The Travel Agent Guide
The Travel Agent Guide is a podcast created for travel advisors at every stage of their journey.
Each episode shares practical tips, real-world experiences, and honest conversations about building a successful travel advisor business—from client boundaries and workflows to marketing, growth, and sustainability.
Whether you’re new to the industry or looking to refine how you work, this podcast is here to help you work smarter, feel more confident, and grow with intention.
The Travel Agent Guide
The Hidden Profit Travel Agents Keep Missing (It’s Not What You Think)
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In this episode of the Travel Agent Guide, Byrd and Haley dive deep into a topic that often sparks debate among travel agents: the importance of booking flights. I kick off the conversation by sharing a personal success story, highlighting how I made $800 in just 15 seconds by booking a flight. This sets the stage for their discussion on why many travel advisors shy away from flight bookings and how they can overcome their fears to tap into a lucrative revenue stream.
They explore the common misconceptions surrounding flight bookings, particularly the belief that they are too complicated or risky. Byrd and co-host, Haley, share the journey as a travel agent, emphasizing that it has always included flights in her services. They discuss the importance of providing comprehensive service to clients, arguing that avoiding flights can undermine the value of the travel agent's role in the industry.
Join them for this insightful discussion that aims to empower travel agents to confidently include flights in their service offerings and ultimately enhance their business success.
Time Stamps:
00:02:00 - Haley's Experience with Flights
00:03:36 - Service Expectations in the Travel Industry
00:04:55 - Booking Packages vs. Flights
00:05:13 - Common Fears About Booking Flights
00:06:44 - Mistakes and How to Handle Them
00:30:15 - Deciding When to Use Different Booking Methods
00:31:12 - Strategies for Handling In-Destination Issues
00:32:30 - Managing Flight Changes and Notifications
00:34:34 - Final Tips for Flight Bookings
00:36:57 - Importance of Client Communication
00:39:08 - Comprehensive Itinerary Preparation
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I made $800 just this morning on a flight and it took me 15 seconds to put together. People don't take the risk because they don't think the payoff is there. I really think people underestimate this because even places like Funjet and Vacation Express that are packaging those economy rates, they are sometimes negotiating commission on the economy flights. I mean, I made $800 just this morning on a flight and it took me 15 seconds to put together. You can make real money on flights. So even if you're like, look, one out of every 10 of my clients is booking first class, that's one out of 10. That's an extra $800 for every 10 trips you do. Why would you not? I think there's a lot of money in flights and people don't realize that.
SPEAKER_00Again, I feel like it's an area of opportunity that a lot of advisors are just more comfortable handing it off and saying, hey, I don't do flights because they're not educated on how to do Welcome to the Travel Agent Guide, the podcast pulling back the curtain and what it really takes to be a travel agent. We're talking real life, the challenges, the wins, the money, the mistakes, and the growth. Whether you've been in the travel industry for years or are new to it, we're in this together and you're exactly where you need to be.
SPEAKER_01Welcome back. We're super excited about this episode because it's something that tends to be a hot button issue for travel agents. I hear pretty often travel agents say, Oh, I don't book flights. And I've got to say it kills me. It's one of the things that makes me super, super, super frustrated because our entire industry is predicated on service. And I don't think it's fair to say I give some service, but not others. So we've talked a lot about all the different types of services we can give and what I believe. But what I want to do today is pull back the curtain on why flights can be scary for people and how to make it a little bit easier. So at the end of the day, you're able to give the service, but you're still able to feel really confident in what you can provide for them. So, Haley, let's start off. Do you always do flights and did you always do flights?
SPEAKER_00I think I did always do flights. Yeah, I definitely have always done flights. I really started with vacation packages to the Caribbean, right? So I feel like that was a really easy buy-in booking flights for clients. This was before I was even, you know, charging fees. So it's something I've always done from the beginning. I don't think I knew otherwise. I think in my head it was always, hey, I'm a travel agent, I'm taking care of you. I'm gonna start booking the flights. You know, as years went on and I connected with more advisors and I heard that they don't book flights and they don't want to book flights, I was just always taken back and I never really understood it.
