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Know where and how to get the lowest airline discount ticket online."AIRLINE DISCOUNT TICKET" Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below! "AIRLINE DISCOUNT TICKET"
"Saving Yourself; Everything You Need to Know About the Changing World of Airline Discount Ticket" They have long been the first place many travelers look for international airline tickets--or the second place, after travelers get sky-high airline discount ticket price quotes from the airlines themselves. They are air fares consolidators, those (usually) small businesses that sell deep-airline discount ticket prices, often via tiny ads in the newspaper listing little more than prices, destinations and a phone number. Consolidators are not always the easiest firms to deal with, with some staffers gruff on the phone or with accents so thick they can be hard to understand. Some consolidators change office locations, phone numbers and even names with unsettling frequency. But--and it's a big but--consolidators usually have the best airline discount ticket prices for air travel. And so they remain an important budget travel tool. Like most elements of the travel business right now, airline discount ticket consolidators are changing direction in mid-flight, and even they don't know their final destination. It's a good time for bargains--and prudence. Traditionally, consolidators have operated by procuring seats at deep airline discount ticket prices, either by purchasing blocks of cheap airfares seats in advance from airlines or via contracts that give the consolidators access to a certain number of tickets at a certain price. The ticket firms then add a modest markup and sell them to the public, often at prices from 20 to 50 percent lower than the airlines' best published airline discount ticket airfares. Consolidators traditionally have been small, low-overhead operations that make the owners a tidy but notspectacular profit. Airlines have used them because consolidators help them fill seats they are unlikely to sell at retail airline discount ticket prices. Customers use them for cheap flights, no-frills tickets. In theory, everybody wins. Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
But nothing is simple in the travel business today. Ever since 1995, when the major airlines began reducing the sales commissions they pay to traditional travel agencies for selling airline tickets, several big travel airline discount ticket companies have begun entering the consolidation business, where profit per ticket sold can be higher than in retail air ticket sales. This has created a few conspicuous--and large--new players in the field. Other consolidators that formerly sold only to travel agents have opened retail arms, creating more competition. Meantime, airlines are beginning to explore alternatives to selling through consolidators, including using Internet sales and even auctions to fill unsold seats. During the off-season, many airlines have reduced their own advance-purchase sale airfares to the point where they rival consolidators'airline discount ticket fares. Many major airlines, among them American, Delta, Northwest and United, give bulk prices to airline discount ticket sellers (which are not consolidators) to move excess seat capacity, thereby unloading the seats in blocks without formal consolidator contracts. The discount peddlers often are subsidiaries of the airlines themselves (Northwest, for example, sells tickets in select markets--primarily Los Angeles and New York, through subsidiary MLT Vacations of Minneapolis). On the consumer side, a lot of travel discount shoppers now look first to the World Wide Web for deals, draining attention and at least some business from traditional consolidators and forcing others onto the Internet, either solo or teamed up with other travel sites. And online-only agents, afraid of losing the most budget-conscious shoppers to brick-and-mortar consolidators or other sites, have sprouted consolidator arms or partners. In short, it's a pretty active and messy scene in airline discount ticket air travel right now--in flux but, for the time being at least, quite viable. In the two charts that we publish on these pages, we've gathered information about both local and national airline tickets consolidators that can help you make a decision about which firms to consider. For each consolidator, we indicate which airlines' tickets it sells, whether it has areas of geographic specialization, and which professional and trade groups it is a member of. For national firms, we provide data indicating the amount of business each does and, where available, quality ratings drawn from a well-respected trade publication. No matter how careful you are in choosing a consolidator, though, there are certain disadvantages you need to be aware of. Most consolidators are the travel equivalent of warehouse retail stores--low prices, limited selection, minimal service. Consolidators generally do not coddle customers--you rarely get patient explanations of travel options or offers to research hotels, side trips or vacation packages. Airline tickets are usually highly restricted, and changing your itinerary after you've paid can be a nightmare or even impossible. You may not get frequent-flier points. And though airlines are reluctant to admit this, passengers who have paid consolidator prices often get lowest priority when cancellations occur. Some consolidators don't deliver tickets until shortly before the trip, which can be nerve-racking (and even though the experts advise against dealing with such last-minute-delivery firms, many consumers still bite at the bargains). Add to all of this the stigma of financial instability created in this area last year when Euram Travel Centre, a high-profile local airline discount ticket consolidator with a track record, went bankrupt and stranded hundreds of local customers with neither tickets nor refunds. One of the easiest ways to insulate yourself from at least some of these indignities is to use an online travel agent to make your consolidator purchase. Most online travel agents deal with consolidators, often with wholesalers who sell only to the trade. Agents usually work with a short list of consolidators whom they've come to trust. More important, if problems arise, your agent probably has more leverage than you in dealing with the consolidator, and may even cover you if the discount dealer goes bankrupt (yes,it happens). The downsides of using an agent: Agents usually don't access all consolidators and may miss certain deals, and most agents mark up consolidator fares, adding to the cost of the tickets (others charge service fees for their effort; either way, going through an agent can add $10 to $50 per ticket). But, in exchange for a few extra dollars, by using an agent you can save yourself potential grief. Can't find what you need? Try a Google Web Search in the box below!
