Why do (a lot of) people book airline ticket through agencies? [closed]

The Internet was a game changer in many businesses and the travel agency world is no exception. Nowadays people can easily (this is arguable) find the cheapest price in a quick search; therefore, agencies need to present the best price to be able to sell since that's a key factor.

How can they do this? (These are assumptions based on general commercial practices)

• An agency can get better prices than what the airline company announce for final customers. They than transfer part of this difference gain to the client. How do they get better prices? They buy in batch and they can also reserve in advance. For the airline company it's also an advantage because they transfer part of the responsibility of selling something to the agency.
• Sometimes they just advertise the prices without taxes. They give a price, to win the customer, and then add their profit margins when you're about to pay.
• Online travel agents may not have always the cheapest flight price, but may sometimes offer better value for money. How? By adding or advertising extra services not present in the airline company (eg. transfers from the airport, health insurances, etc.). Or better overall deals by including competitive prices for hotels, car hire, etc.
• In a way, the relation you build with online agencies are like traditional ones (except for the personal relation). If you used them once and overall things worked you tend to repeat the experience. Even you find a slightly cheaper price somewhere else you will deposit your trust in the agent you used before.

I don't want to be the devils lawyer. I am also a bit skeptic about some of these agencies and their practices. I am sure there are good and bad examples. I believe these agencies must sell a lot, and many times without any issue. Otherwise they wouldn't be in business. Of course the reviews that end in the Internet are the bad reviews. Not many people will bother to say "everything went as expected, great service, 5 stars". But you will want to complain when something didn't went as expected.

I will give you some practical reasons:

1. Book now, pay later - this option is universally available at agents; very rarely available at the website. I use this all the time when I need to show a reservation (for example, as part of visa requirements) but do not want to commit to buying a ticket.

2. Corporate accounts - a majority of agent's business is catering to business travellers who expect personalized service.

3. Packaged Deals/Holidays - this is another reason why people visit agents rather than websites; the process is a lot friendlier plus many times the agents have visited the locations and provide local insight/expertise.

4. Emergency Bookings - if you maintain a good working relationship with an agency; they are extremely quick if you need to travel in a hurry. In one instance, I had to travel at 8 PM (I knew there was a flight), and I called the agent at 6:45 PM (from the car on my way to the airport) and before I had parked at the terminal he had sent me the PNR number via SMS. No way I could have done this online in such a short time.

Granted, I do not often use an agency but I remind myself to throw them some business every now and then; just so they will pick up the phone when I need them in a hurry.

As far as the issues you are mentioning (ghost reservations, etc.) I have yet to face this problem; but I do know such things happen.

At least with an agency you can go and speak to a person - good luck trying to get through some of the call center of some airlines.