If you are planning a trip and want to use a travel agent, remember that it is your responsibility to ask questions. The key is to know the types of questions to ask your prospective travel agent. With the responses, you will have a much better understanding of this person’s level of expertise, commitment to doing a great job for you, and interest in the industry. Unfortunately, too many people go with what they hear and not what they learn. Therefore, visit with several travel agents and always ask lots of questions.

First, you will need to ask some basic questions to include the hours and days of operation, whether they have an 800-number in case of emergency or should you need to contact them after hours, what the other forms of communication are, do they offer any type of automated system, and so on. However, as you will see from the information below, there are many other, more important questions to ask your prospective travel agent.

Keep in mind that a good agent is worth his or her weight in gold. One of the most important considerations is whether or not the agent has a good understanding of your travel needs. You would expect the agent to be asking you tons of questions for this very reason but this is not always the case. Therefore, you will need to ensure the agent knows the types of flights you prefer (non-stop versus connections), if you have a preference over airport, your desired time for flight, whether you have flexibility in flying a day earlier or later, if you have a favorite airline, whether you have any applicable frequent flyer numbers, and so on.

Typically, experts in the travel industry will tell you there are 15 unique topics for discussion when you book a roundtrip, domestic flight. Therefore, when choosing a travel agent, realize that they may not respond to all 15 of your questions but you want one that will respond to most in a clear, easy to understand manner. Additionally, if you are not sure of the answer, the travel agent should be able and willing to walk you through the process until you are comfortable with the answer.

Then, as you ask questions, a good travel agent would be one that focuses all his or her attention on you and your upcoming trip. You see, successful travel agents understand fully that providing a new customer with a solid trip is the best way to enjoy a lifetime business relationship with that person. For this reason, it is in his or her best interest to always put you first, working around challenges that might arise in the planning and booking process.

Never be afraid to ask about the agent’s career in the travel industry, asking questions about the length of time planning trips, the number of trips planned, the types of trips planned, destinations planned and visited, and other questions important to you. A good agent will have the right answers without having to fumble for answers. The bottom line is that if you know more about travel than the agent does, it is time to move on.