A lot of U.S. airlines still have City Ticket Offices in foreign cities, but most or all of their do

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One of the things I like doing when in a city (most of the time for me it is London) is visiting airline offices. car rental phoenix az Although I like doing this I wonder if they are becoming a thing of the past and with the internet and everything becoming car rental phoenix az kinda redundant and a waste of money. Here in London Emirates have a nice office in Gloucester Road near Kensington. The staff in there seem to be on the phone a lot but I rarely see people walking in. They even have little destination booklets and travel class booklets which are great and very old school! I'm pretty sure Iran Air and Aeroflot and Air France and Korean Air also have offices on Green Park and I think JAL used to have an office car rental phoenix az near Oxford Street next to a Japanese department store. I have never really noticed any of these places car rental phoenix az being very busy these days. Also Air New Zealand used to have a big office near Piccadilly but I don't know if it's still there as I haven't been there for a while.
So my question is really for anyone who knows anything about the airline industry either from working in it or as an enthusiast. Do you think these offices have a place in today's World? Do they still provide a vital function (like changing dates on people's tickets?) or could the same thing be done at the ticket desk in the airport or on the internet. I can't imagine what the rent is or how much they could make by selling them because car rental phoenix az most of the offices at least in London are in some very expensive car rental phoenix az areas.
I would suspect that there is a large population (older) that will always prefer to have face to face contact and may not know how to use the internet. In large population centers like London, NYC, etc. I would assume that they generate enough traffic to justify the location.
I'm not older, but I still miss the Delta City Ticket Office at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. A plane ticket and then a short stroll to Trader Vic's for a Scorpion Bowl!!!! (And then a dodgy 5 minutes drive to my home) haha
Quoting heysfo ( Reply 4 ): And they'll remain important to airlines, he says, as long as some people don't use computers and continue to pay for tickets with cash or checks. About a third of outbound overseas tickets — average price: $1,400 — are purchased that way, he says.
I don't think that's still true. I have been to the US Airways Tempe HQ and, as far as I know, you need employee credentials to access the building, except for the company store (where I am almost certain you cannot purchase tickets).
car rental phoenix az City ticket offices used to make more sense when paper tickets were the rule: some airlines only operated car rental phoenix az at the airport at midnight, so the city offices provided ticketing during business hours. And you don't want to be waiting to check-in at the airport stuck behind some guy doing his 7th complex international ticket reissue.
But I do remember walking the length of Picadilly car rental phoenix az St. from the Green Park to Picadilly Circus, looking in all the airline office windows. It certainly was for prestige along with any hint of customer service car rental phoenix az response. car rental phoenix az I did chuckle at the then-Soviet Aeroflot office, with a full-size car rental phoenix az cut out of one of their .. uh... striking air hostesses sporting white socks. car rental phoenix az And the cut-away view models of the airplanes and all.
But they are an expense, car rental phoenix az and the first thing cut by many of the airlines car rental phoenix az when the economy turned. And now, almost car rental phoenix az all ticketing is electronic, and you can have those complex international reissues done over the phone.
A lot of U.S. airlines still have City Ticket Offices in foreign cities, but most or all of their domestic CTOs were closed in the wake of 9/11, etc. United may still have one in NY-Penn Station, but I don't know for sure. I used to be able to check in there for flights from EWR before getting on the NJT train from Manhattan.
car rental phoenix az At one time or another UA had two different ticket offices here in Portland Or, one by Lloyd center on NE Multnomah, and downtown on SW 6th Ave around Madison IIRC. But there used to be AA , CO , WA , AS , LH (before they flew here) But all are gone, At one time SW 6th Ave used to be the place to have a ticket office. I love going overseas and visiting CTO's.
Quoting heysfo ( Reply 3 ): TACA still has the only airline office left in SF , as a street level walk-in ticketing location Quoting TWA772LR car rental phoenix az ( Reply 6 ): Does anyone know if the TACA office in Houston is still around?
IIRC it is on Bellaire Blvd (just east of City of Bellaire in Houston's gulfton area just before sharpstown surrounded by pupusa places and 10,000s of Salvadorans). Driven by it several times recently.
