Article: Is a Travel Agent Renaissance Coming?

[RooFlyer]

but the run of the mill Flight Centre or Hello World (which makes up the bulk of the agencies) aren't going to help much and in my opinion might stuff your trip up even more then you'd hope.

Well, thats the thing, isn't it. Avoid Flight Centre and Hello World and use a 'real' travel agent.

I can however see that for older or less confident flyers they would be helpful though.

Well, just . Types like Princess Fiona, drron and myself are 'less confident flyers'? I don't see how age comes into it. But perhaps that was just a put-down aside?

If you don't use an experienced TA, then you simply don't know what you are missing out on and so make the comment you did. Mine has never cost me more than the airline charges. Of course you might like hanging on your phone in various overseas places waiting for the airline call centre to answer (and be soooo helpful like Qantas' ....). When there is a problem, I simple text or e-mail my TA (or their 24/7 service) and they fix it while I go back to sleep, or even when I'm waiting by the airline counter.

As for booking - what I do is get the itinerary I want (ie have the fun of planning etc) and give it to the TA to book, the best way they can find. Can you get very low fuel etc taxes by having your ticket overseas written on (say) American Airlines paper, as opposed to Qantas or the originating airline's paper? I can - with a OW RTW ticket with QF first flights just pre covid I think saved $1,000-odd by having it ticketed by AA, although JAL would have been similarly cheap.

Going back the OP's post - yes, I think there will be (should be) a resurgence in TA use - much more chance of cancelled or changed schedule flights that can really muck up a trip. As I said, an individual can sit on the phone overseas, or on a web site desperately trying to find the alternatives that everyone else on the affected flight is trying to find and book, or a TA can do it for you, no cost, no hassle and looking at multiple options at the same time.

Another time, the itinerary I wanted broke a OW RTW rule - but my TA was able to speak direct to the airline agent and have that rule waived for me.

The TA will chase those refunds from the airline for you, much more effectively than plaintive e-mails from the individual. Mine didn't charage me anything for all that time, although I offered!

There are so many things a good TA can do that improves the cost/flying experinece over what an individual can do, its just not funny. But I guess the confident flyers and younger fliers don't need any of that - they seem to know it all and have infinite time on their hands .