SPEAKER_01I mean, to me, I think it's the same as advisors that are out there that are like, oh yeah, I'll book your Viking cruise, but I'm not gonna do your pre and post. Like, come on, let's not give the industry a bad name because you're being greedy and want some money. If you don't want to do the whole thing, like I'm I'm genuine about this. If you don't want to do the whole thing, you shouldn't be in the industry. And I mean that because again, if the industry is predicated on service, and if we have all of these different competitive models coming into our industry. So, yeah, obviously we have Costco and kind of the pricing model, but we also have how many AI bots are out there claiming to be the AI travel agent, right? Those are coming out left and right. So if you're going to compete and survive through the next decade of this industry, and as we know, this industry always has dramatic changes. I just feel very, very strongly that you've got to be able to truly provide great service to the client. And flights are part of that experience. I mean, you can't deny that in any way. Now you can absolutely say, I'm gonna book the flights, but you're gonna own it. And this is how that happens. And if it gets canceled, this is what you need to do. We're we can dive into that a little bit more today. But yes, I think flights are part of it. So if you first started with packages, tell us a little bit more. You're just doing fun jet, Cash Express, and kind of letting them handle everything, or tell us what you saw there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so you know, if I'm booking an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana, it's you start off with flights and hotel, right? And you're bundling it together. So I looked at it as an opportunity of why wouldn't I want the higher sale? Right? Like, not booking flights, you're giving up thousands of dollars. And that's what hopefully by the end of this episode you realize is I just looked at it as kind of sales. I like, I'd rather have my vacation package be 10 grand instead of eight grand without booking the flights. I think it gives me the ability to go in. One, I can add in a little more commission where I need to, right? It's things are more bundled together. A lot of people will be like, oh, well, I don't want to have to deal with the flight changes. It's not that difficult. I mean, I've very little time, I mean, flight issues come up. I think it's gonna happen regardless how you handle them and how you prep your clients is what's most important here.
SPEAKER_01So and the real the reality is I see most agents that don't book flights, they're booking the transfers still. So it's like, well, you gotta move the transfer regardless. You may as well just also get the notification that the flight times changed, right? It doesn't make that big of a difference in the end. Well, so what is it that you think makes advisors avoid flights then?
SPEAKER_00They're afraid to make mistakes and they think about what happens if they make a mistake, how can they fix it? They think about like the dreadful two-hour wait on the phone with the airline. You know, you can they have a chat, they have a chat bot now. You can usually resolve an issue in 15, 20 minutes through the chat. And I think again, it comes down to how you equip your clients for whatever situation arises. I mean, so the big thing, let's kind of start with making mistakes. One thing I always like to tell advisors is yeah, I make mistakes all the freaking time. Like it just happens. I double check names, dates of birth, I reconfirm them with the clients prior to booking. So this is really important. Making sure you're sending out your form to your clients, you're getting the um stamp of approval on names, dates of birth, exactly as they are on passports. As long as you have that, there's no reason you can't book the flights. The other important thing to remember is you have 24 hours. If you book a flight and screw up, you have 24 hours to cancel for a full refund. I mean, I've never had to do that. Um, but that's kind of what I tell people. Don't be afraid. And after you book the flight, send it to the client right away. Have them log into the um with the record locator and look at the itinerary and make sure everything's aligned properly.
SPEAKER_01I will also tell you my favorite pro tip for travel agents of all time. If you call in to Delta or whoever and you don't like the answer you're getting, hang up and call back. Like it works every time. So what I what I'm thinking of specifically is name changes. Oh, they she told me her name was Katie and she filled out the side, the paperwork, and she she said that that was her name, but it's not her name. And now I'm getting charged $200 for a name change. Number one, I'll tell you nine times out of ten, they're never even gonna pretend to charge you, they're just gonna do it. Like they I very rarely have gotten where they actually tried to charge me. The handful of times where they did, I hung up and I started over. And granted, that's a pain in the butt, but I've never had it where the second time didn't get me what I wanted. So done, right? Like at the end of the day, that's what I needed. And I do want to highlight that since COVID, everybody's got a chat bot now. So it does make it so much easier to have those communications. And I don't think we're going to experience those two, three, four, five-hour hold times that we did back then. You know, I think communication and customer service has really changed over the last couple of years, and it's been fantastic to see. So don't worry about messing up. Like you can mess up on a flight just as easy as you can mess up on a hotel, but you're willing to book the hotels. And I think people don't take the risk because they don't think the payoff is there. I really think people underestimate this because even places like Funjet and Vacation Express that are packaging those economy rates, they are sometimes negotiating commission on the economy flights, more or less if you're booking premium economy, business class, first class. I mean, I made $800 just this morning on a flight and it took me 15 seconds to put together, right? Like you can make real money on flights. So even if you're like, look, one out of every 10 of my clients is booking first class, that's one out of 10. That's an extra $800 for every 10 trips you do. Why would you not? Right. So I think there's a lot of money in flights and people don't realize that. Would you agree? Or do you think I'm being a little?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, this is what, you know, when I am in one-on-one coaching, group coaching, I talk about this a lot because again, I feel like it's an area of opportunity that a lot of advisors are just more comfortable handing it off and saying, hey, I don't do flights because they're not educated on how to do them, right?
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you do flights for all of your clients. Do you use or have access or know or understand how to use a GDS system?
