So, everyone reading this is probably thinking – I don’t
need to use a travel agent for my flight bookings – Why use one? I can very
well do them myself and avoid paying any extra fees.
Well I got one for ya folks! So hold the phone on purchasing
online on your own.
Travel agents tout the line …. Without a travel agent you’re
on your own. So you’re wondering why is this? Let’s read on…
Recently I booked a round trip flight for someone going from
Maine to Oklahoma and back. She had to get there for a funeral of her late
husband. Well, the Northeast got blown over by a huge snowstorm and as every
travel agent knows…you are GOING to have a ton of delays and flight
cancellations up the ying yang at any said airport facing such a storm!
The night before my customer flew home, I contacted her and asked
her if she was aware of the recent storm brewing. She stated yes she was but
was planning to fly home tomorrow ANYWAY. So OK. A travel agents first thought
is…. But why? If you don’t have to fly during bad weather – DON’T. Then you as
a travel agent don’t really think about that, you just have to do the best you
can for your customer and GET THEM HOME. I told her that she was almost 100%
guaranteed to have some sort of long delay or cancellation in Philadelphia and
she was ok with waiting.
So fast forward…. Her flight takes off from Oklahoma ok and
lands in Philadelphia. STOP! The storm caused multiple delays and cancellations
to everywhere and I mean everywhere (not everywhere but most everywhere in the
Northeastern states). AS a travel agent we can WATCH stuff like this. We can
nearly PREDICT it to a T. As a travel agent I watch airports, I watch flights,
I watch whatever I can when I have a customer flying out or flying back home.
It’s just my nature to take care of people. That’s what I DO as a travel agent
and why I do what I do for a career. Not all travel agents may be like this…but
I AM. So she’s faced with a cancellation 30 minutes before her flight is due to
take off. There are lines everywhere, all over the airport, of people TRYING to
get home. Waiting for the gate agents, the customer service reps and sometimes
for absolutely nothing at all except for someone to answer on the other end of
the phone call. Those same folks who CHOSE not to book through a travel agent
and instead, handle it themselves.
So my customer calls me up and tells me she’s stuck what can
I do? I tell her I realize she is stuck and I am currently working on the
situation already. Fast forward. I have the ability to make a direct call to an
airline agent without much of a wait, without a lot of backlash (as you might
dealing with a gate agent who is helping a hundred of other people PLUS dealing
with their own work and whom is absolutely miserable – them and you!).
The only thing I cannot do, is make sure the systems update
fast enough for the gate agent to CHECK and issue you a new ticket. If that
gate agent is miserable, trust me you are not getting on the flight!
I would need at least 2 hours lead time. And that’s better
than if you were 9th on the standby list and getting absolutely
nothing done. So fast forward and I pay the $8 on a seat I find for my customer
and get her ON. Boom! She went from being 9th on a standby list to
ON THE PLANE AND FLYING HOME. End of story: HAPPY CUSTOMER.
THIS FOLKS… is why you should book your air with a travel
agent. If you prefer waiting in long lines and facing misery and even longer
waits, and then possibly even more lines or even an overnight stay in an
airport - then go to it alone. In hindsight we always say “That will never happen
to me”. Well it does happen to the best of everyone!
Basically I saved my customer from having to spend the night
in the airport that evening. I got her on the very last flight of the night
into Portland. Think of those 9 other standby persons – THEY spent the night
for a possible flight the next day!
