Booking international air fares on-line

There is still a need for travel agents.

I recently tried booking a flight to London on-line. I wanted to come home via Chicago and San Jose. First I went to the Air New Zealand website. I put in my itinerary and the cheapest they could give me was $11,000! This was for economy. I though maybe Air New Zealand just aren't able to do it on-line and so tried the popular Expedia site. I've used this lots for booking accommodation. The same flights on Expedia were US$7,000 - about the same.

So I gave my friendly travel agent, Debra, from House of Travel a call. She was able to give me exactly the flights I wanted, along with a few options all for $3,600. She well and truly earned her commission. She also noticed that my travel insurance was due to expire and organised some more. Now that's what I call service. Why can't the on-line travel service not offer something similar to this?