[Travelandtourism] If you want to become a travel agent

[ROBYN R WALLEN]

there are two ways to become a travel agent.   There are certainly online
programs where you can sign up for a website and pay a fee and become a
seller of travel not a certified travel agent.   Some of these sites do
offer training but if you want to be a 'real' travel agent there is some
serious training involved.  There are real travel schools that offer
programs and some brick and morter agencies also offer on the job
training.  However many  of the travel websites you find when you google
are actually card mills.  They charge a fee and offer you and iata card
with some agent discounts.  To truly earn that card you need to sell a
minimum of $5,000 in a year in travel.  To be as effective as possible
you really do need real travel training and more than online courses.  I
have been in the industry over 10 years and one of our frustrations is
when we have people call who claim to be agents to book travel but have
no clue of basic knowledge like airport and city codes, airline policies
and pricing, and even what travel regulations are.   Sure it is quick to
sign up for a website but there are two things to be wary of.  One is
make sure it is a legit agencie and remember you should not pay a huge
fee.  Number two make sure it is not a card mill.   There are home agents
out there who work for good companies and who actually have travel
knowledge but there are others who really do not and what can happen is
it can bite you in the behind if you are not careful.  If working from
home you really need errors and omissions insurance and you can work thru
a host agencie or thru a brick and mortar company.   If you are going to
work from home and you find a good agencie they should offer courses in
basic travel knowledge.   There are many tools out there.  Remember you
make more money on  hotels, cruises, and packages than you will on
airline tickets.   Airline commissions are basically gone now but some
consolidators do exsist.  The real rule of thumb is you cannot be a 
certified travel agent just because you want to and if you sign up for a
website you are not a real agent unless that company offers real training
in basic knowledge and certificatino which be warned will cost you more. 
In a perfect world we could just say I want to be an agent and sign up
but would you want your doctor to get his job that way either?  I am not
knocking online agencies providing they do not just tell someone to  pay
and fee and whoa la  they are an agent it just does not work that way at
least in the legitimate world of travel agents.

Hope that helps.
Robyn
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