Planning a trip can be a huge task, depending on the kind of journey you wish to undertake and this involves taking decisions for a particular destination, advisory, booking of tickets and accommodation.
Before you can board a flight for your trip, you must have purchased a flight ticket either from a travel agent/agency or online (direct from the airline website).
So what is the difference between purchasing ticket online or with an agent; Advantages and Disadvantages of getting a travel agent to book your flight ticket and going online to book your ticket?
ONLINE BOOKING
Aviglo sampled the opinion of people who fly regularly and the response was that, online booking is cheaper, it gives you the opportunity to check different airlines sites and compare prices to get a better deal.
Airlines usually save the best services for direct booking. Which allows you the opportunity to request for a particular seat or space for your trip , where allowed.
They also acknowledged the fact that you can book your flight ticket at the comfort of your home without stress. (That is if you know your way around travels and tour). Also get your invoice and ticket details via an E-mail within the period of transaction.
BOOKING WITH A TRAVEL AGENT
The question is who is a travel agent/agency, what can they do for you and how best can they help to make your trip a good one. Let’s find out.
According to Wikipedia: A travel agent is simply a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the public on behalf of accommodation and travel companies.
A travel agent role is to help you plan, make suggestions, choose/pick destinations and at the end, make your travel dream a reality. They work with client’s budget.
If it is your first time flying or you are not not too cool with travel tips, then the help of an agent is needed.
Even though some people say online booking is cheaper , but one major problem, is that, it comes with a lot of stress. From Surfing the internet ,to making research and comparing prices before arriving at a better deal, calling hotels to make reservation/ payment and making arrangement for transportation.
An agent can give you a better deal. For the fact that the bulk of work is on the agent, it is not a bad idea to pay a token for service rendered. (Reason why people feel they are expensive).
One good thing about booking Flight ticket through an agent is, that it is flexible. In cases of unforeseen circumstances you can call your agent to cancel the flight and reschedule, but know that it will definitely attract extra charges. Which is a good deal and better than online booking, where you cannot reschedule nor get a refund easily.
Agents are concerned about their organizational reputation, thus make it a sole responsibility to give their clients nothing but the best of travel packages, ranging from advisory, good holiday/tourism destination, best but cheap airline to fly with, transportation and hotel accommodation. As it helps promote the business for future reference and recommendation.
In planning and making your travel package a stress-free one, travel agents guide their clients through the rules, terms and conditions of flying. They also come handy, when it comes to acquiring visa for a trip.
Travel agents are best used for tour packages such as
- Vacation
- Tourism
- Summer holiday for children
- Honeymoon trip
- Weekend gateway and
- Business / corporate meetings trip
There are whole lot of things travel agents/agency can do for you to achieve a stress-free and memorable trip if only you are ready to pay for services rendered,And at the same time you can save up the charges for other expenses when you use an online booking. The choice is yours.
So as you get ready for your next trip, you already know what to do!