Travelocity did to Travel Agents what Wal-Mart did to Mom & Pop Stores

Let’s talk about travel agent commissions.

Travel agents get 0% to help you book a domestic flight. (But they usually help in hopes that they can book your hotel & car too.)

They get between 4% and 8% to book an international flight.

They get 5% or so to book a rental car for you

They get 10% to 20% to book a hotel or cruise (That’s where the money usually is.)

NOW let’s talk about mistake fares…

Whether an actual mistake, or intentional fare dump to get 4 or 6 butts in seats to keep from cancelling an under-sold flight – travel agents get paid ZERO commissions on mistake fares.

On top of that, sites like Travelocity and Expedia HEAVILY discount hotel commissions when you bundle air and hotel together (including when you pay next-to-nothing) for the flight. (Sometimes, so much so – that you can get air PLUS hotel for less than the cost of the flight alone.)

The result?

Although travel agents can offer great assistance with “normal” trips – they cant compete when it comes to mistake fares unless they charge an additional fee to you.

Don’t get me wrong – Travel agents still provide plenty of value in the right circumstances (Just like Mom & Pop store owners offer way more value than the minimum-wage Wal-Mart employee when you need to pick out the right baseball glove.)

But when it comes to prices… Even if a travel agent rebated their entire commission back to you – they still couldn’t come close to the price you can find by booking a mistake fare on a major travel site.

So you’ve got three choices:

1. Pay a pretty penny for the convenience of finding a flight that goes to the exact place, at the exact time you’re looking for.

2. Have a little flexibility and use a free system to find the mistake fares that happen every day from your home airport…

3. Have a little flexibility and use a paid service that focuses exclusively on mistake fares. (Just don’t plan on them doing it for free – because they’re not going to get a dime when you eventually book a trip.)

With enough patience & flexibility – both choices 2 and 3 will have you traveling for 50% to 90% less than option 1. (And not some bullshit department store “Mark it up so we can say it’s marked down 50% to 90%…” crap…

Put a little energy into finding mistake fares, schedule trips around them when you find them and you will ACTUALLY pay 50% to 90% less than what most people on the exact same trip as you are paying.

Here is an article on how to find mistake fares on a daily basis – for free.

HEY, I’M JOEL…

I was already a pretty savvy “budget” traveler 12 years ago (well, I THOUGHT I was.) Now, more than a decade later, after lots of practice and trial-and-error, I've added luxury travel on points into the mix, and the days of budget vacations are long behind me.

My wife and I not only travel 2- 3 times as often for the same budget as what I used to spend, but we do so in 4 & 5-star resorts. When we fly internationally, we fly in business or first-class.

The JGOOT Way of Travel has helped thousands of clients improve how they travel, and many will never go back to "the traditional way" again... Ready to learn how to do it yourself? Get the JGOOT book!

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