Do It Myself Or Try To Find Agent???

... to book our air tickets?

We will be departing the PHL (TTN) (Philadelphia/Trenton) for a southbound Alaskan cruise next year.

My challenge is, I really, really, really would not like to keep up with airline prices, schedules etc. yet I have yet to find an agent willing to take us on as we did not book the cruise through them. The 'agency' through which I booked the cruise had a great offer, but does not do airline tickets as part of their service.

I understand and accept that the usual charge is $25.00 per ticket issue, I have offered to pay $50.00 with no takers. I do understand that the commission on the cruise would more than pay for their time in the air ticketing portion of it.

I will continue to search for an agent, but my sailing is not until July 2017, but wanted to get a head start on the process with some ideas and etc.

My question is, should I continue this seemingly elusive search or resign to the fact that I need to monitor and purchase the tickets myself and not worry about it?

TIA - bo1953

Many people book their own flights...we have for years. Yes, there is a learning curve, but some reading here, and asking a few questions, will expedite things.

My first "lesson": there aren't a lot of seats going to Alaska, and the cruise lines will grab a lot of them. So the prices you see in the next two months are likely going to be the cheapest....

Yes, most TAs don't want to deal with this ticketing, as they make no commission.

This is a pretty simple booking. Just take a look when booking opens for your dates. Search here:

http://matrix.itasoftware.com

Then, when you see a price you can live with, book yourself directly with the airlines on their webpage.

For $25 what kind of service do you think you'll get?

I'm not a TA but among my admin team even my lowest level of clerical staff is worth about $100/hr to me. So if you came to me with $25 you'd be lucky to get 15mins worth of time tops.

These people are not going to search continuously or daily for you to get the best fare. At that level they'd probably just palm you off with some lousy deal you could easily look up yourself.

Just do what everyone else does, monitor fares, sign up for email alerts from the airlines and be done with it. You don't have to time it perfectly to get a good deal.

I'm not a TA but among my admin team even my lowest level of clerical staff is worth about $100/hr to me. So if you came to me with $25 you'd be lucky to get 15mins worth of time tops.

For you, fbgd, I'd only charge you $75/hour. Call it the frequent flyer discount.

To the OP: Unless you have a travel agent that knows the ins and out of air travel (which is seems like you don't - they sound like volume discount order-takers), you can likely do as well for yourself. A couple of "rules" for you to know. 1) There is no "magic" date or time or window for buying a ticket. 2) There is no "best site" where the super low prices can be found. 3) If you find a price that looks significantly lower than what you can get from the airline direct, it is quite likely to be a bulk ticket that may have some significant restrictions on the fare. Air tickets are NOT like tickets to a play or a sporting event - they have varying fare rules on the underlying fare basis, so just because it is "the same flight", they are likely not the same ticket. 4) Start looking at prices now, keep looking and get a feel for the market. When you see a price that you are happy and comfortable with, you should likely buy. Especially if you plan to fly on "cruise day" when demand is higher. Ask yourself "how will I feel if I have to pay a higher price, rather than grabbing this one" and weigh that against "how much lower am I willing to wait for, and how much am I willing to risk".

It's not rocket surgery. Just take some time to learn the process, and feel free to come here for any suggestions or help with the learning curve.

Actually, it has been several TA's who advances that fee, not at my behest.

You are expecting way too much. Airfare is different than cruise fare in the sense that you can keep price adjusting a cruise up until final payment in most cases. Airfare is a different beast as the cheapest tickets are non-refundable. It isn't worth the $25 to track airfares and determine the exact right moment to book a fare. It also comes with the risk for the TA if they don't book on the mythical perfect day then they have angry clients.

Review airfare and know when the airfare is within your budget and just book it. There is no crystal ball to tell you the absolute best day to book.

For you, fbgd, I'd only charge you $75/hour. Call it the frequent flyer discount.

Ever the gentleman, sir!

Ever the gentleman, sir!

