Have you ever tried comparing airline rates between the online cost and what your travel agent quoted you for roundtrip tickets to Amsterdam? You can give it a try one of these days and I assure you the travel agents price is hundreds of dollars lower compared to published rates online. How so? Airline travel agents are subject matter experts. One call to and they can book and take you off the waiting list and into that plane. If you decide to make changes on your schedule, you don’t have to call the airline’s customer service (which by the way could take forever). You can just let your travel agent know and consider the job done. If you’ve been thinking of doing it yourself, you might want to rethink that.