Travel agency hidden markups

[redacted]

Just finished booking a trip to Cozumel for monday. Deal was advertised in Austin paper through Funjet. Package is air from Austin, 7 days at Brisas all inclusive for $499.99. I knew there would be some 'extras' so I went to the Funjet site and ran the trip for 2 for a total price of $1242.40. Add ons were $161.42 gov fees & taxes, $60.00 international fuel surcharge, $15.00 express fee (overnight mailing), and $6.00 for something I still don't understand. Final booking must be done thru a local travel agent. Called an agency in Temple, TX and when they finished fumbling around they quoted a price of $134?.??. I asked why the higher price and didn't get a reasonable answer. They just claimed that is what their Funjet site gave them. So I called another agent in Austin and very quickly got a price of $1167.40. I even told them the price I had gotten of $1240 so she double checked and verified $1167.

So after I finished booking, I called the other agency back to find out what was going on. Started the yada-yada-yada so I asked if they added any additional fees to the Funjet fee. To my surprise, she admitted they added a $25.00 service fee (that they don't mention). A little more digging revealed they also automatically added a trip insurance fee (that they don't mention - other agency asked & I declined). Bottom line was they were also getting the $1167.40 charge from Funjet but it was their policy to add the service & insurance fees. I suggested they relook their business practices as I would be taking mine elsewhere.

I'm not sure how common this is, but clearly another reason to shop around. Gotta love the internet.

 

[Natasha]

As a travel agent I can offer this. I make people sign a waiver if they decline the insurance. I would never add it to the price without telling someone, but I strongly believe you should take it.
Funjet offers a waiver insurance which means you can cancel for any reason, not just unforseen medical and death. It's VERY good insurance to have and well worth the 49.00 for the peace of mind.
As for the 25.00 seveice fee, it's up to you whether you would like customer service, and have a PERSON to go back to, with questions, about your trip. Buying on a web site includes no customer service. Again, they should have told you this was added to your price.
Have fun. I hope everything goes smoothly.

 

[redacted]

In the end, I didn't buy online. I just bought the trip from another travel agency 25 miles down the road (on the way to the airport) at the funjet advertised price.

We clearly have different feelings on trip insurance. I was taught by an insurance agent to only insure against those financial events that you can't otherwise afford. If you can't afford the price of a vacation, then you shouldn't be taking it. In this case, paying $100 to insure a $1200 vacation would only pay off if I had to cancel more than 8% of the time. Some day I may lose one but at this point, I'm already way ahead having always declined that bad bet. In my case, peace of mind is knowing I'm not wasting money on an unnecessary insurance policy. If I ever think the risk is much higher than the 8% break even point, then I may buy it.

Thanks.

 

[chuckrt]

Awap,

I am a travel agent as well and it is not are policy to charge fees without telling clients up front. We charge for writing air tickets only and that is $25. If you add a car or hotel there is no charge for this service, the airlines have stopped paying any commission. As far as insurance is concerned we also make them sign a waiver so we can not be held responsible if Johnny gets sick or hurt 3 days into the trip and they want to come home. I suggest to everyone who reads this post to ask for a copy of the insurance policy that your travel agency uses and see what exactly it covers especially if you travel out of the country, BC/BS will not help you in Figi. The price for the insurance is fairly inexpensive for what it covers and peace of mind. Yes I have had clients who needed to use the insurance and were very glad to have it.

As you found by checking with the other agency you can sometimes find a better price than you were quoted but are you sure Funjet didn't have their own insurance aded in to the price they gave you, it is common practice with tour companies.

Enjoy your trip and safe diving,

chuckrt

 

[redacted]

chuckrt once bubbled...
Awap,

As you found by checking with the other agency you can sometimes find a better price than you were quoted but are you sure Funjet didn't have their own insurance aded in to the price they gave you, it is common practice with tour companies.

Enjoy your trip and safe diving,

chuckrt

Yes, the Funjet site showed the insurance options which I had opted to decline to get to the $1240 price which really turned out to be $1167. The first agency added $175 to that and essentially tried to tell me that was the way Funjet worked.

 

[Kat]

The insurance with FJ is a great protection in case of unforseen events. Anything can happen, from a death in the family to a flat on the way to the airport, your covered.
You can book with FJ directly on their web site & they do have a 24 hour phone # f/ assistence. But even FJ prefers you book w/ a travel agent. The T/A are truly experts & will be your advocate in everyway, should something go wrong w/ your trip.
I can see your point about not buying the insurance, as you are ahead of the game everytime you don't buy it & don't need it. But I see people everyday, at the airport, in tears because something has gone wrong. For a small investment, their trip might not have been ruined. If this is something you feel like gambling on, go ahead. Pick up those dice & roll them, but one day your going to hit snake eyes. And chances are you'll be one of those people at the ticket counter whose SOL. FJ is not scheduled air, they are a charter, and most people don't get that there is not another flight in an hour. Sometimes that flight leaves once a week. If that's the case, it might be nice to get all your money back & rebook at another time.

