tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-151276042024-03-07T21:35:34.240-05:00"Without a Travel Agent, You're On Your Own." I deal with things which I find are really really good or totally not right in this business of being a travel agent and here are some of the things which I found worthy of blogging about. <a href="mailto:luanne@jaguartravelgroup.com?subject=While%20reviewing%20your%20blog/CTA">Email me:</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-2352903766580969462010-08-16T11:29:00.000-04:002010-08-16T11:45:08.007-04:00

If you have a government issued credit card, then I am allowed to ticket published government airfares. However, if you use a GTR, I'm not allowed to process those. We can also designate separate account numbers for those traveller's who need to receive statements which show separate listings for personal travel, campaign travel and government travel etc etc.So if you travel on a government

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-43594932951057554572010-08-06T17:09:00.000-04:002010-08-06T17:10:12.128-04:00

In my day to day job, I put several scenarios together for the customer, however I can NOT reserve all of them indefinitely. The airlines, regardless of your personal mileage status with them, will NOT allow me to hold a reservation for more than 24 hours without issuing a ticket for the itinerary. I do not make a salary, I get paid based on how many tickets I issue, not how many hours in a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-25965247365210199582009-03-30T11:04:00.001-04:002009-03-30T11:04:59.370-04:00

Join the club on fare rule interpretation!! LOL Heck, it changes all the time and when in doubt, I call the airline and hope I get someone smarter than me. Basically, all of the airlines have different rules, yet similiar too. It varies from airline to airline and that's where it can get crazy. I keep profile info on each different airline that I frequently use and update the basic rules as

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-83921030832195079072008-03-04T11:33:00.002-05:002008-03-04T11:38:17.235-05:00

Now that traveller's can change their seating assignments online and pick and choose "the perfect seat", I'd like to make a request of you my wonderful client.Please let me know if you've changed your seats yourself, because when the airline sends me a message saying that the passenger no longer has that seat, I tend to not look at the history because I have so many people who I monitor seat

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-36542539769175921142007-09-21T15:22:00.000-04:002007-09-21T15:23:19.964-04:00

Bravo!!&nbsp;I couldn't have said that&nbsp;better myself.&nbsp; I love it when an attorney responds to me with "That Sucks"!!&nbsp;&nbsp; I mean, no mincing words here.&nbsp; *smile*&nbsp; Thank you for saying it like it is and really telling me how you feel.&nbsp; Love it, love it, love it!!&nbsp; And you know why he said that?&nbsp; Because I told him, that for a flight on November 1st, I

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-31628134218647534422007-09-21T11:02:00.000-04:002007-10-24T14:14:35.364-04:00

I am slightly disappointed that Southwest decided not to put a pre-assigned seating feature into place, however I also believe that what they've proposed will certainly be a huge improvement. Basically, Southwest had been contemplating going to the advanced seating program, but they decided against it. Your best and only chance of getting a decent seat on Southwest is to check in online, no

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-50347403488616845202007-08-10T10:45:00.001-04:002007-08-10T10:45:44.669-04:00

This is absolutely ridiculous!!&nbsp; I have a party of six confirmed on Iberia Airlines going to Spain for December of 2007, however it was reserved as an American Airlines flight, back in May of 2007, knowingly as a codeshare.&nbsp;&nbsp; So, generally speaking,&nbsp;other airlines, such as Northwest, are&nbsp;able to pull up and pre-assign seats for me if their flight is reserved through

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-29005240944721772662007-05-24T18:31:00.001-04:002007-05-24T18:31:14.198-04:00

I have heard many people, asking for advice as to whether I believed that getting into the travel business was a good idea or not.&nbsp; Here are my thoughts.&nbsp; If I were just now starting out in this business, I believe I wouldn't unless I had a huge following of people or if I was going to actually work in a full service, large&nbsp;travel agency.&nbsp; I am the sole&nbsp;bread winner

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-43180266140232766952007-05-22T14:10:00.003-04:002008-03-04T11:07:46.509-05:00

Do you ever feel like you go round and round with help desks? Why is it that we, the "just the travel agent" feels as though we need to recommend to these people how to do their job. Their lack of common sense and customer service skills, or rather lack there of, never ceases to amaze me.So here is my issue.....the last three times that I have booked this particular Hampton Inn through my airline

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-8464872722414802242007-05-11T10:59:00.001-04:002007-05-11T10:59:58.581-04:00

Technically, if you are a Hilton diamond member, your spouse can not&nbsp;use your diamond benefits while they are travelling alone.&nbsp; NOW,&nbsp;like anything else in life, there are always exceptions to every rule&nbsp;and&nbsp;rules vary from hotel to hotel and from chain to chain.&nbsp; So what else is new right!!!&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; So like everything else, it always pays to check

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-37941352882935267732007-05-04T17:02:00.002-04:002008-03-04T11:01:50.787-05:00

I get so perturbed at the airline ticket counters and the airlines in general. It seems as though no one can get their stories straight as far as interpretation of the ticketing rules. They make travel agents and the reservation center agents look like total idiots sometimes. It absolutely infuriates me when I call the airline, US Airways in this particular case, wanting to change the outbound to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-50703380684876435742007-04-18T10:25:00.001-04:002007-04-18T10:25:16.067-04:00

Do you wait to arrive at the airport for your flight to&nbsp;the VERY LAST MINUTE, hoping that&nbsp;the airlines let you on and don't close the darn doors on you?&nbsp; Well think again folks.&nbsp; In this day and age, the way security is and the airlines are always competing to maintain their on-time performances, those days of waiting till the last minute and clawing the airplane doors

