Different people tend to have different preferences when it comes to buying tickets. Some absolutely love dealing with travel agents, while others staunchly prefer going directly to airlines. But is there really a difference between the two? While many feel there isn’t – that could not be further from the truth!
Exploring Different Options
When you buy tickets directly from an airline – you’re locked into fixed options regarding the routes that they travel. If you have your heart set on only traveling with that one airline because of its service, or the fact that you collect air miles – that isn’t a big deal. However, if you do not have your eyes firmly fixed on one specific airline then you would be able to explore various options more conveniently via a travel agent. At the end of the day, a travel agent has experience booking flights, and the good ones know how the system works and are able to come up with a slew of possibilities to get you from point A to point B. Sometimes you may find that some of these options turn out to be cheaper or even more convenient than just going with a single airline.
For example, if you want to travel from London to Singapore you may find that booking with Singapore Airlines gets you there directly – but at twice the price that booking with Air Emirates does. At the same time, Singapore Airlines has a direct route whereas Air Emirates involves a stopover in Dubai. Which do you prefer? That’s up to you – but the important thing is that you’re actually going to be able to pick and choose between various options that you might not have known about had you just approached an airline directly from the get-go.
Trust and Security
Nowadays, however, there are various travel agent websites mushrooming that are sometimes less than trustworthy. So one possible advantage of booking directly from the airlines is you’ll know for a fact that you can trust that your booking will go through and your ticket will arrive. If you frequent more shady travel agents, however – you’d better do your homework and figure out whether or not you can trust them.
Needless to say, if you stick to more reputable travel agents you probably won’t face this problem! All in all, booking through travel agents does have its advantages – and sometimes you’ll find that you can even get some great package deals by doing so. Of course – reputation does come into the equation, but even if you do eventually decide to go directly to airlines to book your ticket, it can’t hurt to check out your options with travel agents first!
