Experienced folks don't "need" them per se, but they still come in handy and can be very helpful. I've used one for years despite being a hardcore A type planner, at first solely for her agency's "magical" deals (iykyk) but since those went away with covid we have still continued to work with her regardless just because she's always been super on the ball and I find it really helpful to have another set of eyes on the reservation. Whenever discounts release by the time I log on here, she's already applied them to our reservation. More than once my alarm has gone off at 6:30a for an office day and I look at my phone and I see an email from her sent at like 5am that a discount dropped and she applied it. I've never felt disempowered or like I had a lack of control over anything. Quite the opposite. But we've also been working with her since 2017 so she's very familiar with our preferences. On our last trip there was no availability for resort view at GF which is what we had booked so she swapped us to TPV and saved us $800. While I was asleep lol. She even sends cookies from a local Orlando bakery to the front desk of my resort on my birthday trips.
The only time I have ever really utilized her as far as booking extras etc was last August when my mom died suddenly a month before our Sept land and sea trip. She took care of literally everything, even things I would normally book on my own (airport transportation, etc) and I was really grateful for that because my mind was like swiss cheese at the time. I look at a good TA as being like an executive assistant. You don't necessarily need one if you know what you're doing, but they are still very helpful.
