Truth is, travel agencies are going out of business at what the industry considers to be an increasingly alarming rate.

Last year alone, 2,451 full-service agencies and branches in the U.S. closed their doors, according to the Airline Reporting Corp. (ARC), the clearinghouse for airline ticket transactions between airlines and travel agencies. While new shops opened, the net loss in the total number of agencies for the year was 3.7 percent, said ARC.

Travel agents - particularly good ones - are under threat of becoming an endangered species.

Charging service fees is a relatively new phenomenon in the travel-agency business.

Dwindling commissions

Traditionally, travel agents earned their money in the form of commissions paid by the airlines, cruise lines, hotels, tour operators and rental-car companies.

Then, a few years ago, the airlines began slashing commissions. Where once agents were paid 12 to 15 percent of the price of an airline ticket, they now receive as little as 5 percent - if that.

Several airlines not only cut commissions, they also instituted commission caps, upper limits on what they would pay an agent for selling a ticket, no matter what the cost of that ticket. Most caps are in the $50-to-$75 range.

In practical terms, here's the effect of those actions.

Say an agent sold a $3,000 business-class round-trip ticket between New York and Los Angeles. A few years ago, the commission on the sale could be as much as $450. At a 5 percent commission, that drops to $150. But under a cap, it could be as little as $50.

You don't have to be a Harvard grad to figure that the revenue stream for many travel agencies has been reduced to a trickle.

Even though most hotels, cruise lines and other travel providers have maintained their commission levels, most travel agencies derive a significant portion of their revenues from airline ticket sales.

The on-line world

But there's more at work here than commission cuts and caps. There's the Internet and its World Wide Web.

Virtually every major airline, hotel and rental-car company has a Web site where you can book and pay for travel directly, without talking to a travel agent - or any other human being, for that matter.

(To date, however, cruise lines - with the exception of Renaissance Cruises, which allows direct booking for which it is being vilified by the travel agency industry) - have held off Web bookings. Most cruise line sites advise you to call your travel agent.)

Beyond individual providers, there are online travel agencies such as Priceline , Microsoft's Expedia site , Travelocity and Preview Travel

At their sites, you can plan and book your entire vacation - flights, hotels, rental cars, the works. In the case of Priceline, you make an offer of what you're willing to pay for each and, if it's accepted, you are on your way.

I have, on occasion, been tempted to book a flight or a hotel online. Yet I've found that Maria has always been able to find me the lowest fare available for an advance-purchase ticket. (The exceptions are the last-minute airfare deals available only online - and usually only for a three- or four-day weekend domestically or weeklong trips abroad, travel beginning the next weekend - to be found on airlines' Web sites.)

And I don't have to spend time in front of the computer, clicking from this site to that in search of a good deal.

Moreover, while I can use the Web to search out hotels in a foreign city, I can trust Maria to tell me that I wouldn't want to stay in the one I chose because, while it was once a fine establishment, management has let it slide into disrepair and bad service. The hotel's Web site won't tell me that.

How does she know?

She keeps up with travel-industry news. She debriefs her clients when they return from trips, inquiring about their level of satisfaction with the airline, the cruise line, the hotel, the tour package. And she travels herself.

My travel agent has been there, done that - and I probably don't want to.

A good travel agent is more than access to a great airfare, a bargain hotel room, a discounted cruise. A good travel agent is planner, shopper, buyer, counselor, hand-holder and problem-solver. In short, a professional well worth the price of a small service charge.