POLL : Did you book your last holiday online or with a travel agent?

Did you book your last holiday online or with a travel agent?

last time i booked anything at a travel agent was back in 2001!

The last time I booked at a travel agent was 2006 but it doesn't hurt to check or get a travel agent to do a quote.

I don't take regular holidays but I still use both the internet and a traditional travel agent.

I tend to use the internet for short city breaks on mainland Europe.

The last big trip I did which was to Jordan in 2002 I used both. I booked the flights here through my local agent...glad I did...booked 3 weeks before 9/11 and my original carrier, Air France, cancelled and refused to refund...the girls at the agency put up a fight on my behalf and got a full refund and booked me on Royal Jordanian (fabulous airline) instead. The actual itinerary/hotels/guide/driver I organised via the internet with a travel company over there...bit nerve wracking as a first timer and solo traveller but had a fantastic trip without a hitch.

Regards
JAS

An interesting story I came across the other day.

"Aussies hit with hefty online fees"
http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,26069368-36335,00.html?referrer=email&source=eDM_travel

I would have liked to have voted for 'both'.

We've had the same agent for a long time and book flights and some other things through her. A lot of day to day stuff we book online.

We rarely take a tour (have a few times and enjoyed them) and travel around a fair bit, organising accommodation, cars, trains, etc, ourselves.

I do the homework online, then E-Mail my TA with the requirements of the trip, and ask him to put it together for me. He knows I've already priced airlines, accomodation, rental cars, insurance etc., so he gets the best deal, usually beating my online pricing.
Chhers Dee

Dee wrote:I do the homework online, then E-Mail my TA with the requirements of the trip, and ask him to put it together for me. He knows I've already priced airlines, accomodation, rental cars, insurance etc., so he gets the best deal, usually beating my online pricing.
Chhers Dee

interesting, good to hear the old travel agents can still compete with all these online companies, and also your travel agent beating the online pricing, i would not have thought that......

mrtravel wrote:

Dee wrote:I do the homework online, then E-Mail my TA with the requirements of the trip, and ask him to put it together for me. He knows I've already priced airlines, accomodation, rental cars, insurance etc., so he gets the best deal, usually beating my online pricing.
Chhers Dee

interesting, good to hear the old travel agents can still compete with all these online companies

I use the local FC,and if I didn't do the homework no doubt he'd "charge like a wounded bull". I do enjoy the actual planning right down to seat allocation, and have enough free time to accomplish this........

Cheers Dee

Dee wrote:I do the homework online, then E-Mail my TA with the requirements of the trip, and ask him to put it together for me. He knows I've already priced airlines, accomodation, rental cars, insurance etc., so he gets the best deal, usually beating my online pricing.
Chhers Dee

we have done this for our last couple of overseas trips as well, although that will now have to change as my travel agent has just quit, need to find another one

although for any interstate flights or small trips/holidays then we just do a bit of research on the web and book ourselves