Other than FlyerTalker, there are concierge services that will search for fares, routes and even use your miles to get you where you are going. They also provide services while traveling to help you with any issue like changed or canceled flight.

Thing is you PAY for this, any savings would be used up by the service IMHO.

... to book our air tickets?

 

We will be departing the PHL (TTN) (Philadelphia/Trenton) for a southbound Alaskan cruise next year.

 

My challenge is, I really, really, really would not like to keep up with airline prices, schedules etc. yet I have yet to find an agent willing to take us on as we did not book the cruise through them. The 'agency' through which I booked the cruise had a great offer, but does not do airline tickets as part of their service.

 

I understand and accept that the usual charge is $25.00 per ticket issue, I have offered to pay $50.00 with no takers. I do understand that the commission on the cruise would more than pay for their time in the air ticketing portion of it.

 

I will continue to search for an agent, but my sailing is not until July 2017, but wanted to get a head start on the process with some ideas and etc.

 

My question is, should I continue this seemingly elusive search or resign to the fact that I need to monitor and purchase the tickets myself and not worry about it?

 

TIA - bo1953

do a little research yourself -- don't stress- just find out what is available. Take a survey of maybe price from Expedia or other on-line company, airline and package deal (hotel with tickets) so you have some sort of realistic idea of what the tickets cost. I buy almost always from the airline itself. You want to be their customer NOT Expedia or other provider including curiseline if anything is delayed or cancelled. Buy your ticket when you see a realistic good price. AND THEN forget about it. You want to score a fair fare ! Don't matter what fare anyone else got either -- (I believe a whole lot of hot air drives these wonderful bargains people brag about). So establish what a fair price is, watch the pricing for a few weeks to see if price is moving, and then make your purchase and get on with life.

Everyone needs to understand that I NEVER want something for nothing. I expect to pay for services received or contracted for. I Am or have not been looking for the cheapest fare either, so that is off the table too.

The $25.00 charge came from the agencies I contacted and I accepted it as the 'going rate' as it were. Were they to tell me what they would charge I would mull it over and decide if it were fair or not.

One agency did tell me flat out that since they did not book the cruise, they would not deal with doing just airfare as '$25.00' was not enough compensation to consider it. Were they to hear me out fully, then they would have known I Am willing to pay more for the service. The reason I did not book the cruise through this agency is the fact that they would not allow me full access to the cruise line to pay my bills and other such, and that was not acceptable to me and my party of six (6). Additionally, they were offering no perks, which was fine with us, the deal breaker is access to our booking directly. Fast forward new agency, contact with cruise line on booking, partially and almost enough OBC to cover economy airfare, but we wish premium seating, so we expect to pay more.

I would rather place it in an agents hands and say here you book it and not worry. We are expecting to pay up to 50% of our cruise fare in airfare, so that is part of our budget.

Yet still, the purpose of the poll and question is to fact find how fellow cruisers handle their air, if not included in cruise fare or etc..

Thank you all for your input and vote... it is appreciated for sure.

bon voyage

do a little research yourself -- don't stress- just find out what is available. Take a survey of maybe price from Expedia or other on-line company, airline and package deal (hotel with tickets) so you have some sort of realistic idea of what the tickets cost. I buy almost always from the airline itself. You want to be their customer NOT Expedia or other provider including curiseline if anything is delayed or cancelled. Buy your ticket when you see a realistic good price. AND THEN forget about it. You want to score a fair fare ! Don't matter what fare anyone else got either -- (I believe a whole lot of hot air drives these wonderful bargains people brag about). So establish what a fair price is, watch the pricing for a few weeks to see if price is moving, and then make your purchase and get on with life.

Thank you BMM, I will most likely have to do it this way. Appreciate the input.

bon voyage

I would rather place it in an agents hands and say here you book it and not worry. We are expecting to pay up to 50% of our cruise fare in airfare, so that is part of our budget.

