Originally Posted by
aindfan
Do they actually look up fare basis codes and write pricing lines by hand? ... if the reservations agent just conferenced me into the call with the rates agent and let me read the exact fare construction that ITA spits out, we'd save everyone a lot of time.
Fares change often. A changed itinerary sometimes won't auto-price if the stored fare no longer exists in the current tariffs. Although regular reservations agents can get historical fare info with your fare basis code, they are not trained to manually construct a new fare that is a combination of an old fare with a new one -- plus any penalty as well as adjustments of various taxes. Also, TA-booked PNRs often do not have the fares stored, let alone any notation of the fare basis codes. There are also contracted (unpublished) fares that regular agents are not privy to access. All these instances (plus others that I know that I'm not aware of) require the help of the rate desk.
Different airlines have their own requirements for agents to qualify for the rate desk position. Usually they involve several years' experience as phone res agents, and passing some sort of competency test. It's a pretty complicated job, and costly to train everyone given that most changes can be handled automatically without it.