On 1 November, CHOICE will chat with members of the Australian Travel Industry Association who represent Australian travel agents and tour operators. We’d love to share your insights, questions and feedback for Aussie Travel Agents.
Have you used a travel agent since travel re-opened? How was your experience? Have travel agents done well? How do you think they could improve?
I used a travel agent to fly to the UK in July/August this year. I am not a seasoned traveller and this was my first trip to the northern hemisphere. I was also travelling on my own.
I wanted to fly direct Perth London and wanted to go business class as I have a really bad back and I had saved really hard to make this trip. I went into the travel agent and had everything written out, suggested dates, what I wanted to do and what accommodation I was looking for. The travel agent talked me out of flying business class he said economy would be fine, big mistake, by the time I arrived in London I could barely move. Three days later when I was nearly pain free I emailed him and told him to get me on business class flight return to Perth. The accommodation he recommended for me in London was good. Qantas staff were wonderful.
I would use a travel agent again simply out of my fear of booking the wrong flights or accommodation.
We booked an around-the-world ticket for 2024 using a travel agent we used before.
Pre-COVID we engaged a local agent on retainer who came highly recommended, but was hopeless. She returned with a coach fare that was more than a premium economy fare! We wrote off the $200 retainer and found Roundabout Travel that specialises in RTW fares and some tours.
This time we presented a proposed itinerary and were advised if we could do one specific leg 2 days earlier the fare would be considerably less! The agent was knowledgeable and responsive.
A caveat is that if something goes pear shaped (and it did last time) any agents response time or ability to fix it may be too long to be able to make it right in the moment.
