That still exists. The last time I did onsite interviews, every single company that wanted to fly me to their office to interview me asked me to talk to a human agent to book flights. But of course the human agent is just a travel agent with no budgetary power; so I ended up calling the agent to inquire about a booking, then calling the recruiter to confirm that price is acceptable, and then calling the agent book to confirm the booking.
It doesn't have to be this way. Even before the pandemic I remember some companies simply gave me access to an internal app to choose flights where the only flights shown are these of the right date, right airport, and right price.
It doesn't have to be this way. Even before the pandemic I remember some companies simply gave me access to an internal app to choose flights where the only flights shown are these of the right date, right airport, and right price.