I started this section last month and received lots of ideas, none negative. Based on the response, I'll keep it up until you get bored. Most liked the travel agent dress code and the travel executives sitting together and apart from the the travel agents. I saw all of this again at the recent CLIA360 conference, otherwise a great event.

Agents are supposed to be professionals and not using email addresses that end with AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail or Flatbush.rr or one that has a silly surname like travelforfree,or gotchatravel etc. These IP's are not business friendly. And please stop using the letter "l" and the number "1" as part of your email address. It drives me crazy.

Suppliers who allow the hobbyist or non-serious agent to attend fams and ship inspections leaving no room or no invitation for the serious travel professional to attend the event. The last ship event that I attended had a bunch of MLM and card mill attendees. I would hope that suppliers would be more discriminating when inviting people who only seek cheap vacations. The serious travel agents can easily be found with the legitimate host agencies as well as NACTA and OSSN.

ASTA's so called consumer day at their new annual trade shows. The first consumer day event held last September in Orlando had suppliers selling vacations directly to consumers, bypassing the travel agents. Now they are repeating the same thing in Las Vegas under the disguise that it's a day for consumers to get acquainted with the various vacation possibilities.

Travel agents that dress like a day at the beach when attending trade show conferences. I know that most travel agents don't make a lot of money but let's get real. Travel professionals never dress like that.

Have you ever gone to a national trade show and conference and noticed that all the executives from the organizations and sometimes suppliers, sit together at the front of the room during meal periods and assemblys? It would be a nice gesture for these executives to spread themselves around to the travel sales professional tables and not sit with their peers all the time. I'm sure the agents who produce the sales and keep you guys in business would really appreciate it. Imagine, breaking bread with Bob Dickinson from Carnival. On second thought, I would rather have lunch with Vickie Freed but don't tell my wife. No, I'm not jealous as I've been one of these executives in my past life and felt uncomfortable about it then too.

If anyone has a pet peeve they want to share with us, please email. No fair saying that having to put up with reading my newsletter is your pet peeve.

Carol M from Travel Only agency offered this. Agents who attend training events and cruise ship parties just to take advantage of the free food and booze and then complain about it if it doesn't meet their personal expectations. Carol, as do many agents, doesn't like the impersonal E-Docs now being produced by a few cruise lines. The E-docs are as handsome as an E- doc for an airline trip from Orlando to Peoria. These are many client's dreams to take a cruise and what they have in hand is an impersonal E-mail ticket. "Classy!" E-Docs are here to stay but we certainly can find a way to make them more attractive.

Home-based travel organizations and the media who claim to tout themselves as the "hero" of this segment of the travel distribution system then turn around and bust those same travel agents in the mouth. Mostly because revenue is more important than maintaining that "hero" status. For Example: some of them who take on advertisers without looking at what they represent. An example is a company called TRANS-HOTELS who advertise that anyone can book through their website, even non-travel agents and earn a commission. See more info on this company at the "Turkey of the Month" segment.

I am personally "bugged" at those organizations and media outlets that have a listing called "Host Agencies" and list agencies and even suppliers, along with card mills that aren't even close to being a Host Agency under anyone's definition. Let's clean it up guys and try to be a little more forthright toward its membership and readers.

I would be happy to hear any of your pet peeves. I won't print them without your permission and you can remain anonymous. I've got to report back to my "shrink" now. See you next month.