 

[scubawife]

I've worked in Marketing, Communications and Product Development in different ends of the travel industry for many years. Right now I'm at an industry association and deal with agents from all over the country daily.

Over the past 5 yrs their business has changed drastically. They've gone from having business walk in the door to having to aggresively marketing themselves just to keep the doors open. Alot of agencies, large and small, have closed and others have merged or gotten bought out. Suppliers have cut commissions too. The result is that what's left, for the most part, is a much more professional, knowledgable and business minded travel agency community. Suppliers continue to cut there prices to get people to travel and lower the commission % pd to the agent. The result is that agents are encouraged to charge a service fee for the service they provide. This isn't unlike other service business. It was unacceptable for the agency to not tell you about the fee and then let you decide whether or not to do business with them, but there's nothing wrong with them charging it. Commission is on base only so they probably earned around $100 on your booking ($50 pp).

I would actually prefer to do business with an agency that's charging a fee, but, I expect to get service for that too. If they charge a fee they're setting the expectaion of a service worth paying for.

 

[redacted]

Folks in the travel business seem to be strong supporters of trip insurance. Anyone want to share what the agent/agency cut is on this? Do you also support carrying collision insurance on a car whose value is $2000 or less?

 

[gbrandon]

awap once bubbled...
In the end, I didn't buy online. I just bought the trip from another travel agency 25 miles down the road (on the way to the airport) at the funjet advertised price.

We clearly have different feelings on trip insurance. I was taught by an insurance agent to only insure against those financial events that you can't otherwise afford. If you can't afford the price of a vacation, then you shouldn't be taking it. In this case, paying $100 to insure a $1200 vacation would only pay off if I had to cancel more than 8% of the time. Some day I may lose one but at this point, I'm already way ahead having always declined that bad bet. In my case, peace of mind is knowing I'm not wasting money on an unnecessary insurance policy. If I ever think the risk is much higher than the 8% break even point, then I may buy it.

Thanks.

My thought EXACTLY. I have never , ever taken the insurance and the only time it MAY have helped is when I went to Europe to go snow boarding and my snowboard never showed up due to a baggage handlers strike that lasted 1 day. (the day I arrived). Im so flexible in my travel I had fun anyway and my snowboard showed up on the 9th (and last) day of my trip. But insurance to me is worthless. Maybe if I had a family, important job, etc, where I may not be able to go, it may be good, but in most peoples cases, that have thier vacation time slotted out, etc, it is not a wise choice. As far as a flat on the way to the airport, etc, ive got a story... I live in a remote part of northern california. Since the airfare to San Francisco is $250, and you are guaranteed a layover of a few hours or more before your real flight leaves, I usually just drive to San Francisco which takes about 5 hours. Me and my girlfriend left with plenty of time to catch a red-eye flight that left at 1:00 am. We had to stop by sacramento first to take care of some business, so as we are on our way to sac, my tahoe decides to have the fuel pump go out. After about 20 minutes of screwing around with it, I realize that If I banged a rock on the bottom of the tank, the pump would start again and we could make it another 20-30 miles. Im hoping to get to the sac airport, grap a rental car , and go to San Francisco. Well, about 100 miles from Sacramento the fuel pump goes out for good. Now its 9pm at night, we have a 3 hour drive to San Francisco, and were stranded on Interstate 5. I call someone in sac, but since its a good hour and 15 minute drive for them to get to us, we would never make the airport on time. I thought for sure we were going to miss our plane, so I told my girlfrien (4 months pregnant at the time) to grab her stuff and we were thumbing it. We stood on the edge of the freeway, 3 suitcases of luggage, me, and my gf and started thumbing it. After about 30 minutes, someone pulled over. Unfortunately, it was the California Highway Patrol. He told us we couldnt hitchhike anymore. Luckily, like a lightbulb went off in my head, I remembered a old friend that lived in a town about 10 miles from where we were broke down. I promised the CHP we wouldnt hitchhike anymore, called another friend for my long lost friends phone number and got ahold of him. He picked us up no problem, and after a harrowing car ride to the sac airport, (lets just say he likes to drink whiskey) we got our rental car. We drove like the wind to sac, did what I had to do, and then we hauled to S.F. We returned the rental car (no time to get gas in it, which cost me $30 I think) and caught the shuttle to the international terminal with no time to spare. I suppose insurance would have been good, but since my gf couldnt get any other time off, we really needed to make this trip. It turned out great in the end, although I dont think I have EVER felt so relieved to sit in my seat on the plane and relax.

 

[scubawife]

I rarely think the insurance is worth it, but I'm not an agent! Yes, agents get a commission on the insurance, but most "encourage" clients to buy it because they have all had nightmare situations of the client who refused it because nothing would ever make them cancel, and then they're all over the agent to get money back or get them home at no cost from their destination.

I usually look at the cancellation policy and the insurance terms, deductible, cost of the policy, etc., and the amount I'll be out if I cancel. For most trips under $2000, it's not worth it for me. If I have a dive related accident, my DAN will cover the costs. Check the travel policy an agency sells, most won't cover any emergency that's dive related anyway.