I'm having reservations about my travel agent

Brian Durbin's destination wedding is off to a bad start. His travel agent isn't returning his calls and he and his fiancee are afraid everything isn't going to run smoothly. What do you do when your travel agent goes AWOL?



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We also have asked her, on a couple of occasions, to charge part of our stay to our credit card. She has not done this yet. We would like to space out the charges so we don't get hit with it all at once.


What can we do? How would we go about firing her? -- Brian Durbin, Terre Haute, Ind.

A: I'm sorry to hear things aren't working out with your travel agent. A honeymoon is probably one of the most important vacations of your life, so you want everything to be perfect. That's why you use a travel agent to make arrangements.

For years, I've recommended using a competent travel agent for a honeymoon. But that doesn't mean every agent will do a good job. In your case, unfortunately, the agent appears to have had a series of personal problems that sidetracked her from doing her job. That can happen.

You did the right thing by bringing your concerns to the agent first. She should have realized that she couldn't provide the level of service you needed for a destination wedding and honeymoon, and offered to transfer your reservation to a colleague. But that didn't happen.

Your next step would have been to appeal to Apple Vacations. It could have also transferred your reservation either to another agent or turned it into a direct booking, which doesn't use an agent.

I asked Apple about your reservations. It reviewed your file and contacted the agent on your behalf. Your agent has since then "stepped up," according to Apple Vacations, and is taking care of your reservation -- an assessment with which you agree. Enjoy your honeymoon.

