TA booking fees??

[bamn]

We stopped our local travel office yesterday and she told us there would be a $25 booking fee each. I always thought TAs were paid by the hotels ect. and that it was free for the vacationer. I live in the middle of nowhere so it is the only TA without driving an hour. Do most TAs charge booking fees? She did seem to be able to save us a couple hundred from what the ccl website quoted but I haven't called them directly yet. Cruises cost so much more than I thought and air is killing us.:( And we are really running out of time. If we go we need to go the last weekend in March. This whole thing is driving me nuts!

[ladyhoneybee]

Hi! Some TA's do charge booking fees and some do not. They do get paid commissions but different agencies have different policies. It's not unusual and $25pp doesn't seem too steep compared to other TA's I have spoken to in the past-$50pp or $75pp in comparison.

Nowadays, with the Internet taking over the travel industry, it seems as though a hands-on-human is likely to charge for their services-- including airline reps-- when you book something online, it's at no cost, but sometimes if you have to book through a rep, they charge for it -- we had to pay $15pp to book our open-jaw award tickets, eventhough it simply wasn't an option to book online and we therefore had no choice. I sucked it up and included it in our "trip budget".

If using a TA will ease your mind, I would say that their fee is well worth it. If you're capable and comfortable to do it all yourself, go for it :)

[lvtotrvl1]

Some TA's do charge fees, but many do not. Is the TA doing your airfare for you outside the airline? Many TA's do charge a service fee for air tickets, because the airlines pay no commission at all.

 

A couple questions to ask...what is the fee for.....are there any additional fees for changing a reservation, or cancelling (other than the cruiseline fees)??

[bamn]

Thanks for the input - I have never used a TA before. She was just getting the price with air through CCL.