that, although TAs cannot undersell the cruise line per se, they can offer perks like sharing their commission, giving OBC, etc. So I thought, what the heck? What do I have to lose?

 

Later that week, I received a statement from the cruise line showing that my stateroom had been changed. We had booked a junior suite and were now in a balcony stateroom, yet the price had gone UP. I called my TA and she said that she changed it (without even asking me) because it was a better deal, but the price went up because the promotion I booked it under had ended. "I'm very sorry." :mad:

 

After much hassle between the cruise line and myself, I got the original booking back.

 

The TA said that she could not book airfare for us, or she would have to charge an $80 upcharge per ticket since the airlines do not offer commissions. Fair enough - I booked it myself.

 

When I asked her about the excursions (my original reason for contacting a TA in the first place) she was giving me prices much higher than I was seeing online, both from the cruise line and private companies. Again, I asked why. "Because they don't pay commission." :confused:

 

In the end I almost lost my stateroom, booked my own airfare, researched and booked my own excursions, and ended up with no "perks" whatsoever. I basically just did all the work and gave my TA a nice commission for nothing.

 

Like I said, I may have just approached the wrong TA, but her agency was recommended by my cruise line. All in all a bad experience that has led me to never use a TA again. If you have a friend that you trust who can recommend a good one, go for it; but don't pick one out of the phone book. (Do they have phone books anymore?)

I am sorry you had this experience. A Travel Agent is never supposed to change a reservation without wrtten or verbal consent from their client. Yes the agent was trying to save you money but to downgrade you and to do so with losing the promotion is a major no no.

This agent could be fired for breaching the contract. When you transfer a reervation and the agnet accepts it then its his or her responsibility to maintain it and not to botch it up. I am so glad you kept an eye on the booking and did not lose the Junior Suite.

Guess what would have happened if the Junior Suite was not avaiable? The agent would be responsible for the upgrade.

I would ask the agent to give you exxtra OBC for downgrading you against your will or a specailty dinner or two for each passenger. Perhaps a firm e-mail to his or her manager is in order that you did not authorize the change of cabin etc.

Please keep us posted and again I am sorry this happened. Its very frustrating when you the cusomer has to do the work of the travel agent.

I work in Travel and Tourism and I know how the backend of the reservation process works. I would not recommend anyone booking airfare with a travel agent unless is a consolidator or they offer no fee bookings as that $80 you paid is just a service charge and does not benefit you and thats per ticket.

If you had booed airfare with Delta there is no charge and with American via the phone $25 per ticket so $80 is too much. This is why I book online and can save $$$ in the process.

Now if the travel agent got me an airfare and I saved $800+ the $80 per ticket is still high but worth it if I am saving a considerable amount but usually you can find the same airfare or better on your own.

I like to book my own airfare because I can control the dates and not have to work with the cruiselines. For my upcoming cruise I booked Iceland Air with a stopover in Iceland. I have never seen Iceland Air booked under CruiseAir.

Iceland Air gives you a free checked allotment one bag from Europe and 2 from USA Free Seat Assignment. Yes meals are for purchase but so be it I'll buy a sandwich in Amsterdam and a meal on Iceland Air to Seattle. Other airlines charge for seat assignments and bags so by the time you take that into account IcelandAir is a nice way to see a new counry and break up the trip.

I can fly in the day before to the port and book a hotel for less than the cruiseline price in better location in Tampa and AirBnB for Amsterdam and Rejkavik. Now can Royal Cribbean or a Travel Agent book you at an AirBnb? I doubt it.

Perhaps a firm e-mail to his or her manager is in order that you did not authorize the change of cabin etc.

 

I would not recommend anyone booking airfare with a travel agent unless is a consolidator or they offer no fee bookings as that $80 you paid is just a service charge and does not benefit you and thats per ticket.

Oh, you can bet that there was more than a stern letter. This was the only travel agent in my area that was recommended by the cruise line, also. I made sure that their customer service knew the whole story, too.

I did book through Delta. Yes, I got a good deal and (despite the TA swearing that all of the flights were 17-hour overnights) managed to find a 9 hour trip fairly cheap.

Contract? Hmm... Yes, that should have thrown up red flags. I never signed a contract. In fact, all said and done, I never even met her in person. I asked about her fees and she said that the cruise line pays them. All she asked for was the reservation number. I found out that the cabin had changed when I received the notice from the cruise line that my reservation had been transferred, so she "took care of that."

I'm pretty sure that if I fought hard enough, the line would have taken the booking away from her but I didn't want t risk screwing it up even more. By that point, it would just have been for the principal of the thing.

But the bright side is that, since I ended up doing everything myself, I now have enough confidence that I will go it alone the next time around.