I will make some comments on behalf of the many thousands of small travel agencies around the world, located in small offices, storefronts, strip malls, at home, providing travel services to their clients.
I read the interview where Delta CEO Richard Anderson skirted the question about "leisure travel agents" and kept pushing the Internet travel agencies and Delta.com, forgetting where it started ["Q&A: Richard Anderson," Jan. 7].
MLT, Delta Vacations and the airline itself were built on the backs of those thousands of agents and small agencies around the world. Delta didn't do it by itself.
When business went bad in the late '70s and early '80s, the airlines came back to us and offered incentives. We've owned our agency for over 33 years. We have seen it all, from 5% commissions to 7% commissions to so many free tickets we couldn't use them, to 8% commissions, back to 5% commission and now no commission.
Yes, they took away our commissions, all free tickets [and offer] discounts on airline tickets that don't amount to a hill of beans.
Why is it that CEOs forget from whence they came? How did they get to where they are? Of course they take credit for good management, bottom lines, etc., but hey: let's give credit where credit is due.
Jackie Tarpinian
Globe International Travel
Jamestown, N.D.
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