TA perks and commissions

[ondeckatsea]

Maybe I'm just being cheap but the last 4 or 5 cruises we booked were booked on the ship. We then passed on the booking to our travel agent. Now it's time to book air and it irks me that I have to pay $35 per person for her to book our flights and I'm thinking of bypassing the TA and keeping the $70. It's easy enough but my thought is that where is the gratitude for passing on a completely planned booking and what am I getting out of this? In days gone by we would get a small cabin credit or a bottle of wine, but now...nothing.

[CaveDiving]

Switch to a more appreciative TA in the future.

 

Scott & Karen

[paul929207]

Seems to me you are dealing with the wrong TA. We save 10 to 20% when we switch our reservation to our TA (Princess booking). We also get some OBC.

[SPacificbound]

I cannot imagine paying someone $70.00 to book your flights, that is appalling.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We use a TA some of the time for cruises, but I have never used one to book a flight, and certainly not for $35 apiece, unless it is some very complicated and tough itinerary to figure out--which so far has not happened.

 

I use a TA for the perks and better prices that they can sometimes provide; I'm perfectly capable of booking my own cruises if needed, and for flights I'd really much rather have that under my own control.

[LHT28]

Book the air yourself

 

TA's do not get any commission for booking air

 

why should they waste their time booking air when you can do it yourself for free..you will also get the flights you want & if not you can blame yourself

[Keith1010]

Look for anther TA.

 

Keith

[mikedw]

Over ten years ago when I worked for an agency doing nothing but government travel, airlines stopped paying commission and we went to a fee based system. Just about every travel agent in the US charges a fee to book airline tickets, some of the international airlines still pay commission for first class and business tickets I believe but that's it. I worked for another travel agency for awhile up here in Western Maryland and it didn't matter if you bought a $10,000.00 trip, we still charged for airline tickets if you wanted us to do them. They took up to much time fare shopping and even charging a fee, you don't make anything off them.

[griffy116]

Our TA always gives us OBC and a bottle of wine or cupcakes are waiting in our cabin. I never use a TA for airline tickets. On our last flight, the airfare was cheaper if we booked online that directly with the airline. We're usually booking 4 tickets so the savings add up to enough to pay for a pre-cruise night at a hotel. Use one of the sites that give you all the flights from point A to point B for comparison. I start out with Kayak. Locate the flight I want, watch the fares and when it's what I think is going to be a good/acceptable price, I go to the airline's website and book it there.