After receiving a few questions from potential Fine Travel clients about the margin we add to discounted Business Class Flights from New Zealand (or any flights from New Zealand) we thought it was a good idea to be upfront, provide a direct answer and clear up any confusion.
The modern travel agent walks a line between being a trusted advisor for their client and an authorised agent for the airlines.
On the one hand, for our clients, we aim to save them time and take the stress out of booking their holidays or business travel. When it comes to booking flights, our focus is on finding the best airfare or combination of airfares, and then making the booking process smooth - accepting different forms of payment, providing a comprehensive PDF of the final itinerary and tickets (including hard copies in ticket wallets on request), loading frequent flyer details, selecting seats, requesting special meals etc.
On the other hand, we are authorised agents for the airlines and covered by the Travel Agents Association of New Zealand (TAANZ) and International Air Transport Association (IATA) Bonding Schemes. We have live access to the airlines' reservations systems, accept payments for tickets into a separate client funds account, undertake regular training on their services and regularly meet for updates with their representatives.
In 2022 the majority of the airlines that fly to and from New Zealand followed Air New Zealand's lead and removed or significantly reduced the commissions that they paid for the services travel agents provide.
So how is a Travel Agent paid?
With the removal of commissions, travel agents moved to a service fee model based on the value we contribute to the process of research fares, managing the booking process, issuing tickets and providing support (independent of the airline call centres). We addressed this change in our article:
THE BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH A BOUTIQUE TRAVEL AGENT
If you look at a page on our website such as for Discounted Business Class Airfares to the UK and Europe, the prices we advertise are the final prices including all taxes but excluding our service fee (as the service fee differs due to factors like complexity). We make sure the airfare is available by making a dummy booking before advertising it or sending it out in a Business Class Sales Alert. Once we provide a detailed itinerary, we include our service fee in the final cost.