Though many people book online, there has been a recent trend back to the use of travel agents. At first glance, it might seem easy to book a simple airline ticket online, especially if you know what carrier you want to use, but there are times when you should probably reach out to a travel agent.

• If you want someone to call when things go wrong: Nearly 70% of affluent consumers who use travel agents say what’s most important is that an agent protect them or help them when things go wrong with a trip, according to a study by Harrison Group and American Express Publishing. Travel agents are a kind of insurance. For many agents, this means being on call at all hours.

• If you’re pressed for time or just want to avoid hassles: About one in three travelers feels overwhelmed by the amount of travel information online, according to the American Express Spending & Savings Tracker, a survey that looks at Americans’ spending and saving habits. If you’re in this group, or simply don’t have time to deal with trip planning, travel agents can do it all for you. Tell them where you want to go and the types of things you like to do, and they can put together a list of options for you and book them, saving you time. Agents are particularly useful to travelers who plan to take complicated trips, or go to multiple destinations or with multiple generations.

• If you want more of a local experience: Good travel consultants have relationships with locals in your destination, experts say, so they can do things like arrange for you to have dinner with a local family, recommend restaurants and pubs that residents like but tourists don’t tend to know about, or find a tiny B&B for you to stay at where you can get to know the owner.

• If you want a customized experience: More and more travelers are asking for one-of-a-kind trips specifically tailored to their likes and needs. A foodie might want something like a private cooking class in Italy, a meet-and-greet with a chef she’s been reading about and a table in the private wine room of a restaurant. While she might not have the connections to get this done herself, a travel agent with deep local knowledge might be able to make this happen for her.

Take a look at this recent New York Times article about the recent trend and popularity of travel agents over do-it-yourself travel and learn why travel agents add value and ease to all travel planning.

Cut and paste the following link:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/travel/are-travel-agents-back.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0