In Reply to: My travel agent told me off posted by setmac on Wednesday, 13. April 2005 at 11:49 Bali Time:
You've done nothing wrong. I've found travel agents getting more and more defensive and protecting their turf. The proliferation of the internet has meant that it is getting ever easier for us to DIY our holidays and travel, hence the need for a paid agent in the middle is rapidly declining.
I went to Flight Centre for my flights to Bali and found I could do it a lot cheaper direct on the Qantas web site with AA. Why was flight center more expensive? I can only assume it was to pay the person sitting behind the desk, who was not needed anyway.
When booking travel for work (where we are obliged to use our travel agent (another example of them protecting their turf), I always tell then the flight numbers, times, price etc from the web and tell them they must use that price. It really pisses them off as I have noticed in the past that they have charged more for a ticket on an equivalent fare code than I can get on the internet. They are supposed to be cheaper! Its for work - I work for a large comapny, so why would I care? well I am judged on my budget, so of course I do.
Sorry that this is a bit off topic...