SPEAKER_00Not a clue. I I have no idea. So this is another question I get often is oh, are you saver? GDS, I'm gonna be honest, I feel like those systems are older. I don't, I have never gotten familiar with one of them. I've always relied on the support to help me with a GDS system, like Regal Wings, for example. Any business class, comfort plus above, they use a GDS system, but I have the advisor who I have a relationship with, you know, quote out everything and do it for me. That's a much easier process for me. So yeah, I've never worried about getting in and using a GDS. Um, so no, Bird, I have zero education on that.
SPEAKER_01I don't either. I mean, you you know, I so I entered the industry in November of 2019. Fantastic timing to start a travel agency. Um, but in the last six years, we've grown the agency to we'll do over 20 million this year in travel. And I think what's really cool about that growth that we've seen is we've never relied on a GDS for it. Could it be done quite quicker? Could it be done, you know, faster and more efficient through a GDS? Probably. But the reality of am I gonna pay for access to it? Am I gonna pay to train all the people that I onboard, all of our like W-2 travel agents? Probably not. Like I'm not gonna take the time to do it. And I think there are so many tools out there that we can rely on now that you don't need that. I I heard an advisor just the other day. Well, I can't do flights because I don't have a GDS. Oh, that's not right, right? You can absolutely still do flights. Um, worst case scenario, if I have somebody that wants to just book basic economy, they I'm not gonna make any commission on it. They just want it cheap and dirty. I literally just go to delta.com and book their flights. And I think that step is still really important because again, yes, this is something they can do, and I understand that. But I think that step is really important just to say, let me own your trip. Let me own your trip from top to bottom. So at the end of the day, you can just feel really comfortable relaxing and just showing up for the experience and not worrying about anything. You're that much more likely to be excited to work with me again. So get the GDS out of your head if you feel like that's your roadblock. Any other roadblocks you can think of, Haley, of why people don't want to book flights?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they don't want to have, they feel like they have to support clients in destination, right? They're so afraid, like when they get to the airport and shit hits a fan and they miss their connection, they have to all of a sudden wake up out of bed at, you know, six in the whenever it's happening to support the client. And that again, I don't feel is true. On my pre-departure call, I talk about how the second you're like once you have your boarding pass, you are owned by the airline. They're the ones who are gonna support you. And a lot of advisors come back and say, Oh, I've had gate agents say that they won't support you because it's a third-party booking. I have honestly taught my clients have called me, I said, Let me talk to the gate agent right now. I'm like, there's you know, there's nothing, Delta. We can't, I can't go get in a queue for two hours with Delta right now. It's not realistic. You need to help the client. And I've never had somebody who the airport refused to take care of them while they were there.
SPEAKER_01So I have had where I had to call Funjet um for a package booking because they had had a bulk rate and I had to call through Funget. So I do something similar to Haley. I do not wake up at two in the morning unless my three-year-old is kicking me in the face. I will not be awake at three in the morning. Um, but I take the time to explain that to my clients. Hey, the flight rescue is actually not done by me, and there's very little that I'm gonna do to help you. I don't explain that until the pre-departure call. Up until the pre-departure call, bird's here to do everything. It's gonna be amazing. Don't worry about it. But on the pre-departure call, I'm like, hey, look, you're kind of on your own here. But I think it's the way you word it. So I explained to my clients, I love how Haley said it. So I want to reiterate it. The flight, when you check in, it is truly owned by the airline, meaning they're gonna be the ones that have the most flexibility to move or change anything. If I went on delta.com and booked for them, I tell them that. I'm like, just so you understand, don't tell anyone you're booked through a travel agent. I literally just booked you on delta.com. There's nothing different from if you did it versus I did it. So never tell anyone to kind of prep them because you guys do know that if they say I use a travel agent, all of a sudden the gate agent's like, I can't help you. Um, so if it's a direct booking, I explain that. But if they book through Funget, Regal Wings, any of these others, I basically explain to them the gate agent should be able to help you and you're gonna want to push back for them. But if for some reason you need to talk to who actually booked the flights, this is the phone number that you're gonna call. They're gonna be able to help you more quickly than I could ever want to. If you want to text me, if it's during the day, I'm more than happy to try to do what I can for my end, but I'm just giving you all the tools in the toolbox. So if I take 15 minutes to answer or respond to you, you're not waiting on me. You're able to go ahead and self-rescue. Do you feel comfortable with that? I think that part's a really important thing to ask your client. Do you feel comfortable with that? And if they say no, go ahead and ask them, okay, what part of that do you not feel comfortable with so I can make sure that I'm better supporting you? And then kind of dive in it from there. But just take the time to explain to the client, like, no, I'm not getting up at two in the morning. It's not happening. I sorry, that's not how my life works. Um, I'm happy to help you during the day, but my main job is to create and produce a trip that's going to, in theory, be as seamless and stress and stressless as possible, but things go wrong in travel. That's what happens. So my job here is to kind of educate you to self-rescue. That's that's my pre-departure call in a nutshell.
