It’s bad enough that frequent flyers pay through the nose for midweek travel and share our free travel with award-generating credit-card holders. At least the airlines could let us hold on to our travel agents.
Most frequent business travelers use a travel agent. Good ones offer a level of service that cannot be matched by any airline. My agent offers friendly, dependable service. The entire office knows me by name and recognizes my voice over the phone. They help me with reservations, itinerary changes and will even drop tickets off at my home.
Recently many airlines dropped the commission paid to travel agents from 10 percent to 8 percent (Business, Sept. 25). This might sound like only 2 percent, but in reality it is a reduction in revenue of 20 percent to a travel agent. It is obvious that the airlines are moving to eliminate the middleman.
Frequent business travelers are paying big bucks to airlines, and we need our travel agents. Give us at least one thing that shows you care.
