Without a Travel Agent- you are lost!
I know that today we live in an age where "do it yourself" is the name of the game. But on the flip side, we also live in an age where we are happy to enlist the services of a professional to take care of things that we are not as knowledgeable about and/or things we just don't have the time to take care of ourselves.
As a Travel Specialist, I LOVE the internet and I LOVE when my clients have come to me with some ideas and research that they have already done on their own. It is important that we are all informed so that we know what we are doing; however, industry professionals are the ones to make sure things go smoothly and they are the ones "there" should you run into any problems. In a perfect world, nothing will go wrong- but we know that our world is far from perfect- but using a Travel Specialist will make life easier from start to finish when planning your trip.
I have had two recent airline situations that I would like to share:
Situation #1: My client's daugher emailed me to say that her mom's flight was delayed from Kansas City and would likely miss her connection in Italy in Atlanta. They wanted to know what her options were. I emailed back and told them that although it was the last Delta flight of the day, there were two other options that would still get her to Italy the next day. When the client missed her flight in Atlanta, Delta said they didn't have any options except their flight the next day; however, when my client asked about the Continental or Air France flight that was going to leave in 2 hours- all of a sudden, Delta was able to put her on one of those flights. KNOWLEDGE is POWER!! Now what would this client have done if she booked her ticket through an online site like Orbitz or Travelocity? She would have been lost and at the mercy of Delta and would have been a day late for her Italy adventures.
Situation #2: A corporate client had a business meeting in Houston, it finished early and he hoped he could get on an earlier flight home. However, weather was already delaying flights and his reserved flight was mechanically delayed. At 5pm Houston time, he calls me to see what other options he had to get home that night. I told him that the 7pm flight was sold out, but there were 3 seats left on the 9pm (Continental had already told him all fights were sold out and had begun to find him a hotel)- I grabbed a seat on the 9pm flight and then all of a sudden the Continental agent was able to confirm him on the 7pm flight- again- if he didn't have his trusted Travel Agent to contact, he would have been at the mercy of Continental.
