Calling All TAs - How Do You Feel About Air Commision Cuts

I am going to blog about the Cruise Lines cutting air commission for TAs and, I was wondering:

- Will this impact your ability to stay in business?

- Do you fear that cruise lines will go the way of airlines and cut out commissions totally one day?

- Will service suffer overall with TAs because of these cuts?

- Any thoughts or comments on the subject?

Thanks!

1. The cuts will not impact me at all as I do not rely on air for business.

2. I do not feel that cruise lines will cut commissions completely from the industry. They are smart enough to realize that we are their bread and butter.

3. I do not think service with suffer, not for the majority of travel agents. People will just have to get used to more agents charging an extra fee (for those agencies who do rely on that income) or making other arrangements for them.

4. Many travel agent's, myself included, book air for our clients seperate from the cruise line because we can either get better pricing or better flight times for our clients. Many cruise lines if you book their air do not give you a choice of airline or flight times unless you pay extra for those "luxuries". The small amount of commissions to be had was not worth making my client's pay more and know less. Better a happier client then a bigger check!
Actually, with the airlines having cut commissions long ago I am surprised the cruiselines continued to pay them as long as they did.

I'm with Nina - I've only once ever used cruise line air, and it was for the Disney transatlantic cruise earlier this year - the price was unbelievably good, and my client had Disney's Vacation Protection Plan which would only cover the air if it was booked through Disney.

For the most part I don't book air through the cruise lines because the schedules and pricing aren't the greatest - and I don't charge clients for booking their air, because I'm getting commission off the cruise.

So the policy change doesn't impact me whatsoever.

I never use the cruise line's air. I can't get the flexibility (and price) with them that I can get by booking air directly through the air lines.

I very rarely book cruiseline air, as I can generally find air fare for my clients much cheaper booking separately. So, the cut doesn't affect me.

I don't think the cruise lines will go to net pricing any time soon. They still do about 90% of their bookings through travel agents, and aren't ready to handle the load without us.

The cut in cruise air commission shouldn't affect service, as most agents weren't using cruiseline air anyway.

Steve Mencik, ACC
The Vacation Stop
"The only stop you need for all your vacation plans."
http://thevacationstop.com
Travel For Charity http://thevacationstop.com/charity.shtml

Hey Steve!

Glad to see you here!!