Agents will get better air fares for corporate clients than public or airline websites, new research by Topaz International has found.
The American consulting company found that agents would obtain air fares that are equal or less than those on websites in 94.85% of transactions.
Agencies were more expensive in only 5.15% of bookings.
It is the seventh year in a row that the Portland, Oregon company has found that agents are cheaper than sites like Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity and the airlines' own sites.
Research for 2007 found that the average agency air fare was $442 compared with an average internet fare of $498, a difference of $56.
But Topaz research shows that the gap between agency and internet air fares is narrowing.
In 2001, the first year of its research, the gap was $171. By 2006, it had shrunk to $75.
The more a company spent on air travel, the more likely was the agent to produce the better fares and the bigger the gap between these fares and those on the internet.
For companies which spent $100m or more on air travel, the agent would get better fares in 84.77% of the transactions.
The agents' average fare was $484, compared with the average internet fare of $562, a difference of $78.
For those which spent between $20m and $99m, agents would be a better fare on 82.54% of the bookings.
These companies had an agents' average air fare of $426, compared to $490from the internet, a difference of $64.
Corporates with an air spend of under $20m a year, got the best deal from agents on 72% of transactions.
The average fare they got from agents was $428, compared to$474 from internet sites, a difference of $46.
Bradley Seitz, president and ceo of Topaz, said: "The ongoing game of finding the lowest airfares continues to be a major focus of travel
managers all over the globe.
"They are demanding services that will find the lowest fares for their corporate travellers, and if the travel management companies do not find them, the travellers certainly will.
Distribution of all travel products continues to be fragmented and a great cause for headaches all over the world.
"Full content is not full content, availability is not consistent, and as I have said in the past, the overriding desire of the
airlines is to control and price their product where they can obtain the most value.
"The complexity of our business remains to this day. These studies continue to show that while the differences
are less than in the past, they still exist and it should be the goal of all leaders to have processes in place to
locate and book the lowest alternatives, and validate that their service providers are giving the levels of
contracted offerings that have been agreed to."