Travel Agent

[tonytiger55]

Does anyone use a travel agent or can recommend anyone who can lookup flights on the backend..?

Im looking at flights over xmas to London to see my parents. Im trying to avoid Air Canada. The prices are a tad high..
A few good flights have come up via American Airlines and even Delta, but the layover back is overnight in Chicago(America Airlines). I cant do that.

Just throwing out if anyone has any ideas to get a cheaper flight.

[ExtraSlow]

Google flights. Travel agents are useless for major commercial destinations.
Pm me the desired dates, I have time later today.

[Masked Bandit]

To piggyback on this, I don't think travel agents can do much at all on generic commercial flights but I'm looking for a new TA because mine just got out of the business. She's truly been valuable in booking even simple vacations and hasn't cost us anything extra so why not support a small business person.

[pheoxs]

As others have said, travel agent for just a flight is useless. They won't get any discounts and will basically just do online searches for you anyways. They can be useful to book package deals if you want more of a turnkey vacation with flights, place to stay, excursions, etc all sorted out for you.

Google flights is the most useful, also flighthub is handy too. Try checking out of Edmonton if you are up for the commute you can sometimes get cheaper deals through there. Also for London check out Gatwick, its further out than Heathrow but a lot cheaper most of the time.

[ExtraSlow]

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To piggyback on this, I don't think travel agents can do much at all on generic commercial flights but I'm looking for a new TA because mine just got out of the business. She's truly been valuable in booking even simple vacations and hasn't cost us anything extra so why not support a small business person.

Genuinely curious how the travel agent gets paid if you don't pay them? Kickbacks from airlines?

[Kobe]

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Genuinely curious how the travel agent gets paid if you don't pay them? Kickbacks from airlines?

My mom used to be a travel agent, it was like $50 (Roughly) per ticket sale + discounts from airlines, etc...

It wasn't a lot clearly she stopped doing it, i was getting the same rates as her or cheaper using skyscanner/google flights..

People still enjoy using them and maybe it's changed lately she quit like 5-6 years ago.

[Xtrema]

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Does anyone use a travel agent or can recommend anyone who can lookup flights on the backend..?

Im looking at flights over xmas to London to see my parents. Im trying to avoid Air Canada. The prices are a tad high..
A few good flights have come up via American Airlines and even Delta, but the layover back is overnight in Chicago(America Airlines). I cant do that.

Just throwing out if anyone has any ideas to get a cheaper flight.

Westjet nonstop to Gatwick, leaving Dec 6, return Dec 26. $968.

It's a busy travel time. Even in that last 10 mins, there were so many different prices and flight combos coming and going on Google Flights.

[pheoxs]

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Westjet nonstop to Gatwick, leaving Dec 6, return Dec 26. $968.

It's a busy travel time. Even in that last 10 mins, there were so many different prices and flight combos coming and going on Google Flights.

Skyscanner shows the westjet direct flights that day for 898$, a bit cheaper.

[Disoblige]

Whatever you do end up trying to book, try downloading the honey browser extension, which looks up coupon codes for you and you might save a little bit extra.
I found it useful for a lot of things I buy.

[Zhariak]

If you have an Amex card, call Amex Travel Services and see what they can do. They've worked some crazy magic for me in the past, and have deals/agreements with various airlines, etc...

[tonytiger55]

It was over the Xmas period of the 19th and coming back in the new year. I had about five browsers opened and I started to see patterns on various dates. The prices were pretty high $1500 – 2k (last year I paid $1800 last minute). I was avoiding air Canada as the seats are too narrow.
Prices jump up 18th onwards.
I don’t fly to Gatwick anymore. My parents live close by from the Heathrow. The headache to get from Gatwick into central, then the circle line then Paddington or district line, then the bus. I realized a few years back just to pay the extra $150 and fly into Heathrow.

I called a former client who is a travel agent to check the back end. He said the cheapest was $1500, just a busy route and time of year.

I ended up paying just under $1300.
I actually found the same flight cheap on two sites. One was on Expedia of all places. The other was actually a travel agent site. Who would have thought?