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-1688443891263834462007-04-03T08:27:00.001-04:002007-04-03T08:27:11.832-04:00

with two of the larger car companies, National and Alamo.&nbsp; This will be interesting to see if this goes through, because Enterprise has proven time and time again what wonderful customer service they offer in general.&nbsp; I really hope that the current employee's at these Alamo and National locations don't bring Enterprise down.&nbsp; I hear complaints all the time, in regard to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-52708421833549654942007-02-16T16:48:00.000-05:002007-02-16T16:54:23.716-05:00

Have you ever been travelling, even if just in your car and need to make a quick pit stop to use a restroom. I know that I have usually just popped into a gas station or fast food restaurant to use their facilities, but this one person who I just thought made a lot of sense and certainly something I've noticed in my travels is that the restrooms in gas stations and fast food restaurants aren't

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-72705835731768212002007-02-16T16:37:00.000-05:002007-02-17T15:07:20.414-05:00

A good tip I found while perusing a travel talk forum was one which recommended saving on their hotel expenses in Europe by taking the "overnight trains". Buy a Eurail Pass and sleep in the 'all night' trains. The next part they said though, I felt was rather risky behavior. When the traveller arrived at the destination, he would walk into the nearest hotel to the train station, bag in hand,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-6655323558541563382007-02-16T16:07:00.000-05:002007-02-16T16:37:42.288-05:00

Do you ever travel with others in your party and one of you were lucky enough to be confirmed in the hotel which offers "free breakfast" and the other traveller wasn't as fortunate? I've never really thought much about this before, but as you'll see on this forum which I read from time to time, this practice happens rather frequently and they're pretty darn slick about it too.What experiences

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-59804676695917345012007-01-29T10:22:00.000-05:002007-02-06T17:11:30.934-05:00

I've been in this business for a very long time and I have had dealings with many people. People come and go for one reason or another and after having watched Dateline this past weekend and seeing Chief of Police Timothy Longo from Charlottesville, VA on a program about a 20 year old rape story, I've been reminiscing about folks I haven't heard from. I used to arrange travel for Tim all the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-50783549719343335662007-01-20T11:20:00.000-05:002007-01-20T11:20:42.669-05:00

I had the opportunity to take a much needed vacation with my son, right before Christmas this past year. My co-worker had "won" a cruise from Norwegian Cruise Lines aboard their newest ship "The Norwegian Pearl". As you can see it's a very festive looking vessel and there were lots of activities on board for both young and old.Chances are you'll treasure everything about Norwegian Pearl. She's

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-1168212235688793662007-01-07T18:22:00.000-05:002007-01-07T18:23:55.700-05:00

I want to fight spam. Being in the travel business, we are continually getting spammed from every and any travel company which was ever created. I'm sure some of them are trustworthy and financially stable companies to work with, but how can we tell? We should start a website "Recommendations by Professional Travel Agents". Travel agents need to work together and network more. The good old days

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-1165591384149200662006-12-08T10:20:00.001-05:002008-03-04T11:10:47.818-05:00

I can not stress how important it is that when you're making your travel arrangements that they be made all through the same source, especially if you are the type of traveller who tends to change frequently. I have heard time and time again how traveller's forgot to cancel their hotel reservation because their travel agent wasn't the one who reserved the room for them and the secretary got busy

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-1142356090176140672006-07-05T11:06:00.000-04:002006-07-05T10:42:46.930-04:00

Where should we stay in Portland, ME? Looking for a 4 star hotel in the Portland Maine area? Try some of these. I'm happy to help you reserve them if you're interested.Hotel Suggestions (all 3 of these are 4 diamond ratings):Portland Harbor Hotel (Review:)or you could stay down in Kennebunkport which is roughly 22 to 25 miles from Portland, ME at Yachtsman Lodge (Review) or in Freeport ME at

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-1145632379908644842006-05-28T11:01:00.000-04:002006-05-28T21:13:09.673-04:00

These days, many of the airlines offer something called "same day confirm". Delta's rule (or it was the last time I checked -these things change daily sometimes) was that a passenger could confirm a change to a reservation for 25.00 within 3 hours prior to the new flight they're requesting, provided there is space available on the flight. Same booking code was not required. Here is lawyer

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-1148586897021664312006-05-25T15:54:00.000-04:002006-05-25T15:54:57.083-04:00

This is one of the best pieces of news I have received in a very long time.&nbsp; I have complained about this topic, and not necessarily in regard to our travel agency help desk, but in respect to the airlines in general and I for one couldn't be happier.&nbsp; Thank you, thank you, thank you to Galileo for bringing the jobs back to good ole Atlanta.&nbsp; In fact, I told a gal at Geico

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-1148395204772348112006-05-23T10:40:00.000-04:002006-10-27T17:26:39.040-04:00

Sometimes I wonder if this isn't what flying is really coming to. I'm sure you've heard that the airlines are now charging people 15.00 to have an exit row seat pre-assigned. That would be Northwest Airlines, "coach choice" and yes, this is truly happening. Just google it and you'll get lots of hits.This email has been passed around among travel agents and frequent flyers and basically folks

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15127604.post-1147446207978266712006-05-12T10:46:00.000-04:002006-05-28T21:03:16.813-04:00

I was totally shocked when I heard this morning that US Airways no longer offers bereavement fare discounts on domestic flights. Fortunately, I don't receive those calls much, even though I do a wonderful job for families when they do need my help, but it's unfortunate that in many markets, the last minute airfares are still not very affordable for many people.Bereavement fares are not offered

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0