But they are excellent for publicity, and can be a good reflection on the airline. TK have an excellent office in Nairobi. Oh, that is another thing, in many cities they have the offices in very highbuildings...
Whenever I have walked past the Iran Air office in Picadilly, it has always given the impression thatits been shut down since the revolution, Many shades of grey and a model of an early series 747 in the window.
In the mid 80's, I would go to Boston/Logan once a month. Alternatively, mid-month I would go to the Park Plaza Hotel and the Statler Office Building in the Back Bay where most airlines had offices. In addition car rental phoenix az to the carriers serving Logan, many foreign carriers that didnt serve Logan had offices there. Always felt exotic. I would update my timetables and move on.
I recall the glory days of city ticket offices in NY City along or just off 5th Avenue car rental phoenix az and elsewhere in the city until they started to disappear in the 1990's and almost all gone by 2001. You had the displays of posters of destinations, aircraft models, signs posting fare deals. Many were quite elaborately decorated and finished to give an air of quality and to sell their airline and sometimes their home country. The existence of the UN headquarters in NY City was probably a key reason for these offices, but as NY was a key destination, many airlines wanted to put on the show with a city ticket office for publicity and pride.
I recall buying 'standby' tickets for flights from NY area airports from BA at 44th Street and 5th Ave, they, PA, TWA, others used to post the price that day for 'standby' tickets in their 5th Avenue stores. I recall buying in 1989 tickets from Qantas (next door to BA 's offices). Along of just off 5th Avenue I recall the offices of Aeroflot, TWA, El Al, Japan, JAT, Pakistan, Pan Am and many others. The Pan Am building at 200 Park Avenue had a large office of course on 44th Street for PA. You also had ticket centers on 7th Ave at 40th Street (garment district), offices in the lobbies of 120 Broadway, the WTC towers (CO, others), near Grand Central Terminal a 2nd floor office for VS , UA and others. Air India, Tower and others on Park Avenue. bought or picked up paper tickets from some of those city offices. I recall in the 1990's buying VS tickets in their records stores in NYC and London.
One sad reason car rental phoenix az for the shutting down of storefront and other city offices was that some were targets of terror attacks with bombs placed in front of them as well as protests in front of them by unionized airline workers, political and human rights protesters. Of course, changes in how tickets were sold to, especially with the Internet, the use of agents, the need to make cuts in overhead costs as well still having the ability to buy tickets at the airports many them redundant.
From my recall, Swiss, Pakistan, AF and few others still had storefront/street offices car rental phoenix az in NY City. They probably continue them as may serve destinations in Africa, Asia or countries car rental phoenix az where a paper ticket may be necessary, a need for someone car rental phoenix az to speak other than English, or for corporate ego.
Grupo TACA has kept ticket offices for a different reason: many of their passengers pay in cash, so they need a mechanism to sell tickets in person. Their office in San Francisco, for example, is in the Mission District, not a prestigious location in Union Square.
The Iran Air office in Paris still makes my jaw drop. There are still some others with chic locations car rental phoenix az there, but the Iran Air office on a corner is especially prestigious. Continental use to have a very swank office in the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro; I'm sure that office is long gone.
Tel Aviv is actually filled with city ticket offices for unusual carriers. car rental phoenix az Belavia, Air Moldova, among others. There is still the Beit El Al (in tragic disrepair), and there is a huge Turkish Airlines and Israir office on the other side of the street.
car rental phoenix az There are still a handful in DC. ANA has a sales office up 16th Street, 2-3 blocks north of the White House, Qatar Airways has one on K Street and TACA has an office across the street from IMF and World Bank headquarters in Foggy Bottom (also 3-4 blocks from the White House).
Back in the day, TWA had CTOs in all of their overseas destinations. IIRC the one in Paris was their largest and most elaborate. When travelers from the U.S. first started visiting Europe by air in large numbers in the 50s and 60s, the offices with the big red 'Trans World Airlines' sign were comforting reminders of home. Behind the counter there was always somone who could speak English. There were maps and guide books and sometimes even a day-old copy of the New York Times. These CTOs certainly sold a good quantity of tickets but they also sere