Two thoughts:

1) It's the people who just put air in their agent's hand that are usually the one's who end up worrying. Unless the TA knows what they are doing, you could easily get bad routings, connections that are either too short or too long, and more. When you do it yourself, YOU make the choices and make sure that it fits YOUR needs.

2) You really shouldn't be thinking in terms of "50% of our cruise fare". There's a zero correlation between the two. Your budgeting should be based on actual fare history for your city-pair. 50% may be way too high or way too low. Who knows what you paid for the cabin and how that relates to the air.

One big plus to you...your willingness to communicate. Too often, it's pulling teeth from some folks, or a post and never seen again. We'll see that you get through this just fine.

I assume from your posts that you are looking for a routing of PHL-ANC and YVR-PHL. You mentioned premium seating, so let me just toss into the mix a return from YVR into JFK rather than PHL. You could fly the jewel of North American flights, Cathay Pacific's "hidden" YVR-JFK segment.

Give all these things a look see. Take your time to get a feel for the markets, and also look to alternatives such as JFK/EWR and BWI/IAD. Not that far if you can get better flight alternatives.

Two thoughts:

 

1) It's the people who just put air in their agent's hand that are usually the one's who end up worrying. Unless the TA knows what they are doing, you could easily get bad routings, connections that are either too short or too long, and more. When you do it yourself, YOU make the choices and make sure that it fits YOUR needs.

 

2) You really shouldn't be thinking in terms of "50% of our cruise fare". There's a zero correlation between the two. Your budgeting should be based on actual fare history for your city-pair. 50% may be way too high or way too low. Who knows what you paid for the cabin and how that relates to the air.

 

One big plus to you...your willingness to communicate. Too often, it's pulling teeth from some folks, or a post and never seen again. We'll see that you get through this just fine.

 

I assume from your posts that you are looking for a routing of PHL-ANC and YVR-PHL. You mentioned premium seating, so let me just toss into the mix a return from YVR into JFK rather than PHL. You could fly the jewel of North American flights, Cathay Pacific's "hidden" YVR-JFK segment.

 

Give all these things a look see. Take your time to get a feel for the markets, and also look to alternatives such as JFK/EWR and BWI/IAD. Not that far if you can get better flight alternatives.

Thank you FT for the input. I will look into the YVR-JFK route on CX, had not thought of that... EWR is a deal breaker, that airport is so lame and people beyond rude and lost luggage has been our experience. JFK, while a bit further away, I think we can muster up to deal with traffic back to TTN or possibly find a connecting flight to PHL?

Our cruise fare is approximately $5k. We have seen coach fares as low as $600 r/t in coach, yet for the distance flown, it would not be comfortable enough for our desires, as such Premium, Coach+ and the like or Business Class. I weigh in at a hefty 185# and to sit in coach for more than 2.5 hours is not what we are looking for. Cheap, yes, comfortable a MUST, this beats advertized cheap any day.

Cruise vacations are our once a year splurge so we want to be comfortable from the time we leave home to the time we return home...

I should be able to find the CX flight at their website or your recommendation?

bon voyage

I am utterly confused with why you want a travel agent to be involved for the following reasons:

1. Your travel dates are firm
   
2. Your number and names of passengers are confirmed
   
3. You know the cabin of travel you wish to fly
   

What is it you expect the TA to do for you?

If you want to know the difference between the different airlines premium economy products then there are plenty of videos, photos and blog posts comparing them all. TA are not airline crystal balls and have no idea when the lowest price will be and there is no kick back/commission to the TA from the airline hence there is no OBC for you. Airlines used to pay commissions to TA for sending business their way in a largely regulated economy where prices were dictated and equal among carriers. TA have little to no swing with helping you during IRROPS they are peons just like you so better to book it yourself and be totally in control.

... to book our air tickets?

 

We will be departing the PHL (TTN) (Philadelphia/Trenton) for a southbound Alaskan cruise next year.

 

My challenge is, I really, really, really would not like to keep up with airline prices, schedules etc. yet I have yet to find an agent willing to take us on as we did not book the cruise through them. The 'agency' through which I booked the cruise had a great offer, but does not do airline tickets as part of their service.

