Agents Divided on Supplier Air Woes

Relying on supplier-booked air can be a boon for travel agents who don’t have time to waste on one of the least profitable portions of the travel sale.

But cruise and tour operators’ air departments sometimes fall short, according to agents. Botched ticketing and weak customer service have some agents reconsidering the benefits of booking air through suppliers.
 
A chief complaint is the long call hold times that agents experience when trying to get through to suppliers’ air-booking departments. It’s “a prevailing issue,” said Brandy Burriesci, Sea Blue Cruise and Travel, a Cruise Planners agency in Boerne, Texas.

“Unfortunately all too often, I’m sitting on hold for 30 to 45 minutes just to begin speaking with a reservation agent.”

Poorly trained staff
Scott Pinheiro, president of Santa Cruz Travel in Santa Cruz, Calif., said inexperienced staff in supplier air departments is his biggest gripe.

“Having worked on GDS’ for 20+ years myself, a seasoned travel professional can run circles around these air department personnel.

“It’s frustrating for us because it’s lost time dealing with inaccurate information and loss of control. Time is money in taking care of the client,” said Pinheiro.

Other agents complained of staff who were unable to answer their questions or unable to fulfill their air-booking requests without the help of a manager.

One said she’d known supplier air departments to make “terrible mistakes” and that she often ran into a language barrier, which made things “terribly challenging.”

Worst of the worst
Pinheiro said the quality of suppliers’ air booking services varies from supplier to supplier, but is especially weak at mass market cruise lines.

“At the mass market cruise lines – Carnival, Holland, Princess, etc. – it’s not even worth speaking with their air departments,” said Pinheiro.

But upscale lines like Crystal, Regent and Silversea will often provide you with a capable representative, he said.

At cruise lines where service in air-booking departments is poor, it often comes down to profitability, in his view. “Cruise line air is set up to make money for the lines,” and not to best accommodate cruisers, Pinheiro said.
 
One agent’s experience
Marlys Aballi of Connection to Cruise Travel, a NEST member in Redlands, Calif., ran into a serious issue with a supplier’s air department recently. Aballi had spotted a problem with a client’s ticket for air travel to Europe, but when she called the supplier about it, the call center rep disagreed, saying everything was in order.

“The airline ended up denying my client boarding, because there was a problem with her return ticket. I had to book her another ticket,” Aballi said.

“It has been a month [since then], and they have not resolved the problem. I don’t think they are being uncooperative. I think it’s a matter of going through their procedure and finally getting to someone who can help you,” Aballi said.

Positive view
Not all agents are dissatisfied with suppliers’ air department. “Honestly, nothing readily occurs to me,” said Terry Denton, president of Travel Leaders / Main Street Travel in Fort Worth, Texas, when asked if he had encountered problems.

And despite her recent troubles, Aballi had positive things to say about booking air through suppliers.

“A lot of the time supplier air makes it very easy and simple to help a customer – if you use Princess Cruises’ Easy Air and Royal Caribbean’s Choice Air.

“You don’t really make any money on the booking, but you don’t make much on air anyway unless you charge a service fee,” Aballi said.

Avoids them
Lisa Silvestri of Silvestri Travel, a TRAVELSAVERS agency in Sarasota, Fla., said she tends to avoid using supplier air, “even though often they offer reduced rates and early booking guarantees.”

“The reason is that my clients usually want to upgrade to business class, or go in early or stay late, and often this presents added issues with the air departments, as well as very high pricing.”

Supplier-booked air can also create barriers to vacationers enjoying their experience, and that makes agents like Pinheiro wary.

“For us on the West Coast selling a Caribbean sailing from Florida, the cruise lines’ air program puts the customer on a red eye 90% of the time,” said Pinheiro. “Is this a nice way to start a vacation – by flying for eight hours, and then waiting another five hours at the pier for embarkation time?”