By Lori Ehde
After trimming travel agents' commissions to 5 percent last year, many airlines have now decided to cut commissions altogether.
Delta Airlines initiated the measure March 14 and most airlines since then have followed suit, forcing travel agents to increase upfront fees to travelers.
In Luverne, that means Great Planes and Roundwind travel agencies are now charging $25 per airline passenger - $10 more than the previous $15 fee.
In the past month, staff at these agencies have been monitoring the effect on their business.
"I hate to charge a higher fee - I feel so bad doing it - but people are saying we'd rather pay a little more for the service we get," Sue Hoffman of Great Planes Travel said.
Stacy Mente at Roundwind is finding the same customer loyalty. "People tell us the fee is well worth the service," she said.
"Just last week I had someone tell me, 'Man, I'm so glad we paid to have you do it, because I couldn't have gotten home last night if we hadn't had you do it."
Both agents realize they're bound to lose some business from the higher up-front fee, but they're responding by working harder to give travelers what the Internet can't: service.
"We're trying to really hit the service end of it," Mente said. "I can save them money on a rental car because I have options to work with. And it's not just cars, hotels and airfare. If they go to Vegas and want to see Siegfried and Roy, I can book that for them."
Hoffman said these are things travel agents have done for years. The difference now is that they need to market these services so clients see the value in paying the upfront fee.
"I've given it a lot of thought, and what I've found affects us worse is the Internet. A lot of people are using the Internet to buy their airline tickets," Hoffman said. "But that was happening regardless of the commission cuts."
SheÕs also quick to point out that travel agents also have access to the Internet, and they're constantly surfing for the best deal for their clients.
Both Mente and Hoffman say they're grateful for loyal patronage.
"Actually, we've found that it's not affecting us the way we thought it might," Hoffman said of the commission cuts. "People have been really supportive."