Originally Posted by JohnAx
That certainly has not been my experience, but maybe I've been lucky. I try to make sure the TA is doing business with an airline that still pays a reasonable commission.
But that's not always the case anymore. As Oneworld partners keep giving zero commissions on RTW, you will eventually have to pay a service fee. If it's just a ticket to be booked and issued, then maybe a flat fee is imposed. But as tickets get more and more complicated, and the travellers get more and more demanding with their requests and questions, the service fee goes up.
I know of agencies who do specialised services where their fees start at a flat fee of US$150 - US$200 to something like US$200 an hour!