I would suggest doing both. I haven’t used a travel agent since I’ve been out of of school, but when I booked with STA they were helpful. Do you have a travel agent that works with your company if you are not in school? Or do you know someone familiar with the travel industry? I would look for people you know, but I do think some travel agents are very helpful. Online research will also help because then you can tell them you saw "such and such" a rate.

It depends on the specific trip. If you’re flying from the handful of hubs that have hundreds of flights to Europe (NYC area, Chicago, DC area) to Paris or London a travel agent probably won’t help — even with an open jaw ticket. From/to some other hubs (Philly, Boston, Cinncinati, Atlanta, etc. to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Rome, etc.) a travel agent MIGHT be some help. IMHO, the real advantage of a travel agent is for more obscure arrival and departure points. The travel agent saved me real money over anything I could find for midwest city to Ljubljana with return from Rome.

It’s unlikely that your travel agent will come up with a decent price for a flight from Greece to Italy. You’re usually better off on your own for flights within Europe, although an add-on to your overseas ticket will work out in rare situations.

As travelangel indicated, the best bet is to do both. I certainly wouldn’t call a travel agent I didn’t know and accept the initial itinerary without checking.

My problem with travel agents is that every time I have checked, what they offer is more expensive than I can do on my own. A possible exception are the consolidator fares offered by TravelCuts, although you can book these online, except for open-jaw consolidator fares. (This is for Canadians. I’m not sure about Americans using that site.) Another possible exception would be for students. Also, in some Canadian provinces, you do get better legislative travel protection if you purchase air tickets through a travel agent for an airline that later goes bankrupt.

But I would still check with a travel agent if doing an itinerary that is complicated, and I would probably check anyway, just in case they think of something I didn’t.

are you a student? if you are dont go to a travel agency unless they give student discounts (many i found out do not). your best bet is to go online and figure out the best deals. you can fly somewhere and maybe rail to other countries. i went to england last year, took the chunnel (the rail) to and from france and then flew to ireland and back to london, and then flew back to california. sounds like a lot in two weeks but i booked all of my tix and hotel/hostel reservations online (i went with studentuniverse.com since i am a student and they give great rates to students) on one web site. the point is, find a web site that fulfills all of your needs (car? hotel? flight? rail? etc.) and do it all in one shot. it is worth the it believe me. -mark

oh yeah, if you’re a student they have STA offices that are around most campuses and they help you free of charge. They are also VERY good about finding you cheaper flights. Good idea markwillis!!

A lot depends on your level of knowledge. It is easy to make mistakes that can be very expensive, such as one woman I read about who flew on a discount airline to the international hub, but was late because of weather, and had to come up with thousands of dollars for new tickets to France. Also, many of the low fares we love come with severe penalties if you have to make any changes. So if you are knowledgeable enough to avoid such pitfalls, buy your own tickets. On the other hand, travel agents are really being squeezed by the airlines and I think this has led some talented people to leave the field. I have yet to figure out how you can tell if a travel agent is really good until you have done a lot of traveling amd have knowledge that matches theirs. A couple of travel agents I talked to seemed to be tied into specific airlines, so maybe they could get you a good price on that airline, but there might be a better deal on another airline they don’t know about.

I think using a travel agent can be good for some people, but even if you choose to use an agent, you should look up fares yourself so you have some idea how well the agent is doing.