When do travel agents reduce their prices?

Question

When do travel agents reduce their prices?

Answer 1

When no one buys tickets.

Answer 2

Travel agents dont have their "own" prices. Most of them simply to find you the best possible deals that are available on the open market.

Most agents charge service fees, but they typically are small and dont change.

Answer 3

i was thinking there must be peak periods ie christmas or school holidays, and they would discount during the semesters ...

Answer 4

Travel agents do not fix prices; travel suppliers do. Once upon a time, agencies received a 10% commission (on the base price of an airline ticket   (not including taxes or other charges).. generally $9.00 per $100. It wasn't much compared to the services an agency offered but it did cover some overhead. Now that airlines have ceased paying commissions, agencies, that are still in business, charge a service fee for airline tickets - averaging $5-25 per transaction.

Cruiselines and some, not all, tour companies, hotels and rental car companies still pay a 10% commission; they are, now, the bread and butter of the industry. Again, the commission is paid only on the base price and not on taxes, sur-charges, etc.

A good travel agent will usually save the client far more than the extra fees and, even more important, they are there for you if something goes awry (lost reservations, missed connections etc. etc etc).

But, back to your question, with a minor change, "When are travel prices reduced?" The industry, as a whole, operates on supply  and demand; prices generally go down during periods of slack travel - September, October, February, and March/April away from "spring break" and Easter periods, and they go up, way up, around holidays, long weekends, summer vacation travel.

Unfortunately, with the rapid upward spiral of fuel costs, bargains of any sort are going to be few and far between.