Travel agent
store where individuals or families go to buy travel packages.
Travel Agencies have been organized mostly since the start of commercial aviation although Thomas Cook was an early, pre-flight pioneer. Some travel agent companies operate with a chain of stores, such as Carlton Wagonlit; others are one store operations. Travel agencies do not sell airline tickets only; their services vary, and many of them sell more cruise ship packages than airline tickets. Most travel agencies also arrange car rental deals for their customers, and many concentrate on arranging charter or group trips to different destinations. For this, they deal with regular airlines, but many times, they also hire charter airlines. Many travel agencies work exclusively for a small group of airlines, cruise and car hire companies, and often, the logos of the companies they work with are displayed on the windows of the agency's office. Furthermore, in the early era of model airplanes, airlines would have large plane models of their companies made and shipped to the travel agencies; these plane models are also available to the general public, but they are among the highest prized airline collectibles. Travel agencies also deal with train and hotel companies, this to try to fit an ideal schedule onto the requirements of each specific customer.
ASTA
On April 20 of 1931, the ASTA was formed, to defend the rights of travel agents over the power of the growing commercial airline systems of the day. ASTA, as of 2004, still represents travel agencies.
Worldwide services
Travel agencies have expanded to cover the world; many are located in Europe or the Middle East, for example; some serve as general service agents for foreign travel companies at different countries.
One of the top online travel agencies today is
Internet threat
Many agencies were afraid their services would no longer be needed due to the fact that many airlines and other traveling companies began to sell their tickets and packages online. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, however, most airlines stopped selling tickets on-line, and the fear of the Internet being a major rival to ticket agencies has disappeared.
Airline share
The next worrying situation was the announcement of some airlines that they would cut off the travel agencies' shares for each ticket sold; This deeply worried the travel agency industry, because they expected a considerable loss of money when compared to years past. However, soon after the 911 attacks, travelling began to pick up again, so the travel agencies have not been deeply affected by the cutting off of percentages by airline companies.
Currently, ticket agencies get about 20% of each air ticket sold.
Cargo
Although not as involved in the cargo business, some travel agencies also work with cargo airlines and ships. Those travel agencies that do cargo business, however, are not a significant number of agencies.
