When internet requests come in from people we don't know, we have to guess the probability that we will actually issue tickets as a result of responding to the requests. Most are just asking for the cheapest price to somewhere. Some requests are clearly so easy to answer that they don't take more than a few dollars of staff time - but if the request has gone to several agencies, each one has a low probability of issuing the ticket, so those dollars are wasted in almost all cases. Queries like cheap round trips within the USA for one adult could be handled by any local travel agency in one phone call, at exactly the same price that we and every other agency that answers will offer. So each request we answer means either that a regular client gets served a bit later, or someone stays late and works overtime to answer the internet request.
Many requests are difficult or impossible to answer without spending a lot of time in research.
For example, there is no simple way of finding the lowest consolidator fare from the USA to any foreign destination. It takes several phone calls to different consolidators, and we still do not know that the answers we get will be the lowest fare offered. We also prefer to work with consolidators we know and have learned to trust, since some lowball price quotes are from companies selling stolen tickets and companies close to bankruptcy. We do sell a lot of consolidator tickets, but it takes a lot more staff time to arrange them than to book a list price ticket in the computer. So we're feeling overwhelmed by the requests for help, and appalled at how few of the ones we answer actually buy anything from us.