Originally Posted by formeraa

The first agent was strictly following the rules and/or inexperienced and/or lazy. They probably didn't know how to detach the domestic portion and maybe even had never heard of doing this.

The second agent was probably much more experienced and was able to find you a much better solution.

This happens in all lines of work. I once had an insurance agent save me a $100 on my car insurance by changing the way my policy was entered into the computer (same coverage). The previous 3 agents had never suggested it. I asked him and he said that most agents don't know about this.