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This is what a friend told me. Do you still buy tickets from the trusty travel agents or do you now purchase them online???
Domestic or international, I always book online through Travelocity, Expedia and the like.
I purchase them online for most places I go to.
The exception is for small local flights – I really want to go to China next summer and if so, all the internal flights I would go to a chinese travel agent. These flights are hard to book online unless you read Chinese.
My cousin is a Travel Agent & he says that he’s going under ’cause everyone is buying online.
kitzur_dot_net you’re talking rubbish. Many international airlines will show a cheaper fare if booked online. The idea is that with more people booking online this will reduce the airline’s overheads in keeping a reservation office/staff. Furthermore, many good deals and last minute deals can be found online which unfortunately a travel agent with the best will in the world simply cannot beat. So,it’s not a matter of “Proceed at your own risk”
One of the only times it is worthwhile to book via a travel agent is when looking for consolidated fare to Israel (where some agents have special deals negotiated direct with the airlines) or if a journey has more than one stopover and or multiple airlines are being used for the journey.
SJSinNYC if you contact the Chinese Consulate/Embassy where you live they will give you an approved list of agents to use for local travel within China. Please remember Visas are required and some remote places require you to travel with an official guide. Please note the correct seasons to travel (weather) and check if you need innoculations.
This is another reason why there are so many unemployed! Computers have taken over people – now how does that make u feel? We were in the airport checking in at a kiosk, and one of us said “Wow this is great” and an American Airline agent overheard and answered, ” maybe 4 u but not 4 me!”
Mrs. Beautiful, I’m not sure if it was Rav Moshe or Rav Yaakov, zt”l (I think the latter) who always tried to go to a tollbooth with a human over automated. If there is no or a very small line by a human, I try to go there over self checkout.
It is true how computers are just taking over people. Booking online can even be easier than threw a travel agent so I never use them anymore. It is simple to put in the dates you want, and if you are not sure you can search for different days, click and purchase.
Okay, but the machines don’t create and maintain themselves! The technological industry has closed many jobs but opened up others.
In general, I purchase flight tickets online. Last year, when I took a family trip to Israel, we used a travel agent to plan out the trip since we were making our own schedule and not going with a group- we needed information on what places were family-friendly, etc. So for the express purpose of buying tickets, I don’t think there’s any advantage to using a travel agent, but in terms of trip planning, they know a lot of useful information that can otherwise be difficult or time-consuming to find.
I’m so disappointed!
I thought this thread’s title was “Traffic Agents Becoming Extinct”
“Okay, but the machines don’t create and maintain themselves! The technological industry has closed many jobs but opened up others”
We went to Herr’s potato chip factory on chol hamoed (a great trip) there was tour guide guiding through the factory, in one huge, really big room in which most of the production took place the woman announced “Take a good look at this room and all the machinery here, it only takes 3 people to man all these machines all day!”
I’ve been to the Herr’s factory too; it’s a great place to go.
What about all the engineers who developed the software to create the machines, as well as those who physically built them? I imagine it took a lot more than 3.
I buy them online. The internet is the best and the worst thing to have been invented.
however, i have heard of many situations where a live agent came in handy and was able to help when a computer reservation couldn’t, such as natural disasters, flights cancelled in out-of-the-way places, etc. so perhaps if you’re going to somewhere exotic, it might be better not to book on-line, for a level of personal security.
I am too old fasioned to book airline tickets online. I like talking to live people. I am not a big online shopper either for the same reason, I also like to see what I buy rather than ordering a sweater and geting it way too small or different fabric than protrayed. Though, do u know that before the holiday season it is nearly impossible to reach a live person on Amazon. If you e-mail them, they answer quite fast, but answering e-mails takes much faster, and u need much less manpower than sitting on the phone…No doubt about it technology is partly responsible for unemployment and/or layoff.
noitallmr, good question. Maybe we can start a thread using that one!
Talk about irony – I just pulled out my Rolodex to call my old travel agent for something, and wouldn’t you know, I reached an office of the Museum of Natural History! Apparently, the agent closed up shop and the 212 number was snapped up.
Ha ames 🙂
These things can depend. Sometimes, its cheaper to do it directly through an airline’s website.
However, travel agents can have special deals, and might also have codeshares across airlines, so you could fly one carrier out, and fly a second one back (this would be a benefit if you needed to fly out/return at certain times, and the airline only did one flight that was convenient for you).
There are many times that travel agents can get you better deals than online, also TA can help you with planning they have info about the airports wher you need a longer or shorter layover when flying non-direct. When you make a mistake online even in the name you just lost your money, whereas with a TA they can help you and the list goes on. (I’m not a travel agent and have no affiliation to one just talking from experience.)
yeshivaman: If you misspell your name, you DONT lose your money on a air ticket.
many airlines will charge you a fee if you call them up and buy over the phone.
55, not only airlines. Everyone. Great way to make money.
Its est to know prices and look into it before you do anything. Sometimes to Israel El Al will be considerably more than Continental. Check into it.
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