Wow.. glad I was able to show some of you what a "true" agent can offer.

In regards to my service fees, I've had to extend my customer relations EVEN more so than before.

If one of you buys a ticket from me, notice the bottom of the invoice has my cell phone number and my toll free # for home. This is my personal information... how many of your agents do that? Thankfully our office is powered by Worldspan and I have GO!, which basicly gives me a FULL GDS at home... ask B747-437B, I showed it to him and he LOVES it....

I feel that if someone is willing to pay me for a service, I *better* deliver or I won't be selling travel very long. I wish more agents would understand that.

But the cruise lines and tour operators do extend courtesies to us the airlines used to, including private inventory. You can try to book a hotel in Vegas, lets say the Bellagio, and they say they're sold out. Call me and I can get you a room, EASY! Trick, not really... it's called bulk space.. tour operators, etc. We have that available to us.

I don't care if my clients book online. Heck, sometimes I do it for them (sometimes I'll charge $25, sometimes I will just do it for free). Everything has it's value. Just look at the story about my dad... if he had booked it through me, I would have been able to help.. instead I had to spend hours on the phone with Grupo Taca and United when I could have easily signed onto Worldspan at 2AM and confirmed all of his flights or rebooked him.
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voiding a ticket: I can cancel a ticket without penalties if it's done before we send out our ARC reports.. it's the airline's version of the FDIC. We send ours out on Wednesday, so if you booked something M-F the week before, I can void your ticket and cancel your reservation for a service fee... even non refundable tickets.

Consolidators: DER is one of the most highly respected, well done consolidators. Most of their tickets can change the dates or cancel them for a $100 to $250 fee. If you are abroad when this happens, it will take some time for the agent to determine the change fee, but it's normally easy to do. DER has sold over $1.5 billion in travel since it's founding as is the leading consolidator for KLM/NW and United/Lufthansa in the US... talk about buying power, huh? With excepts of the British Airways contract, all 28 airlines that deal with DER allow you to earn frequent flyer miles and I believe 4 or 5 airlines allow for mileage upgrades... I know UA/LH, NW/KL doesn't :/ but I tell my clients ALL this beforehand!

Now in terms of my profit, I tell my clients that they can pay $3,500 for a full fare and enjoy those benefits or pay me $1,200 (normally a $300 to $600 mark up) and tell them the restrictions and penalties on the fare....
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However people book travel, I wish you the best... I have nothing against booking via the airline... but the moment you give me money for your trip, I'll protect you if you were a close friend....


-nate

[This message has been edited by UAPremierExec (edited 11-18-2001).]