Budget Travel Tip: A Travel Agent May Be Your Secret Weapon for Low Fares

September 19, 6:29 AMBest Value Travel ExaminerDT Regula

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It's easy to be addicted to shopping for travel on the Internet. They've been telling us for years now that it's the way to find the lowest fares fast. But is it true?

I'm going to be a heretic here: Not always.

The Price-Comparison Engines' Little Secret

What many price-comparison engines fail to tell you is that they are only offering you flights that use existing relationships between airlines. These partner offers can be good deals - but they can also be more expensive than booking two legs of an international flights using airlines that are not quite so cozy with each other.

A traditional travel agent will often see more options on their monitors for unconnected airlines - and even if they charge a booking or ticketing fee, a savvy travel agent may come up with total prices that are substantially lower than what you just found with a cross-engine search supposedly searching hundreds of fares.

The other saving is time. Depending on your work, maybe that six hours spent saving $75 online worked out for you.  But a 5-minute phone call might have gotten you the same fare, and given you a back-up person to call if you need to change a flight later on.

Don't get me wrong - I love to book flights on-line and I often do for journeys with just one or two legs. But for more complicated journeys, or when you just can't find what you need,  your old-fashioned travel agent may have extra options. The goal is to get you there, no matter what technology you use.