Consumers : A Journey Into the Air Fare Jungle

Now is the time to book flights for the Thanksgiving holiday--Thanksgiving of 1989, that is.

While the consumer is blitzed with a mind-boggling mix of super-saver fares that practically require an attorney to figure out the conditions and restrictions, the clue to saving money traveling is as easy as 1-2-3, say those who speak for the airlines:

1. Plan ahead.

2. Be flexible on times and departure dates.

3. Use a travel agent.

Airlines do not make public the number of discounted seats allotted on a given flight, and, indeed that number may change from day to day. But, said Joseph Hopkins of United Airlines, “The earlier the consumer gets going, the better his chances are. When the demand (for air travel) is strong, we’re going to offer a more limited number of discount seats.”

Roughly translated, that means that travelers to popular destinations such as LAX to San Francisco, who plan the Saturday night stay-over required for a super-saver fare, have a better shot at a cheap fare at 2 p.m. on a Thursday than at 6 p.m. on a Friday.

“Your deepest discount fares are those with the most restrictions attached to them,” said Dave Shipley of USAir. That means no change of flight after purchase, no itinerary change, advance purchase and a Saturday stay-over. “And the longer the advance purchase, the cheaper the fare. If somebody knows today they’re going to be traveling next December, and they can nail it down, now’s the time to do it.”

Typically, he said, USAir might have four or five fare bases on a single flight and fares could change up to the day of departure. “If we see it’s starting to fill up at full fare coach, obviously we’re going to shrink the number of discount fares.” Conversely, on a flight that’s not filling, the number of discounted seats might be increased. It’s what the airlines call “inventory control.”

The consumer is more or less on his own to ferret out good fares. Airline agents “are not being taught” to suggest the cheapest fares, said a woman who trains reservation agents for a major domestic airline.

Most airline representatives recommend that travelers book through a travel agent. “They’re not going to be doing any better as far as price is concerned, but a travel agent has available all of the fares for all of the airlines,” Pan American’s Pamela Hanlon pointed out.

(On some long-distance routes, the traveler might get a better price from a travel agent. Explained one airline spokesman who asked not to be named, “It’s no secret that the airlines give commissions (10%) to travel agents. Since deregulation, agents use these commissions to give discounted prices to travelers.”).

Hopkins’ advice for dealing with either airline agent or travel agent: “If you start out by saying, ‘I’ll travel whenever I have to travel to qualify (for a deep discount),’ then the person staring at the computer screen can bring up the lowest fare for you.”

Now, how many of those super-saver seats are really there? Some airlines are “really stingy” about it, said a former department head at a large airline, and it can be as few as 5%.”

Her advice: “The more offbeat the time, the greater percentage of fares at the lower rates. There’s a heck of a lot more cheapie seats out there at 2 than at 5.” The “dog days” for airlines? Midweek.

It is not unusual for an airline to offer several dozen different fares to a given destination, and there could be dozens of fare changes on any day.

A round trip full fare from Los Angeles to San Francisco can cost $278 but, with restrictions, a $108 fare is available. If the lowest fares are sold out, airline personnel advise, ask when that fare is next available. A traveler willing to wait for an hour and a half can save money.

The Department of Transportation no longer regulates domestic air fares. “It is all up to the airlines now,” DOT’s Bill Mosley said. “Just as long as they advertise (super saver) fares correctly,” he added, they can offer as few or as many as they wish. He advises consumers to read the “little fine print” that tells what strings are attached.

An airline employee concurred, “People see gigantic advertisements on TV and in the paper--$200 Los Angeles to Paris--then, in tiny little letters underneath it says ‘one way, based on a round trip.’ People call and say, ‘I want to go one way.’ They’re told, ‘That will be $700, sir.’ In my eyes, it’s misleading advertising, but everybody does it.”

For those planning travel to the Far East, the lowest regular fares are in January and February when, said Japan Air Lines’ Michael Sun, occupancy on JAL drops to around 60%, compared with 100% in August, the busiest month. “When everybody’s fighting for the business,” he said, “there’s going to be somebody selling for less.”

JAL does not as yet offer super-savers, only a single standard economy coach fare, but, Sun said, “We’re looking into the situation,” following the lead of U.S. carriers.

Pan Am’s new “Super Eurosaver” fares to Europe (L.A. to London, $438 round trip), available beginning Oct. 16, require Sunday through Wednesday travel eastbound and Monday through Thursday westbound, with travel completed by Dec. 15. Tickets must be purchased 45 days before departure, cannot be changed and are non-refundable. Hanlon said there are “a good number of these seats available on all flights.”

TWA, for one, is matching the $438 round trip fare LAX to London. As in other industries, competition dictates price.

Cash Flow Problem

Sometimes deeply discounted fares are looked on as “loss leaders,” offered by airlines wanting to establish a foothold on a highly competitive route. An airline based in Texas, and well-known there, might offer fares in other states that are lower than for comparable flights within its home state.

And sometimes a cheap fare is offered because an airline has a cash-flow problem--it needs to meet its payroll. “You might get a great deal,” cautioned one former airline employee, “but you might be left stranded. Read the papers. No airline is going to go out of operation overnight without some kind of clue.”

With restrictions placed on super-savers, a change of plan usually means forfeiting the ticket. That is the risk. But smart travelers know the rewards. They also know where to go when. For travel abroad in November and December, the bargain fares are to the cold places like Northern Europe, the most expensive are those to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, the warm places.

It is difficult, at best, for the consumer to understand why it may cost as much to fly from Los Angeles to San Francisco as from Los Angeles to the East Coast. One explanation is offered by USAir’s Dave Shipley: “Short to medium haul flying is very expensive flying. Frequent landings and takeoffs, that’s where your costs enter in.”

Another explanation is fare wars. At one time, 30 carriers were flying between Phoenix and Los Angeles, for example. As someone put it, “You could transport the entire population of Phoenix” to the coast in a single day. The result: A $29 one-way fare, about one-third of the regular fare between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Is the Saturday night stay-over requirement attached to super-saver fares part of some conspiracy with the hotel industry? No, says United’s Hopkins--”It’s a matter of what we call putting fences around fares. For business travelers, for example, going on Wednesday and coming back Thursday, if we didn’t have a requirement like that, they would get that lower fare.”

Competition, not logic, dictates. Sometimes, to the consumer’s advantage, an airline will offer a promotional fare in an effort to squeeze a competitor out of the market.

But, as USAir’s Shipley put it, “There’s an old grocer’s adage. What you lose on the potatoes, you make on the tomatoes.”

Right now, United’s Hopkins says, “anywhere to Denver” is a best buy. He explained, “Continental lowered their fares and everybody matched them. Colorado’s real pretty this time of year. It’s a real bargain.”