jhillis@ihuxx.UUCP (jhillis) (06/18/84)
In reference to being ones own travel agent, I recently received a solicitation from Dun & Bradstreet for their Offical Airline Guide (OAG). Included with the brochures was a flyer :-) for their new electronic (online) OAG. Being more intrigued than interested, I only glanced at the information, but the guist was that for a one time fee of 50 dollars, plus a small per use fee, one could access their online database from any dialup type arrangment. They were offering a free 30 day trial, so some of you world travelers out their might want to contact D&B for more information. Jeff Hillis ihux[fx]!jhillis
piety@hplabs.UUCP (Bob Piety) (06/20/84)
The D&B Official Airline Guide (OAG) is available via Compuserve, for a slight surcharge above the regular rates. No $50 initiation fee is mentioned. Bob
johnl@haddock.UUCP (06/21/84)
#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
marcum@rhino.UUCP (Alan M. Marcum) (06/25/84)
I have an excellent travel agent -- one who has not only found me
very, very good fares and connections, but one who understands my
travel needs. Yes, it helps that she's a friend. Yes, it helps
that her husband works in the computer industry (compiler,
operating system, architecture research), so she DOES understand
the foibles of trusting the computer. Yes, it helps that I
studied the travel agent industry for two separate projects while
in school.
Indeed, there are bad travel agents (I've had terrible
experiences with agencies for some of the companies with which
I've worked). A real key is, how much effort have YOU put into
helping your agent understand your needs?
Well, I guess you could always learn to fly.....!
--
Alan M. Marcum Fortune Systems, Redwood City, California
...!{ihnp4, ucbvax!amd70, hpda, sri-unix, harpo}!fortune!rhino!marcum