No, it wasn't the travel agents exerting influence. It was the corporate travel departments who had policies that their employees were only allowed to book the least cost logical fares. Since AA's fares that were made available to the agents were higher than the fares that competitors made available, the travelers booked the lower fares on AA's competitors. The corporate travel departments could have allowed travelers to book direct, circumventing the agencies, but there are a number of reasons they chose not to do so.