It's deja vu all over again! Or is it a case of losing it because you weren't using it? Whatever, it looks like one of the few ways travel agents can still make money selling air may be an endangered species.

Carnival has announced that it will no longer pay its 5% commission on air/sea packages booked through the line. They say just 12% of their booking included Carnival-booked air.

According to OSSN, Carnival notes that they will work to lower the cost of their air/sea packages, which have never been competitive with airfare available elsewhere. On the other hand, the extra cost serves as a sort of built-in insurance. Why? because if the airline knows they've booked you on flight such-and-such, there's a much greater likelihood they'll go the extra mile to make sure you don't miss the sailing in the event of a flight delay -- an all-too-likely occurence these days.

I think travel agents should always pitch clients on the wisdom of booking the cruise line's air, for the reasons I've just laid out. You won't always be successful, but at least you've given the client the option and given yourself some cover should the client fly cheap and miss the boat. (That's one reason why I suggest that if you're NOT taking the cruise line's air, you should arrive at the port a day ahead if you're flying.) Unfortunately, Carnival has given you less incentive to do that.

Carnival's the 900-pound gorilla of the domestic cruise business. It will be interesting to see how the other lines respond. But since cruise lines are acting more and more like airlines, my guess is they'll quickly follow suit. I hope I'm wrong.