The travel environment has changed greatly since COVID and the likelihood of your travel plans being impacted by factors outside of your control has multiplied exponentially – both for domestic and international travel.
Over the last 12 or so months, we’ve seen a significant increase in enquiries and bookings from customers who traditionally handled their own travel bookings. These people are now reaching out to agents like ourselves to provide them with up-to-date advice and support that just can’t be achieved when booking directly with an airline or via an online travel agent.
International travel especially is still a bit of a minefield with airline schedules changing multiple times between ticketing and travel and wait times on Customer service lines often stretching into the 3 or 4-hour-long ordeals. Airlines are taking days, if not weeks to reply to email messages.
In the past, the commission we received from airlines and other suppliers was how we earned our income. This money was used to pay staff salaries and the bills associated with running the business.
Since COVID, commissions have largely been removed to the point where we can no longer rely on them to cover our operating costs. In the current travel environment, it is not uncommon for us to earn as little as 1% on the cost of the airline ticket after the taxes, fees, and airline charges are removed.
We will continue to source travel products from a broad range of suppliers and will always do our best to match online prices however we ask you to understand that in some instances, we will charge a service fee on top of the cost of the ticket.
This fee, like those you would pay your accountant, lawyer, plumber, dentist, or electrician is for the knowledge and experience we bring to the transaction, the advice we provide, the personalised service we continue to provide, and of course, the security and peace of mind you’ll have knowing that we’ve got your back 24/7 should something happen before or during your journey.
All service fees listed below are current as of 01 November 2024 and include GST where applicable. They are in addition to any supplier-levied fees and charges and we reserve the right to retain any income earned from the original booking including but not limited to airline, hotel, wholesaler, and other supplier commissions.