SPEAKER_00And I always feel bad. I tell my clients, I'm not trying to scare the shit out of you. I promise. Like it's gonna go perfect, but just in case. Um, but no, I just had clients who actually flew with delta vacations. I booked a vacation package through Delta Vacations with a FIT to Europe, and they had a delay in whatever airport it was like West Virginia. Um, they had a delay which resulted in them missing their international flight. So, you know, naturally my client texted me really quick, and you know, I kind of guided them what to do. They went right up to the gate agent and the gate agent rerouted them, no problem. But the flight wasn't realistic. Like it just didn't make sense. They wanted to get to Italy the next day. They had a conference they had to do. So, what I decided to do, and I was fortunately at my desk, like this was a it was three o'clock in the afternoon. I just popped in, looked at Google Flights really quick, and told them what the alternative flights were. If they wanted to take them, but they would have to pay out of pocket, they would have to do it themselves. And then I just gave them five minutes of guidance and told them I'm really sorry. And that was it. They moved on, they booked the flights. You know, Delta reimbursed them for the flight they weren't able to make, and they were able to navigate it all at the airport. So that five minutes now I'm their superhero, right? They were able to get to Italy the next day, and that's really all that it took for me. So I think it's one, yes, have your boundaries. If it's in the middle of the night, you've already equipped them. If you can provide any help while they're in the situation and ease your mind a little bit, do it, right? But yeah, book the flight.
SPEAKER_01Well, and I want to call out the little bit of hypocrisy in this conversation. We're like, if you don't do all the things for your service for your clients, you're a bad travel agent. And then we're like, don't do any of that for them. Again, I think a travel agent's job and the conversations we have with our agents are your job is everything up until travel. Your job is really to make sure that you've created the smoothest experience possible. Once they get there, they are gonna have to know how to self-rescue sometimes. That is going to be the reality of if you want to do this full time and remain sane, your clients cannot be helpless. Like they just can't, especially if it's going to come at the expense of your sleep. Like, you can't just not sleep in June. So I feel really strongly about being like, look, there's so many things at your disposal, traveler. Let me help you understand what it is that you need to do to be able to handle this. When you tell people, like, don't forget the time difference, like that'll be two in the morning my time. So if you run into issues, you're gonna need to solve this. They're just like, yeah, that that makes sense. I don't expect you to get up at two in the morning. I think that travel agents often assume their clients do expect them to get up at two in the morning, but I bet if you took the time and asked your client, very rarely would they actually have that expectation that you're just up all night waiting for their problem to solve. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, things, things will happen. I mean, I just had another client who flew Delta a couple days ago and they had an hour delay. So I think anytime this happens, it's natural for the client to freak out a little bit, right? The thought of losing a night and being stuck in another airport. Just let them know it can't happen, right? Take time to educate them that, hey, this could happen. So in our text message back and forth, she was like, Hey, I think we need to switch our flight. Like, can we get on an early flight? They still had an hour and 15 minutes. So I basically just went back to her and said, Listen, until it's actually a problem, we're not gonna treat it like it's a problem. So this is something good. I always recommend don't go down a rabbit hole, don't spend time trying to fix a problem that isn't really a problem yet. And that was it. She everything worked out perfectly. Off she went. I didn't hear from her, and now she's in Budapest getting ready for her river cruise. So I love it. I I think it's just, you know, clients will have that immediate freak out. And it's how you go back and have the conversation with them and just reiterate it's not a problem yet. Let's not, let's, let's not treat it as one, right?
SPEAKER_01I will also give you my super secret sauce for not really having to deal with most in-destination problems. So if I have a client call or text me, when I see it come through, I set an alarm on my phone for 15 minutes. And what I do is I give it the 15 minutes for them to be able to resolve the problem themselves. Then when the alarm goes off on my phone, I call the client back and I say, hey, what's going on? How can I help? 9.9 times out of 10, it is solved. I've empowered them for future trips. Now they've built their own confidence. But I've also, worst case scenario, it's not solved. Are they really going to be livid that it took me 15 minutes to get back to them? No. I'm going to be like, look, man, you know, I called back within 15 minutes. I'm here to help. What can I do? Like, yes, that might be stressful in the moment, but my role as a travel agent, I believe part of that is to empower my travelers and to build their confidence. Now I've had people that have traveled with me three, four, five, six, seven, eight times. I'm not going to hear from those people. I always tell them, I assume no news is good news. I am not your mom. You do not have to call me and tell me you arrive safely. That is up to you. If you want to text me pictures all day long about how much fun you're having, I love that. Feel free, but you don't need to. I'm not your mom. And that's how I kind of approach things. And I very rarely hear from clients when they're traveling. And that's perfect. That's the way I want my life to run.
unknownExactly.
