Some believe travel is something that any intelligent person can book for themselves online. Others believe you should never travel without a travel agent or online agency as potential backup.
Whichever side you come down on in this argument, holiday travel is one time when even the best “do-it-yourselfers” might want to consider making an exception.
Friday was a case in point, as a blizzard bore down on the East Coast, and airlines began canceling and delaying flights. While I was able to get all my clients rebooked, I had one client, a 100,000 mile a year flier with United, who had a question about an earlier canceled ticket. The issue wasn’t urgent, but I thought I could sit on hold with the airline while I worked on the computer, especially since elite members have a special phone number I could use.
And while I got through, the message said at first that the hold times might be longer than usual. And then I got a cheerful voice saying “Your call will be answered in… 67 minutes.” Needless to say, I hung up and figured I would deal with the question next week.
But anyone who booked with an airline direct had no such option. Except being at the airport, where apparently the lines rivaled the lines to see Santa at Macy’s on the last Saturday before Christmas.
Now, travel agents can’t fix, or predict, the weather, though heaven knows we get asked to do both often enough. And if an airport is closed, we can’t open it. But we may be able to get you on a connection through an alternate airport, or find the first open flight out, even it’s on another airline. An airline website may allow you to rebook a cancelled flight, but the options are limited at best.
And before I get nasty comments, yes, I am aware some agents are no help at all. If your agent doesn’t book a lot of air tickets, or works part-time without backup, or is just a nice “friend of a friend”, they may not be much help in a crisis. Most good agents I know act as their own after hours service, some who work at large agencies have 24 hour emergency services. Admittedly the agents who staff those 800 numbers may not be the top agents in the country – let’s be real – it’s probably not the most sought-after job to answer phones in the middle of the night when it’s always a crisis – at least you can talk to a real human in less than an hour.
In addition, some online agencies have better customer service than others. One tip if you use one, assuming they have an 800 number, keep it handy. Not surprisingly, because humans are the most expensive option, most online agencies hide that number a few clicks away, which could be a probably if you are offline or just using a smart phone. And actually, at least one travel agent I know lets clients know that calling the after hours service will be $25, which is simply passing the cost that they charge her onto the traveler. But $25 might be a small price to pay for a salvaged holiday.
And by the way, on Friday night when the 1k phone numbers was telling you the wait would be 67 minutes, the regular United phones were ringing busy so that even getting on hold was impossible. The elite number message did suggest calling back at a a different time, presumably when the snow had melted.
photo of OHare in the snow by Cliff1066 ™ at flickr.com/creative commons
