Recommend a travel agent?
 

Hi,

I do not have a relationship with a travel agent, and realize that I need one.

Can someone please recommend one? Feel free to reply via email if you so desire.

Thanks!

...and if anyone knows of a good travel agent in west LA (preferably Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica or Brentwood) I also would be thankful...

This is a wide open question. Depending on where you live, there could be THOUSANDS (like in San Fran where the original poster is from).

This really is not the best place to find one. Assuming you even need a travel agent, you should at least work on one that is convienent to you. If across town and no delivery service or difficult for you to do a face to face, you miss the advantages.

You will find a large number on this site that use the web for travel. They book directly with airline and use e-tickets. They go to car rental page and book there. Same with hotels.

I have at least one unusual multi city trip per month and I do not have the patience to surf the net for those type of flights.

So I work with Donna or Elle at Travel the Rainbow, 800-777-8747. They are on the east coast, don't charge any ticket fees and always seem to find a flight cheaper then I can.
Big thing for me is that after they book my flight/hotel/car it is posted online and then I can download it to my PDA. Very important because I hate paper!
I still book the basic flights online, but if you want to have a "just in case" number, they have been good to me. I wonder if I should tell them I just posted their number online. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif Oh well.

I do not have a relationship with a travel agent, and realize that I need one.

Sutter Travel, 693 East Remington Drive, Suite A
Sunnyvale, CA 94087-1941
(408) 481-3838
[email protected]

Carol and Denise have worked with me for over ten years and have gotten me through nearly two million miles on American airlines alone.

Tell them Rick sent you.

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I also think it depends on what you need an agent for - if it's businees travel vs leisure, package vs flights only, discount vs full fare...agents definietly specialize and it most inportant to find one thet works on what YOU need...

Good point squeakr. My situation is much like always_delayed above... I book "easy" stuff on the web, but I'd like a travel agent available to book more complicated fares. I still think booking multi-city is a PITA on the web (esp. when looking for the best deal).

In my case, it's mainly leisure travel. Basically, I'm always watching fares and when a "deal" pops up I like to find out exactly what days and flights there are still seats available and make my purchase decision. I often have difficulty with the 2nd half of the prior statement (finding out dates and flights seats are still available).

I wouldn't mind paying a reasonable fee for a good agent's assistance.

Here is a thread about whether to self-book or to use an agent:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/003350.html

With the recent Consumer Reports Travel Letter article showing that travel agents rarely provided the lowest fare even when asked, you have to ask: What purpose does an agent serve today?

I suppose they're useful for complicated overseas trips and cruises, but not for point-to-point domestic air trips.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SFplat:
[B]Good point squeakr. My situation is much like always_delayed above... I book "easy" stuff on the web, but I'd like a travel agent available to book more complicated fares. I still think booking multi-city is a PITA on the web (esp. when looking for the best deal).

In my case, it's mainly leisure travel. Basically, I'm always watching fares and when a "deal" pops up I like to find out exactly what days and flights there are still seats available and make my purchase decision. I often have difficulty with the 2nd half of the prior statement (finding out dates and flights seats are still available).

I wouldn't mind paying a reasonable fee for a good agent's assistance.
I know that Ed Hasbrouck, one of the experts in around the world fares. is conmnected to ticket planet in SF>

www.ticketplanet.com

They have a great website but also have a network of travelagents ot go in and talk to in the SF AREA.

If you self book, why not use Travelers Advantage? You get a 5% rebate on all travel arrangements that you make through them. Air Car and hotel included. It costs me $4/month through my bank, but then again I spend thats paid for with one airticket.

You have to be patient with the booking agents, they're not the swiftest. But I found if I do the research and just tell them what to book, then it's a cinch.

%5 cash back to me, %5 back from using my GM card. It takes some of the sting out ot travelling too much.