SPEAKER_01Okay, you you I've heard you say it before, and I want to reiterate there's a there's a line that you've said. Because I think a lot of travel agents are scared to do flights. I think you're right. Flights are scary. There's a lot going on with them. Um, and one of the lines you use is the advisors that grow the fastest in this industry are usually the ones that do the uncomfortable things early. And I agree. It's the advisor that's willing to take on the trip to Thailand when they've never been to Asia. You don't have to go somewhere. We've talked a lot about this. You don't have to go somewhere to be able to like really know it. You just have to be able to know how to do great research, right? Um, it's the client, it's the travel agent that's willing to take on the flights when they're not exactly sure. It's the travel agent that's willing to jump in on that conversation with a client that where they're like, I don't know where I want to go and be like, I'm mean either. Let's figure it out together. Those are the people that are successful in this industry. So if you're gonna let yourself be very hesitant about any move that you make, it's gonna be really hard to find success here. Is that fair?
SPEAKER_00Am I being a bit rude there? No, I think it's that's exactly what it is, right? You have to go and book the flights five times to be like, okay, that wasn't so bad, and I'm just gonna do it. I had a client last year, and I'm not even kidding you, bird. It was a group of 15 people who had to fly to Malaysia, um, from Malaysia to Singapore. And then they were all on different international legs from different US, and it was a very complex air. I said to them, Listen, give me a day. I want to make sure I can do this for you first and be realistic about it before I just say, okay, let's do it. Took a little bit of time, did a little bit of research. I ended up connecting with Go Way, and just a fun fact Go way has a complex air department. So for Asia, I went through them. I connected with this woman who all she does is complex air. She was able to do everything for me. I made 18% commission off of like. $18,000 worth of flight. And it was, I'm like, okay, why wouldn't I do this? And I had that backup of Go Way to fall on if there were any type of issue or whatever that looked like. So yeah, it's, you know, I did. Did I want to do it? No, but I looked at it as an opportunity. I knew that number was there. I knew somewhere I could find a way to make money off of it. So I went with it and I did it.
SPEAKER_01Well, and I want to highlight the power of having a specific point of contact. As with any DMC or any tour operator, once you develop a relationship with one of your points of contact, life does get a lot easier. So Regal Wings is a great example. Once you find somebody that you feel like is working really well with you, continue working with that person. It does tend to make a difference. Now, Haley, do you charge an extra fee for the flight? Is that part of your normal fee? And would you do flights only and charge a fee for that?
SPEAKER_00What do those look like? I so I probably tell this story all the time. I have the sweetest couple who are approaching 80 and they fly domestically two or three times a year to their family across country. And the reason they come to me, they fly first class, they need wheelchair accessibility. So they just they're at the age they just want to be taken care of. And I've been very transparent with my client. Listen, I have no problem doing this for you. I love you guys. You're fantastic. But my air ticketing fee is $150 per person. So I look at it as kind of one, I need to make some money off this. Flights are typically around $5,000 round trip, first class. Fun fact for like Regal Wings, a lot of domestic air is not commissionable. So for that, I'm just gonna book direct through the airline. And that's it. I go in, I go right to United, get it booked. I charge my $300 for the two of them. It takes me 20 minutes. I do wheelchair accessibility, get them a rental car and send it off to them. And whatever. I made $300 in an hour and I know I'm helping these clients who need it. If something does come up, which has happened once, I did jump in. I was in the office, so I was happy to do it. But I again gave them that confidence that hey, everything's gonna be fine. The airline's gonna redirect you, get you in first class, and that's exactly what happened. So yeah, I definitely charge fees. If I do air only, I will charge a minimum $150 fee. I just had um I is that for basic economy too?
SPEAKER_01That's not that it makes any difference work wise.
