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From: johnl@haddock.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: 'Travel Agencies' - (nf)
Message-ID: <190@haddock.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 21-Jun-84 02:37:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: haddock.190
Posted: Thu Jun 21 02:37:05 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 22-Jun-84 05:08:12 EDT
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#R:drux3:-118100:haddock:29800003:000:1144
haddock!johnl    Jun 13 21:47:00 1984

There's no magic to locating a good travel agent.  They're just like the
rest of us -- some are smarter than others.  I've looked around until I
found one who didn't panic when I started looking over his shoulder when
he was making reservations and pointing out stuff in the book that he
hadn't noticed.  A problem these days, though, is that they all have these
new online reservation computers.  Now we hackers know enough never to
believe what a computer tells us, but most agents have not yet developed an
appropriately cynical attitude.  The reservation computers are all owned by
one airline or another (mostly American around here, United, Delta, and
Eastern in other parts of the country) and are, as their owners admit,
programmed to bias what they say in favor of the owning airline and
their friends.

I subscribe to the pocket edition of the Official Airline Guide which
costs about $48/year and is worth every penny, since it lists all of
the flights in chronological order.  It comes monthly and comes with
Frequent Flyer magazine which is amazingly good if you care about the
commercial air travel scene.

John Levine, ima!johnl