Booking flight tickets through a travel agency: what about taxes?

Hi there,

It’s absolutely recommended to book flight tickets directly with the airlines. If there’s any issue (delay, cancellation, etc.), you won’t have an intermediary who usually handles things poorly and/or is MIA.

Plus, you know exactly what you’re buying. So in this specific case, there won’t be any ambiguity regarding the question asked [;)].

Thanks for the reply, Envallis [:)]. Unfortunately, I’ve already done that, and it really will be the last time. But I was wondering if it’s common for the airline to charge a separate tax to the agency making the booking.

Back in the day, my employer provided me with holiday vouchers (ANCV) and gift vouchers that were tricky to use directly with an airline. So, I used to buy my flight tickets through travel agencies, where the commission amount was always clearly stated. That doesn’t stop the agency from buying directly from the airline, and if there’s an issue (and I’ve had a few), you deal directly with the airline. It’s (often) more expensive than booking direct, but it allowed me to use up my gift vouchers.

Thanks for the reply, Envallis [:)]. Unfortunately, I’ve already done that, and it’ll definitely be the last time. But I was wondering if it’s common for the airline to charge a separate tax to the agency making the booking.

Hi there, when you choose a destination country, you look it up online beforehand. And it’s only after checking the taxes and other fees that you start looking for a flight ticket on the airline’s website [;)]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone here has ever booked flight tickets through a travel agency without it being part of a package deal

evening, 1-what do you mean by "package deal"?

2-the advantage of going through an agency, contrary to what you might think, is that it can offer attractive airfare rates because the travel agency buys tickets in bulk. For example, they might buy 1,000 flight tickets to Kenya because there are 1,000 clients going on organized trips to Kenya. So, out of those 1,000 tickets, if a certain number don’t sell, the agency can slash the prices. If you want to book this way, it’s up to you to check and read the sales conditions and the contract terms with the airline carefully. I keep hammering this point home on this forum.

3-as for the taxes to pay, they’re generally included in the ticket. Go to the agency and ask them for more details

Thanks for your reply, Montagnard! :)

Thanks for your reply, Manondugard. I appreciate you taking the time to respond, but based on your answer, I think you didn’t quite grasp my question about how my travel agency is billing me... Oh well, no worries! :)

Thanks for your reply, Mathews [:)].

When I say "package deal," I mean a fixed price that includes flight tickets, airport-to-hotel transfers, and everything included at the hotel. It’s really popular here for Southern destinations like the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba... The packages are the same price no matter which agency you buy them from, or even if you book directly online. The only difference is that by going through an agency, you pay an extra $40 service fee, but the agency handles the bookings for you, answers all your questions, checks details if needed, etc. And if there’s a problem during the trip, you contact them, and they’ll help you out...

This time, we used a new agency to book our flight tickets and hotels in Portugal. Air Transat charged us an amount for the flight tickets, which should normally cover all taxes, but our agent claims she had to pay the airport tax on top of that and is charging us a large amount that seems really suspicious. Also, I was wondering if it’s common for agencies to bill this tax separately...