If you plan to use a consolidator yourself, a few tips can make the process easier. For instance, it's wise to check whether the firm is a member of the American Society of Travel Agents (a travel agent trade group) and the Airlines Reporting Corp. (a group that accredits agencies to sell discount airline tickets). But these memberships guarantee little: ASTA's core members, which include over half of traditional travel agencies in the United States, must abide by a code of ethics to retainmembership. But most consolidators join ASTA as allied members, and are not bound by the ethical code. ARC membership essentially indicates the firm has met basic financial and legal requirements the airlines demand, but ARC is an arm of the airlines, not a consumer protection group. During last year's flop of Euram--a member of ASTA and ARC--neither group came to meaningful aid of consumers. (Note: While ARC membership may not provide protection, lack of ARC accreditation may spell trouble--it could mean a firm is a mere "reseller"--a company that buys airline tickets from ARC-member consolidators and then sells to the public. Insiders caution that you're more likely to run into problems, or pay higher prices, with a reseller than with an ARC-accredited firm.) All this said, if you're going to use a consolidator for an airline discount ticket, there's certainly no harm in choosing a firm with active associations with ASTA and ARC. Better Business Bureau membership, which implies a good-faith intention to resolve consumer disputes, is an even better credential. We checked out each of the firms profiled in our charts with their local bureaus and suggest you do the same before working with a company not listed here. (The D.C.-area bureau may be reached at 202-393-8000.) If you're serious about this stuff, a guide compiled for travel agents but available to the general public can help. The Index to Air Travel Consolidators ($48.50, from Travel Publishing, Oakdale, Minn., 1-800-241-9299) carries ratings of consolidators based on surveys of the travel agents that buy from them. The scores run from a low of 1 to a high of 10 and include the number of ratings the consolidator received. But the guide doesn't cover every consolidator, and includes many firms that sell onlyto travel agents. For the companies we profile, we include the guide's rating when there is one. Purchasing travel insurance can offer some protection. You can insure just an airline discount ticket (as opposed to a whole trip), before or after buying the seat, and can collect on the policy if either the airline or the agent goes out of business. However, you can't file a claim for unreasonable delay in delivering a paid-for ticket--and can't file a claim for failure of delivery until after your plane has left. If disaster strikes within days of departure, you're out of pocket if you can somehow reschedule at your own expense, as claims usually take one to two weeks to process. One firm, Access America (1-800-654-1908), offers basic coverage for about 4 to 8 percent of the value of the insured items. Consolidators who have gone online have been joined by a growing list of Internet travel agencies that promise to ferret out lowest available cheap airfares from all sources, including consolidators. Most operate like travel agents, i.e., accessing only some consolidators, and therefore may not have the lowest air fare to your destination (especially since not all consolidators--and thus not all great deals--are on the Internet). EconomyTravel.com and OneTravel.com claim to have access to all consolidator fares, butI recently found a better deal--about 20 percent better--on a Dulles-Quito, Ecuador, ticket through Monica Travel, a small local consolidator specializing in Latin America, than I did through either of these Web sites. Bottom line: You hate it when we say this, but caveat emptor. Know the rules, do background checks, get multiple quotes, don't accept delays or vague responses and trust your instincts. And, while you're at it, price the cheap flights you want to take from conventional sources--and figure out exactly how much you stand to save in the first place.... Look for an airline discount ticket here /cheap airfares home |