Why You Should Be Using a Travel Agent (and Not Booking Online)

Travel Agents. Because algorithms don’t read fine print. And when things go wrong, they won’t fight for you.

There’s a common misconception that booking travel is simple. Choose a destination. Pick a flight. Click a button. And sure – if you’re flying from Cape Town to Joburg for a Tuesday meeting, you’ll probably be fine. But international travel? The kind that crosses time zones, visa regimes, and the ever-shifting logic of airline fare rules? That’s a different game entirely.

Ah, the fare rules. Was it a business class seat with champagne and extra baggage, but no lounge access because “it’s the light version”? Or an economy ticket so stripped back it doesn’t include seat selection, checked luggage, or even the dignity of knowing where you’ll sit until 15 minutes before boarding? There are fares that let you bring golf clubs but not a cabin bag. Others that include two suitcases but no meal, or a meal but only if you select it 48 hours in advance via a portal that no longer exists. It’s absurd. And most people don’t realise they’ve booked into chaos until it’s too late.

We often meet clients after they’ve booked themselves into a corner. They’re smart, they’ve done their research, and they’re confident — until they realise they’ve routed themselves through a country they don’t have the right visa for. Or they’ve bought two separate tickets without understanding how minimum connection times or baggage transfers work. Or their “great deal” didn’t include a vital condition, and suddenly they’re thousands down — in penalties, missed flights, and shattered plans.

Here’s a real-world example: Cape Town to Europe via London. Sounds easy. But without the right UK visa, you won’t even be allowed to transit through Heathrow — and your Schengen visa? Useless until you get to the Schengen border. Now you have a UK transit visa, but add a delay on the first leg, and without a through-ticket or a valid minimum connection time, you’re stuck in the terminal, out of pocket, and quite possibly sent back where you came from.

And that’s before you even get to the destination visa minefield — was it an embassy-issued visa, a visa on arrival, a visa waiver, or an ESTA that was required? One wrong assumption, and the entire trip unravels before it begins.

Online booking engines don’t catch this. They respond to input, not nuance. They don’t understand the difference between what looks like a connection and what actually is one. They don’t know the rules. We do. Because it’s our job to.

And when things go sideways (as they sometimes do) we don’t disappear into hold music. During the pandemic, we got people home. We secured refunds for clients who booked through us, while DIY travellers were still chasing customer service email addresses that bounced. We had suppliers on the phone, airlines on speed dial, and embassies involved when needed. That’s the difference. When you book with a travel agent, you don’t just get a ticket — you get advocacy. Backup. Accountability.

But beyond the safety net, there’s also the craft. We design travel with the precision of someone who knows the hidden architecture of the industry… the connections, the timing, the fine print attached to every fare. What passports let you do. What airports to avoid. How to build a route that works not just legally, but intuitively. Seamlessly.

Booking online might get you from point A to point B. But great travel doesn’t happen in a straight line. It’s layered. It’s regulated. It’s human. And when you’ve invested that much into going somewhere, don’t you want someone who’s invested in getting it right?

Yours in travel and the pursuit of the extraordinary,

(Ps. Thinking of returning to a destination you’ve been before? That would be a yes from us! Read On Returning for a little inspiration.)