This article below by Peter Needham drives home the point ‘Without a Travel Agent you are alone’.

April 20, 2010

It has taken the sudden eruption of an Icelandic volcano to demonstrate graphically the value of booking travel through agents and with reputable wholesalers.The Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption has paralysed air traffic throughout Europe for what looks like being well over a week, stranding thousands of passengers and disrupting the flight plans of millions waiting to fly into, out of or between European destinations.

Travellers who booked through agents and wholesalers are being accommodated with changed itineraries and being kept up to date with complete itinerary alternate options. That’s because agents and wholesalers in Australia can hook up with affiliated suppliers in the destinations, who are able to make alternative arrangements. Travellers who booked on the internet face a bleaker outlook. Most have no idea where to turn for help locally. Some are heading for airports to wait in long queues and get turned away; others are trying to book into hotels that are already full of stranded passengers.

Managing director of Icon Holidays, Simon Hills, said the eruption demonstrated the value of booking through agents and buying packages put together by wholesalers.

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