One always sees these auctions on Ebay for a "travel agent ID" that's supposed to get you lots of free travel, upgrades, etc... for example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1229757150

It's quite obvious that this is a scam of some kind, and that the travel ID is from an unrecognized organization, or additional payments are required, or something like that.

But my question is exactly what's the catch, how does this scam operate, and what grain of truth (if any) is there in their claims?

Again, I realize that this is a scam, so please don't warn me that it's a scam. I can surmise that much already. I just (pruriently) want to know the specifics of how the scam operates.

Maybe someone here will confess to having paid up for one of these travel agent id's?

Thanks in advance.

It looks like they are selling you a fake? membership in IATA (International Association of Travel Agents). Many hotel/airline/car rentals offer discounts, perks, freebies, and bonuses to Travel Agents (through IATA) as a way of getting the agents to recommend/book their services.

That's how I read it anyway.

My guess is turning up at most airline check in desks with such an ID on a coach ticket will see you have about as much chance of being complimentary upgraded to First as flashing your AAA or Hilton HH Gold card etc! (i.e. REAL close to zero.) The lowest level Elite in most schemes would have more chance is my take.

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~ Glen ~

It all depends on which ID you get.

If they're actually selling ID-99's, then you can use those to get discounts of 70-85% at a lot of hotels.

They don't do much for you in terms of airlines, though.

Ultimately it appears that what you become is a Referral agent for them or a "bird dog" Any savings you are going to receive are going to actually be earnings or possibly further discount they offer you for booking your own travel through them.

"Referral agencies issue their referral agents a photo ID that the agent can use to receive travel industry discounts and courtesies from some suppliers. This annoys some people in the travel industry but, the practice is perfectly legal. The federal government specifically declined to take any action, saying this was simply an alternative way of marketing travel."

Now some of the places who have referral agents working for them do not charge you to become a referral agent - but may even offer incentives while others may charge you a lot more.

The only legal way of getting a GOOD travel agent ID is to get the IATAN card which requires $5000 a year earning from commissions. Otherwise rest of them have no benefits whatsoever. As long as you have a travel agent business card and have a IATA number to quote, most hotels give 50% off which you get any way by various ways

All of these outfits will issue you "their" company travel agent ID card. They promise you the IATAN card after you show monthly bookings that exceed roughly $6000.

Most airlines require the IATAN card to get the discounts. The best travel agent deals require the travel agents manager to produce a list of the IATAN credited agents on company letterhead sent to the supplier in order to secure the trip.

I agree .. every time you book a UA reward/upgrade you get a 50% off Hotel coupon good at most major chains that does the same job. Dozens of them in the Coupon Connection most times! The on-line auction was alluding to getting free First Class airline upgrades flashing that card, and I remain convinced an AAA card will have as much chance of acheiving that!

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~ Glen ~

I agree on airline upgrades: I can't imagine an airline handing out int'l upgrades worth thousands of dollars to everyone showing up with a strange-looking ID card. If there's excess capacity up front, they are going to find their highest elites in coach and move them up before giving a "referral agent" the UG. In fact, I would imagine that most airlines would rather fly the seat empty before giving it to someone with such a card.

For Hilton hotels, you can view the Travel Agent rates online. They are usually the same as - or a little lower than - the AAA rates. I'm going to guess that Marriott and Starwood are similar, although I've never researched it. Also: those 50% off UA or AA coupons will get you down around the AAA rate as well (which is usually roughly half of rack rate to begin with).

Car rental rates are a crapshoot. If you look hard enough, you can find a good rate on your own. A bogus travel agent card won't provide you magical results at the rental counter. Rental car employees barely know the rules for their *own* rates/programs, let alone someone else's.

Bottom line: Don't buy one of these worthless cards on Ebay. AAA seems to be a good avenue to hotel (and maybe rental car???) discounts, and you even get other benefits as well. Most importantly: everybody recognizes AAA as 100% legit. (BTW, I'm not a AAA member.)