SPEAKER_00So I did have a client come to me. This was like recent, probably a month ago. It was a referral from a client, and they were going to Asia. She already had accommodations booked. So I knew there was no opportunity to make commission. And I got on a call with her, and I was just super transparent. I'm like, listen, for me to do this, there's no way I make commissioner money. The only way to do this is to charge an upfront fee. Typically for something like this, for six of you, it's gonna be like $500, right? And I explained to her, I'm I if you really need the help, great, but I think you could probably do it on your own. And this is, you know, where you would want to do it because it didn't sound like she wanted to spend the money and she was kind of like, oh, wait, there's a fee. So yeah, she goes, No, I appreciate your transparency. Thank you so much. And next time I'm gonna make sure I reach out to you and come back to you. So yeah, there's definitely times that you know you have to know if the money is worth it for you at the end of the day. You need to make sure you're paying yourself. So yeah, I mean, I always charge an air ticketing thing, but it's very dependent per trip per client. Usually when I'm doing a fully curated trip to let's say Italy for a week, a week and a half, I'm charging usually a minimum of $200 per person. And with that, I always tell them the flights are like I'm gonna book your flights for you, right? If I'm charging a fee like that, I it's just assumed I'm gonna take care of your flights. If a client comes to me and says, Oh, we already have flights booked, or you know, we have points we want to use, I will even at that point say, Hey, let me just pop in. I will find you what I think would be the best flights for you. I'm gonna send you a couple options and then call Delta and use your points yourself. Fun fact you can use clients' um sky miles and points to redeem with delta vacations. So if you haven't looked into that yet, then definitely do it. That has been a game changer for me, I think, in the past couple years. So I love Delta. Delta is my preferred, if you haven't noticed too yet.
SPEAKER_01Um I do too, but sadly I live in Charlotte.
SPEAKER_00So I'm American and British. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you're charging a fee if it's just air, and then you're charging a fee for a full vacation, but you're not charging a separate fee for air when you do the full vacation. It's just this is how it's done.
SPEAKER_00I will sometimes like when I pitch my fee, I'm explaining to them that it's I'm taking care of your air and all the elements to your trip.
SPEAKER_01So what if they ask you, Haley, if they say, okay, oh, I'm gonna do my own air because we have points. Can I get a discount on the fee? How do you approach that?
SPEAKER_00Luckily, I haven't had somebody do that yet. Um, but I just tell them, again, I'll go in, yeah, that's great. I I'm happy to send over some options for you just to make it easy for you. And that's it. This is my fee across the board, whatever it is that I put up there. So I'm not gonna take away my fee for what I'm already gonna do. If they choose to book flights on their own, that's completely up to them. But my fee structure is not gonna change because they're booking flights.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And I'd really say, like, go back to the drawing board a little bit when you get these. You know, every traveler is a bit different, but I've gotten one where it's flight only and saying they needed help for first class flights. And the conversation was look, it's genuinely not where I make any money. However, if you're interested, like I see this trip that you booked, this looks amazing. If it's something where you're open to booking trips like that with me in the future, I'll do this for you. I'll do it for a fee, but I'll do this for you. But I want you to promise me that you're gonna come back to me and you're gonna book that Viking River cruise with me next time instead. So just like having I again, part of our role is education to the public. Very few, I think the percentage is less than 10%. Last time I saw a stat about it, but less than 10% of Americans are using travel advisors. Well, if that's the case, that means 90% of our society doesn't have a clue what we actually do. So they're not coming to you saying, hey, well, you book my flight. I've already booked my river cruise myself, I don't need you. They're not doing that because they're mean or they're like rude. They genuinely don't know. So take the mindset of and take the approach of, I'm going to educate you. And if this is something that will make sense for you in the future, I want to work with you. But if this is something where you are always going to book those on your own and you're not interested in working with me on the greater package, we're probably not a good fit. Let's not half-ass it, basically, right? Um, so approach it on future opportunity if if that makes sense for that client. Have you ever done that as well? Kind of like I've taken on weekend trips to New York and that's not what I wanted, but I knew they were gonna.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Starting off, absolutely with the example I just kind of gave. It was like a yoga retreat type of situation where I just am like, okay, I this is not my niche or what I would do. Yeah, so absolutely I have taken, and we've talked about this before, Bird, where I've even done just transfers, private transfers for somebody through England to get them as a repeat client where they already booked their own like four seasons in London. And I'm like, ugh, but they ended up coming back to me and sending me referrals. So it did magically work out. So I absolutely, if you see the value in it there and you have that connection with a client and you have the time to help them, do it. Why not?
SPEAKER_01Love it. That's awesome. All right. Um, also, you're not gonna go on a yoga retreat with me. I would be super fat. No, I would go.
SPEAKER_00I'm not planning it. I'm not, yeah, I'm not. No, no, that's not for me anymore.
SPEAKER_01Um, anybody listening out there, if you need a wellness retreat, I experienced Miraval last year, which has three locations in the US and is literally life-changing. So heads up for Miraval, definitely recommend it worth the cost. All right. So tell me about booking flights directly. You you kind of mentioned like going on delta.com and doing that. When do you decide that I'm gonna package it through Vacation Express, I'm gonna work through Regal Beings, or I'm gonna go to Delta.com. What's the decision tree look like?
SPEAKER_00It's truly dependent on the overall trip. If I'm doing like a Europe FIT, sometimes part of that FIT will be like Delta Vacations. Sometimes it won't be. If Delta Vacations doesn't carry the property that I want, to be able to bundle it together to make it make sense, then I will just, you know, book the property however I book it and then go direct to the airline. So yeah, it's it's just so dependent. If I'm doing Caribbean, I'm always vacation packaging and I'm doing it through Vax or Vacation Express.
