When and how to consult an agent

Travel agents may seem like anachronisms in this age of Internet booking. Sitting down with a human and shuffling through brochures to plan a trip may seem quaint. Not to mention expensive, because most agents now charge service fees.

It doesn’t make sense to spend $30 or more to book an airline ticket through an agent when you can do it free at an airline’s website or for $5 or $10 through such big Internet travel merchants as https://www.expedia.com , https://www.orbitz.com and https://www.travelocity.com .

But in some situations, the expertise of an agent can be valuable. Among them:

• Booking a cruise. Even for an experienced traveler, setting sail can be intimidating. There are scores of companies and hundreds of ships, each with its own quirks.

• Booking a tour. This poses some of the same complications.

• Going abroad. You’re dealing with unfamiliar airlines and different customs and hotel brands. An agent who specializes in a region or country can help you avoid pitfalls.

• Crafting a complex itinerary. You have a month off, and you want to visit England, the Czech Republic, Spain and Morocco. An agent can figure out the fastest, cheapest and least stressful way to accomplish this. And if things go wrong along the way, you’ll have someone to call to straighten it out.

• Dealing with a time crunch. You need to get out of town and relax. But you don’t have time to research destinations. So you tell your agent your budget and what type of vacation you want — say, relaxing on the beach — and she or he finds the trip that fits.

How do you find a good travel agent? Here are some tips:

Ask around. Start by polling friends and acquaintances. Then contact the American Society of Travel Agents, a trade organization with more than 20,000 members. It posts a database of agents at https://www.astanet.com that you can search by ZIP Code. To belong to this group, agents must show financial responsibility and agree to follow an ethics code that requires them to provide customers with complete, truthful information.

Another source to check is the Institute of Certified Travel Agents, a nonprofit organization based in Wellesley, Mass., that trains agents. At its website, https://www.icta.com , you can search for its graduates by state, ZIP Code or city and by their areas of specialty, such as Africa or western Europe.

Once you find an agent, make sure from the start that the two of you can communicate, experts advise. You may need to talk with several to find the right chemistry.

Ask them how long they have been in business. If you’re in California, ask to see their current California Seller of Travel registration. The state requires companies that sell travel to register with the attorney general’s office, prove they have a consumer protection plan and post their CST numbers in advertisements. You also can search for an agent’s registration online at https://www.caag.state.ca.us/travel .

Ask about service fees. You may be charged $15 to $50 to book airline tickets. That’s because big airlines have mostly stopped paying regular commissions. You’re less likely to pay a fee to book a cruise, tour or hotel room because these companies still generally pay commissions.

If you want an agent to custom-design and book a complicated itinerary, you may be charged an hourly fee. These vary widely but sometimes are negotiable, and you should ask whether the agent charges by the service, the hour or not at all.