 

I understand and accept that the usual charge is $25.00 per ticket issue, I have offered to pay $50.00 with no takers.

You're unlikely to find a TA to do this because $25 just isn't worth it. For $25 what you'll get is a TA who basically does a one time search and says "here are the options currently available." If you want someone to do everything you DON'T want to do, i.e. constantly check prices and routings, hoping to find the magic day when you get the best routing for the best price, you're asking for a lot more than $50 of their time.

For $25 what kind of service do you think you'll get?

 

I'm not a TA but among my admin team even my lowest level of clerical staff is worth about $100/hr to me. So if you came to me with $25 you'd be lucky to get 15mins worth of time tops.

 

These people are not going to search continuously or daily for you to get the best fare. At that level they'd probably just palm you off with some lousy deal you could easily look up yourself.

^^^this

 

 

I would rather place it in an agents hands and say here you book it and not worry. We are expecting to pay up to 50% of our cruise fare in airfare, so that is part of our budget.

 

"Here you book it" sounds so simple but there are so many factors at play that I can understand why a TA would be hesitant, unsure that you'd be satisfied with what they find.

Ex. What if a TA found a price you like, BUT... the trip involves 3 connections? Or transferring between 2 different airlines? Would you be ok with that? Maybe, but some people would go ballistic over not having a nonstop or at most, 1 connection. So then the TA finds the itinerary you like but there is no advance seat selection or only middle seats available. Would you be ok with that? Maybe, but again- some people would go ballistic. So the TA goes back to the drawing board and finally finds a flight that has the right price and routing but oops, there are only 4 seats available at that price and it's an airline you've never flown. Do you see now why it's not so easy to say "here you book it?" By the time you go over parameter with the TA, including all the various conditions under which you'd consider a higher price or an additional connection or whatever, you might as well spend the time to research and book it yourself.

Personally, I book all my own airfare. I don't want to risk ending up with a bulk/consolidator/"specially negotiated" fare, and I know the ins and outs of my preferred airline better than I expect most TA's do. TA's don't get commission on airfare and thus must don't spend much time booking airfare. As a result, few have any real knowledge of how to find a great price, other than relying on consolidators, and they don't know all the ins and outs of working the system to find connections on partner airlines to book an unusual routing etc.

The $25.00 charge came from the agencies I contacted and I accepted it as the 'going rate' as it were.

If you really want someone to research your options, monitor prices, and alert you and advise you when there's a good fare, the reality is probably that it will cost you more money to get such a service than you could possibly hope to save on an air ticket of the kind that you want to buy. If anyone promises you the earth for next to nothing, be very suspicious about what you're being offered.

It probably is the going rate. But for that, you'll probably get next to zero work done for you. It's the fee for doing the minimum necessary to book you a ticket. Double that isn't going to get you very much more; twice zero is still zero.

 

If you really want someone to research your options, monitor prices, and alert you and advise you when there's a good fare, the reality is probably that it will cost you more money to get such a service than you could possibly hope to save on an air ticket of the kind that you want to buy. If anyone promises you the earth for next to nothing, be very suspicious about what you're being offered.

Actually, I prefer to pay a commission. I actually expected somewhere in the neighbourhood of 9%, as it was in the 'olden' days when I wrote tickets by hand and had to phone up the airlines for routings and changes and etc...

Then again, that might not be enough for what I would like to have done, yet it was my starting point, had I gotten there! LOL

Thank you for your input,

bon voyage

Actually, I prefer to pay a commission. I actually expected somewhere in the neighbourhood of 9%, as it was in the 'olden' days when I wrote tickets by hand and had to phone up the airlines for routings and changes and etc...

 

Then again, that might not be enough for what I would like to have done, yet it was my starting point, had I gotten there! LOL

 

The industry has changed, and TA's don't work off of airline commission. YOU may be willing to pay more, but again- unless the TA is a true expert in the realm of airfare bookings, you'll likely be wasting money, as most are far from experts in this area.

