Travel Agents don't want my money

[flubber]

This is a whinge. I went into three travel agents today to see if I could pay for a return airline ticket from America to the UK and they did not want to know!

They would all book me a flight to USA via Continental airlines, but the thought of me paying for an American to fly continental from USA to UK was met with 'shock-horror' and I gather they have no UK agent that they could contact for me to arrange/pay for my friends surprise flight here.

They could have made money out of me today and I am loathe to send cash to america and tell my friend "surprise - now do it all by yourself" when all I wanted to do was book and pay for a ticket and let her local agent contact her. Was it too much to expect?

[billearly]

Why dont you look at some of the airlines websites and do it online

[chazza]

Travel agents are generally the most expensive way to do it.

Go onto onlinetravel.com or expedia and book the flights that way for a fraction of the price

[flubber]

Thanks Chazza - I will do a check on both. let's hope one of them wants my money!

[mkt]

i used to work in the industry and just to stick up for the agents it is pretty much impossible for them to do. Even if i used to phone the airline direct rather than use an airline conslidator (which most agents will use) i would get told that the request couldnt be fullfilled. Agin this would be from the airlines themselves. I'm sure the agents you visited would very much like to have taken your money (!) but they would've been in a position where they couldn't. It is silly but only one of many gripes that agents have. Sometimes it's hard being the middleman......you have to take the flak but have no control over the situation whatsoever.

[flubber]

The one's I saw today were so unhelpful it was untrue. At least on AB I can get help, answers and advice.

[GK Fanatic]

Its probably all to do with security in this day and age. I travel with Continental to and from the USA at least twice a year and they are a great company. I book it all on their website, have you tried that method???

[flubber]

No GK, I did a google search and could only find phone numbers for them. It will be Continental as they have flights to Bristol and I would prefer to meet a flight there than to treck up to Heathrow or Gatwick.

[dylanvasey]

UK offices for airlines cannot do this. The only way to do it is to contact the US offices directly.

Routes from the US to the UK are cheaper than what we pay for vica versa.

The UK pays amongst the highest rates for air travel in the world !!!!