What are the pros and cons of buying airline tickets directly from the airline as oppose to a travel agent?

terminator: What are the pros and cons of buying airline tickets directly from the airline as oppose to a travel agent?
I am planning to fly over the summer, but the airline’s website is giving a much cheaper price than the travel agents. I don’t know how that works….
The difference is about 300 per ticket, so 1200 in total for 4 passengers.
Is it smart to buy from the airlines? or will it create more hassle for us?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Doug
If you know the flights you want and have already checked with an agency, then save the $ 1200…There is no pro or con about it.

The advantage of a travel agent is that they can do the research for you: find the best schedule, the cheapest fares, the best airlines and the best connection. The airline gives you what they have and they will not direct you to a competitor.

The disadvantage to a travel agent is that on top of the ticket, they charge you a fee for their service.

Book the cheap tickets now before the price goes up (in about 20 minutes) if it hasn’t already.

Answer by robert43041
Whatever deal is better for you. From the airline, from the travel agent or directly on line from such as expedia.com

Answer by potatochip
If the airline offers a cheaper price, go with the airline. Sometimes the airlines will have a best price guarantee. They want you to buy from their website because if you buy from a travel agent or travel website, the airlines have to pay a commission. In your case you would save quite a bit of money so buy your ticket from the airlines and if you have any problems, you can go through them.

I use a travel agent though for international flights. Whenever I go to Asia, I book with an Asian travel agency because they will get some discounts from the airlines and pass those savings onto you.

Answer by scottie322
Book through the Airline
1. better price
2. any issues and you are dealing with the airline direct.
3. all travel agents get commission.
4 $ 1200 is a lot of money and will go along way as spending money on your trip.

Answer by Wonder Woman
I only purchase directly from the airlines. I will share my experience why. I used Hotwire once and I was travelling across the country — Hotwire put me on 2 different airlines. I booked in advance and the ticket was cheap, but one of the airlines changed their route so my connecting flight went on to entirely different city than my destination. I called Hotwire and was told they pre-buy seats and once their sold Hotwire cannot do anything about flight changes. I called one airline and they told me to call Hotwire and so on and so on. This went back and forth months prior to travel until US Air told me to address it at the counter on my travel day. Delta was the one that changed the connecting flight, but because my travel originated on US Air they controlled the ticket. When you call these airlines you get very “generic” customer service and nobody is helpful. I ended up getting to the airport and ping ponged between the 2 airline ticket counters and finally a supevisor from Delta went to a supervisor to US Air and confirmed only US Air can reroute me even though Delta changed the flight. I was lucky to even get a flight on Christmas Eve! The moral of the story is never use more than one airline for connecting flights if at all possible and never book through Hotwire or other travel agent sites. US Air ended up giving me a travel voucher as an apology, but now I book directly through the airline. I find it is actually cheaper and if there is a problem go directly to the airport counter and have it addressed. Good luck and happy travels.

Answer by Neil
Buying directly from the airline will not create more hassle for you. In fact, in case of cancellations, etc., it can create less.

The only reason I can see for booking through an agent is if doing yourself just seems too complicated. Apparently that’s not the case, since you’ve been able to compare prices.

Answer by Leafer
It’s pretty simple….If you saw a used car..or motorcycle..or boat.. on Craigslist that you wanted to buy would you send your next door neighbor-or a coworker…or relative to buy or negotiate on your behalf?..No -you wouldn’t.

Travel agencies make their money from people who don’t want to bother to go look for things like flights and hotels for themselves.Some people are willing to pay a lot of money to other people to do this for them-an hour or two of research on your behalf of airline websites can easily save you hundreds of dollars.Especially in your case since you’re only looking for flights.Travel agencies occasionally “buy” and assemble packages to vacation destinations(like Cancun) in bulk (they negotiate cheaper flights..hotels…and guided tours)and resell them cheaper than a person can make arrangements themselves-this is very seldom the case with simple flights.

Booking a flight through a travel agent only adds another level of bureaucracy-any changes of modifications you might need to make will require not only a fee to the airline,but a fee to the agent.If you have issues before OR DURING travel the airline will always point you to your travel agent to fix it(since they booked the tickets) …if you have the time and wherewithal to do this yourself it’s a no-brainer.