Other than FlyerTalker, there are concierge services that will search for fares, routes and even use your miles to get you where you are going. They also provide services while traveling to help you with any issue like changed or canceled flight.

Thing is you PAY for this, any savings would be used up by the service IMHO.

BL - these concierge services are easy enough to find? Any direction you can provide is greatly appreciated.

TIA - bo1953

BL - these concierge services are easy enough to find? Any direction you can provide is greatly appreciated.

 

TIA - bo1953

There's a whole forum on Flyertalk that includes them - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-tools-701/ If you're avoiding booking this simple trip yourself because of complexity, you're in for a shock when trying to use one of these services, because they specialize in really tough projects, not easy ones. I know what I'm talking about here - I was one of them for several years, and I only took clients when their proposals were challenges, for example an 88-year old deaf man and his disabled wife who wanted to use his Delta miles to fly business class around the world, stopping in New Zealand, China, Thailand, Kenya, Italy and Ireland. Got it done.

But I seriously believe you're making a Matterhorn out of a molehill. Go on Expedia (which is a travel agency after all) and put in your dates. Experiment with it now so you get the hang of it, but don't actually make the booking until this winter as prices will almost certainly change in your favor in the meantime.

Expedia (which now owns Travelocity and Orbitz) has better access to the airline booking systems than any brick-and-mortar travel agency does, has access to negotiated fares, has worldwide 24/7 customer support, and can book tickets using different airlines and airline alliances, something the airlines won't readily do on their own websites.

This isn't a marketing pitch for Expedia - I've got no affiliation with them and rarely use them because I'm an American Airlines loyalist and "elite" flyer (woo hoo.) But they're the big dog in the business and have an excellent track record helping people who fly infrequently.

There's a whole forum on Flyertalk that includes them - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-tools-701/ If you're avoiding booking this simple trip yourself because of complexity, you're in for a shock when trying to use one of these services, because they specialize in really tough projects, not easy ones. I know what I'm talking about here - I was one of them for several years, and I only took clients when their proposals were challenges, for example an 88-year old deaf man and his disabled wife who wanted to use his Delta miles to fly business class around the world, stopping in New Zealand, China, Thailand, Kenya, Italy and Ireland. Got it done.

 

But I seriously believe you're making a Matterhorn out of a molehill. Go on Expedia (which is a travel agency after all) and put in your dates. Experiment with it now so you get the hang of it, but don't actually make the booking until this winter as prices will almost certainly change in your favor in the meantime.

 

Expedia (which now owns Travelocity and Orbitz) has better access to the airline booking systems than any brick-and-mortar travel agency does, has access to negotiated fares, has worldwide 24/7 customer support, and can book tickets using different airlines and airline alliances, something the airlines won't readily do on their own websites.

 

This isn't a marketing pitch for Expedia - I've got no affiliation with them and rarely use them because I'm an American Airlines loyalist and "elite" flyer (woo hoo.) But they're the big dog in the business and have an excellent track record helping people who fly infrequently.

G - thank you and I will most certainly investigate your recommendations.

bon voyage

Hello all,

As a follow up to the poll and question, I have decided to do this myself. As I found doing all of the research and suggestions made here, it would be easier to direct that energy into doing the ticketing myself (even though the thought is loathing, to me! LOL).

For my next sailing I will look for a TA who can/will do it all for us...

Thank you all for your input and recommendations.

bon voyage!

I've been in the travel industry for over 20 years (since the age of 10) and I would be delighted to help.

Unless you're a travel pro, know where to look, don't mind devoting time, second guess whether you've selected the best deal, in addition to populating websites with personal information, passport details and the like...let someone else do it.

Let bricklayers lay brick and delivery boys deliver. If you think Expedia or Orbitz will help during IRROPS or if a hotel underdelivers, for as much as they're paid for your booking, :eek: