No different to hot.co.nz which is an NZ company (House of Travel). So if I had no choice but to book online, I would support the NZ company as their prices are the same as GoToGate.

However, would I book a long haul overseas trip online? Doubtful as I tend to spend $,000's on my trips to the UK and there is no room for error and the advice and minimal additional cost of using an established travel agent is negligible in return for making sure the i's are dotted and the t's crossed.

I've just done a search of GoToGate for a trip for my wife to the UK in February of next year and the fare for two airlines was about $100 more expensive than booking online with the airlines direct - which is about the same as I have booked through my agent (business class using Emirates). The beauty of using an agent in this case is that if the fares drop in price (which they most likely will AND I will be notified), I will be faced with a penalty of $150 to change as against something like $800 using GoToGate. 

Having said that, I admit that a friend of mine is a travel agent and I am only too aware of the numerous horror stories he has mentioned to me about long established "clients" that have gone online in search of saving a couple of hundy and have "come a cropper". The sad thing is that they are quick to call him when things go wrong, but there is nothing that he can do as he was not the original booking agent.

Online insurance is exactly the same problem.

yeh that does make complete sense. i guess you can monitor the price and if there is a drop you might be able to get the difference from agent? assumption but good reasons given i might see what travel agents offer and if they do some kind of price match but i guess it depends on the legitimacy of the online travel company

Totally endorse the "use an agent for long-haul flights". We got caught in 2011 with the Chilean volcano eruption and were due to fly with Qantas out of Auckland to the USA. Qantas of course turned out to be almost the only airline who didn't find some higher/lower/different altitude to fly at out of NZ and cancelled flights on a daily basis for almost a week. We had a complete mess of cancelled international flights, internal US flights, accommodation, etc to sort out. I've never been more thankful to be using a travel agent than then. The prospect of trying to sort it out myself would have been horrendous.

ashnizzle:

 

yeh that does make complete sense. i guess you can monitor the price and if there is a drop you might be able to get the difference from agent? assumption but good reasons given i might see what travel agents offer and if they do some kind of price match but i guess it depends on the legitimacy of the online travel company

 

I struggle with your expectations, I really do. So if there is a price drop your naïve expectation is that you can claim the difference off your agent AND expect him to price match an online fare that has a minimal and I mean MINIMAL commission? We pay a premium for expertise and judging by your post I think it would be money well spent.

You will be paying a slight premium for his/her expertise and services to get the best upfront deal for you at the time as explained earlier and repeated below:-

"The beauty of using an agent in this case is that if the fares drop in price (which they most likely will AND I will be notified), I will be faced with a penalty of $150 to change as against something like $800 using GoToGate". 

And just going off topic a little, I actually do like these online booking websites. From what I have been told, due to the number of natural booking errors, restricted booking penalties, additional costs and just sheer confusion with the 24 hour clock and time zone differences, the yield per seat is much higher through online bookings. That alone, helps keeps the price down for those of us that want to travel in a little more comfort at a slightly higher price.

So where are you thinking about going?