SPEAKER_01I mean, my my go-to is to do it direct if it's gonna be basic economy or main cabin, um, because I'm not gonna get commission on it, but also because it just makes communication with the airline if something goes wrong that much easier. So let's talk about that when something goes wrong. What's kind of your do you have any strategies around getting the airlines to really do what you need them to do?
SPEAKER_00As far as like flight changes go or in destination emergencies.
SPEAKER_01I was thinking in destination emergencies because that's where I've really bumped up against no, we can't help you, you're booked with a travel agent. And then it becomes like very hairy, the client gets aggravated. Like that's where I tend to like dealt with more issues.
SPEAKER_00I don't know, Bert. I am telling you right now, I have not been in that situation. Like I have done bulk flights via Vax, I have done, you know, published fair. That's the other thing too. When you're looking at Vax and you go to book and you see bulk fair, that's a contracted rate. So typically that rate is not all that much of a savings in comparison to publish fair. I, if it's only like $7 a ticket, I just go with publisher. Even with bulk rate, I haven't had an issue where clients have had issues with seat assignments or in-destination support from the airline. Then there's the NDC fair. So I would tell you right now, don't ever book an NDC fair. I know it's a tremendous savings. If you want to book NDC fairs, I suggest you just educate yourself highly on what they are and make sure your clients know all the restrictions that are involved with it. So that is something I would never ever book. So yeah, with published rates, I've never had an issue with it a client saying, Hey, the airline won't talk to me if they're running into an issue with the connection or something like that. Yeah, prior to the day of departure, then if there is a flight change or flight cancellation, yeah, I'm getting on the phone with the air department with Vax. And you know, if you book with suppliers, you have, you know, the more you book with a certain supplier, you have extra amenities you can call into a line that maybe gets you streamlined faster than other agents. So with that, I just call right in, and usually within 30 minutes, I can have an answer and reroute clients on whatever that canceled flight was to get them on a new flight.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. So that that's what I was gonna kind of pinpoint in. I do typically tell clients that are budget conscious, like, hey, just so you know, I always quote main cabin. If you really want me to go basic of the basic of the basic, we can do basic economy, we can do it, but it's everything's gonna be completely non-refundable, non-transferable. I can't change anything on it at all. So, and I'm really referring to the NDC fairs a lot of times on that. Because especially if you're playing in that game, that that budget travel game where you're in the all-inclusive world, you're in the Caribbean, you're doing that, those fares can absolutely make the difference on whether or not you're getting the sale or not. So I wouldn't necessarily say avoid them. What I would say is the way you pitch it to a client is essentially this money is gone. There is no changes no matter what happens. It's not covered by any of the things. What I would also add is if they do buy travel insurance and they cancel for a covered reason, those non-refundable flight tickets are included in what would be refundable. So just something to kind of think about in your communication strategy with the client when it comes to doing that. If you have a client that's a bit more flexible in the budget, they're doing more of like a Europe FIT or around the world, those I would I would just always do main cabin or above because it's it's not worth the headache of the NDC if something does go wrong. I agree. Um, all right, we've already talked pre-departure call a good bit. Um, what about any anything else we've I'm I'm running through our notes that we had that we wanted to talk through here, but anything else that we've missed about flights? So we want to make sure we're highlighting here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so the one thing, another thing that I just always recommend to every advisor when you are booking a flight for a client, make sure you are inputting your communication, like your email, your phone number because you're managing it. The last thing you want to do is book flights for somebody. The reservation goes over to them, their email. You can't just see it to reconfirm. So I just always tell you put in your email, and that way you're actually managing the reservation. You can keep everything aligned and you're good to go.
SPEAKER_01So and if the flight gets changed, you're the one that gets the notification. So then you can pass it along. Because I've gotten it changed where it's genuinely a whole different day. It was a destination that American didn't fly to a ton, and there's like she can leave the next day. No, bitch, that is not how this works. So I was able to get in front of that and call the airline. But had the client have gotten it, they would have been like, well, bird booked me on the wrong day. Good for her. You know, it would have been a very different situation.
SPEAKER_00Or who even knows if the client checks her email, right? And then now weeks go by and their flight schedule is completely different, and you have no idea that that flight changed, right? So I think part of providing that, you know, full experience, full concierge really comes down to managing every element of the trip.
