jmottle

Apologies if this is the incorrect forum, I could not figure out which one was best suited for this question. I am looking for a corporate travel agency that can get access to fares I can't on my own. I have been AC SE for the last 5 years and spend a good deal on business only fares each year. Can anyone recommend a good Canadian travel agent who understands business travel requirements?

The current company I am with often does not even read my travel profile and finds fares I can beat in under 2 minutes with a search of the AC website. In the last 18 months I spent about $35K with this company. So I'm not a giant fortune 500 client, but I gather not super small either. Just want someone who is going to work with me and not send me the fare that pops up first in their system. Been calling around and the level of incompetence I'm finding is astounding. For example, they have no idea what a P fare is and ask questions like which city do I like to fly through when I go to Europe. Ummm, I guess it depends where I'm flying? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Mwenenzi

But your travel profile will not state the margin/kick back the TA will personally get on selling you the various fare buckets or a flight on a particular airline. Some fare buckets have low margin. TA's can get volume cash rebates in selling $X00,000 in fares over Y months for a particular airline.

The TA is not in business to lower your cost, but in business to maximise his/her income over the medium/long term. $35K in 18 months is not a lot in the overall scheme in things. A customer with a $350K spend has more value to TA.

jmottle

Yeah I get it's a super low margin industry, and while well versed in air travel, I don't know much about how and how much agents actually make. From my perspective though, if they are going to charge me $50-100 per ticket for services, they either have to be pretty exceptional at what they do or save me at least as much as I'm paying them, otherwise it's faster to do it myself. The agency I had/have was good in the beginning, but has been dropping the ball lately. Often they come back with fares I could find cheaper without even trying too hard and on airlines I don't even want to fly and they should know as much.

I'm also only one person. I spend around $35-40K a year, but don't use them unless they are providing value. I don't need someone to look up flights. I need them to look up flights I can't find easily on my own. Maybe I'm asking too much and I should just go back to booking on my own?

simons1

I would suggest the final para is right.

The agent is in business to make money too, if you are expecting them to spend time finding low value tickets on which they might only make a handful of dollars then I can see why it isn't working.

It sounds like you know what you want so sometimes it's easier just to get on with the booking directly.

bocastephen

Not all of the previous replies are really accurate, but YMMV - are you buying coach or business, and does your TA need to be in Canada for some reason? If you are buying business international tickets ex-Canada, PM me as we can help with cost controls, but if your tickets are most/all coach, it might be better to sign up with one of the online services that offer small business booking systems, like Expedia.

jmottle

@bocastephen all my flights are in business. Mostly P fares on AC metal. On average my miles are 80% to Europe from YYC and the rest to the US. I do however have a trip in Jan and Feb I need to book ASAP to SIN and SYD. My travel agent does not need to be in Canada. I spoke to quite a few different agencies here in Canada and they all told me the exact same thing. Very rare chance of discount until I spend at least $100K a year and even then only a 2% discount from them. 5% if I go over $500K. Which based on my AC travel, means they are not giving me anything and are instead just booking through the AC corporate website which is mostly useless as their inventory is so limited. I'll send you a PM.

Annalisa12

Are there really fares out there that only a travel agent can see?

Often1

Not really.

1. There are corporate discounts which a business negotiates with a carrier (or pays a corporate TA to negotiate with a carrier). Those contracts generally required that ticketing be handled by an enrolled corporate TA.
2. There are consolidator and bulk fares which are sold through third-party vendors which sometimes function as standard TA's as well. These are ticket inventory which the vendor has purchased in bulk from a carrier and then resells to the public, much the same way retailers purchase at wholesale and then resell to consumers. In this circumstance, the carrier may not even know what price the ticket is ultimately sold for.

Thus, this is not about secret TA fare buckets, but rather about negotiated rates.

In OP's particular case, I would see the value of a TA as handling complex ticketing situations, e.g. interline ticketing, multiple tickets in same PNR, as well as IRROPS recovery (typically a 24/7 backup service). The latter is particularly valuable as such a service can handle a reroute while you head off to a hotel and others stand in line for hours.

If neither of these are issues, it may be that a TA is not a particularly useful thing.

paperwastage

AC has flight passes for business (which probably doesn't appeal to OP)

Not sure if AC has something similar to United's passplus (pay a deposit valid for 1yr worth of travel, specific discounts on published fare class and get some amounts of free statuses depending on $ deposited)

Too bad UA's passplus doesn't work on AC (it works on certain *A airlines like ana, Lufthansa, Swiss)


United (UA) Pass Plus Secure/ Flex -- Benefits, Value, Questions .... [Consolidated]



https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ht-passes.html

(35k across 18months is small potatoes for a TA)

jmottle

AC does not have anything like this, but would be nice. Flight passes are a useless product IMHO. You prepay for the most expensive fare possible in any class of service. You're better off booking last minute or paying for a full price fare.

bocastephen

Yes there are - depending on the airline, we have access to private, non-published fares which are not bulk or negotiated fares, but special offers from the airline directly to our agency. These will only appear in our GDS when we input a special code - no other travel agency, online or office based can see these same fares. Other agents may have their own special fares that we cannot see.

erik123

You want cheaper premium travel with a very small budget. Few TAs would be interested in that low margin business unless you spend a significant amount on hotels (much higher margin). You'd do better having your assistant book your travel.

bocastephen

That's not how it works. Agencies are paid a commission by the airline for selling their tickets at either published or private fares. The commission varies by airline, booking class and route. Hotels are generally a flat 10% commission on almost all rooms aside from certain govt and corporate rate plans. We are perfectly happy booking 1, 2, 5, or 100 business class tickets for any client - margin has nothing to do with it.

erik123

You should take on the OP as a client. I take it AC pays commission only on the more expnsive fares?

Spirish