SPEAKER_01I will also do a quick shout out to our pre-departure team. So our pre-departure team at Sava Travel does check all of the flights. And if you don't use an assistant, this is something you should be doing. So they check all the flights seven days prior to departure. Then they email the transfer company and they say, hey, don't forget this is the flight information. This is their arrival time. And just so you know, this is the client's, you know, the primary traveler's name and this is a primary traveler's phone number in case you need to get in touch with them. That step takes 15 seconds, and it is the most critical step because the last thing I want is a client calling me panicked, because again, if it's arrival time in Europe, that means it's two in the morning my time. I don't want to deal with where's your transfer guy. I want you to have the direct point of contact for who that transfer company is. Um, we use uh either intern or accessor, all of the itinerary builders pretty much will have real-time flight information. So just update the flight information as you're on the pre-departure call with the client and be like, okay, all this is looking good. This is great. Um, but I will tell you that email to the transfer company just really seals the deal with making my life very smooth during departure season. Um, any other last tips from you, Haley?
SPEAKER_00One last tip, and we'll wrap it up. Um, so I guess my other last tip is after you book the flights with your client, it's just really important to give them their information right away. Make sure they have access to the itinerary. In your itinerary, make sure you're putting like some fine print detail of this is how you're gonna access. Make sure you're telling them that you are not responsible for seat assignments. So I think this is a big one where I've seen seat assignments change five times on clients. And kind of putting that out there and letting them know that this could be a possibility and you don't track the seat assignments is super important. Have them download the app, have them link the reservation right away and put on notifications so they're constantly checking in on their flights as well.
SPEAKER_01So this is a piece that we've done and taken the time to put into our um itinerary library that I think is really important. This is not for you. As you're listening to this, don't be like, oh my god, that's so much work, bird. This is not for you. This is for an assistant to do. But basically, we put together kind of a template. Um, at the top, it says in all caps, like reconfirm your flights. Here they are. So this goes out as soon as we get it to the client. Here's your flights. Click here to check your record locator number. And the click here, I've got it linked directly to the manager booking kind of link for that airline. So we have a different one of these, different templates for every airline we work with. Um, I've got a little blurb about downloading the app, just so they understand like this is really the easiest way. I've noticed most of the airlines are gonna do push notifications if a gate changes or a flight's delayed or anything, they're gonna do that before they do anything else. So download the app. Then I have a check into your flight little blurb, just kind of explaining it's up to you, traveler, to check into your flight 24 hours in advance. This is where you do it. So I say, like, you could either do it in the app or you can click here, and then I link to the check-in. Um, and then the baggage has probably been the biggest pain. Have you guys ever had someone that's like, well, you didn't tell me that didn't include baggage, and now I've got to spend another $40.
SPEAKER_00Like, yeah, especially like the inter-European flights. So awful. So I've I've had advisors in situations where clients are furious when they know they have to spend $400 for a family of five. So yeah, that's what it calls.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's expensive. So I've got a little bourbon in baggage, and you know, the top part is don't forget to put all these things in your carry-on, such as medication, or you you get the idea of that. But then we have another part that's like, here's your airline's baggage policy. And again, this is unique to every airline. So we build that in there. Um, I have a little thing in there that shows them about um TSA and what they can bring in a carry-on, but I also have one that just suggests like an Apple Air tag or a tile because I think they're so useful. Um, and then I also put in there about travel um identification and travel documents. So I know clients in theory know that they need a passport, but I like to just like extra, don't forget you need this, don't forget you need the um the real ID, the things, right? Um, and then the last but not least, actually, there's two more things. The there's a second to last section about seats, which Haley mentioned, and I kind of say, like, this is on you. Like they change, I have no control over it, period. Dot. I just like to have it in writing. And then that's very last section is a comment about traveling with both parents. Um, so we have a whole email written up that goes to every client that has a traveler under the age of 18. Basically explains in America, an airline can ask you for just leaving state lines, but they're much more likely to ask you going international for a notarized document saying that you have um full custody of this child. So especially if the child doesn't have the parents' last name, whatever it is, uh I don't ask any questions. I just say, hey, we send this out to everybody because you don't know. It could be the dad and his kid who obviously has the same last name. They're remarried to a new woman, but she has taken that last name now. So for you, it appears to be a normal family that everybody's there, but there's a mom with a very strict custody agreement, and that father does not have legal rights to leave state lines, right? So there could be all kinds of situations. So I don't ask any questions. I just say, hey, we send this to absolutely everybody. If you're the biological parents or you have sole custody of your child, ignore this email. A little bit of some CYA cover your ass stuff that needs to happen that makes our job easy. I actually will post this whole blurb because I do think it's so interesting and helpful for people. So I will post this whole blurb in our Facebook group when we start talking about this episode. So our Facebook group is just called the Travel Agent Guide, just like our um our podcast is. So you'll find it there if you want to copy and paste. Feel free. All right. Thank you guys for listening. We really, really appreciate it today. And we will see you again next week.