Fired Airline Ticket Agent Reveals Airline Secrets (8 page)

Next, let me ask you another question: do you live in a high-fare or a low-fare market? If you think you’re one of the residents of the high-fare market, you’re probably right. 

Most markets generally have higher fares. But, what you want to be aware of is who has the best fares to where you want to fly. You’re in luck now—because there’s some really good information available on this topic, and it’s available free from the government. What is this info called? It’s a quarterly publication called the
Domestic Airline Fares Consumer Report
. The report is released by the DOT, or the Department of Transportation. Of course the report is never truly current, but hey, it’s free! Here’s the website where you can find this report:

http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/aviation/

Of course, websites change frequently. As of the date of this printing, the website worked, but if it does not work, call up and request the report (202) 366-1032.

When you get this report, you will be able to find the city pairs you’re interested in. For each city pair, the report tells you the average fare, and the airline with the biggest share of the market and its average fare, and the airline with the lowest average fare. You will rarely see that the airline with the biggest share of the market will have a good deal. Instead, you’ll notice that the best deal is usually offered by the airline with just 10% market share.

Each report also has a “special feature” at the end, which focuses on low-fare airlines. This special feature should be of special interest to you.

TICKETING Secrets

Here’s what you should keep in mind, first and foremost: favorite days to fly are Monday, Friday, and the weekends. As a result, flights that depart midweek tend to be cheaper.

Secret # 1: Book early

I know I told you before that booking early doesn’t always get you the lowest fare…but if you’re trying to get supersaver fares, there’s no other option other than booking early.

There are usually several advance purchase deadlines, which require that you book 30, 21, 14, 7, and 3 days in advance. Most airlines offer more than one advance fare for any given route, but it’s better to book as soon as you know when you’re going to go.

Secret # 2: Buy in bulk

Airlines sometimes offer bulk tickets. For example, you can buy a book of 10 airline coupons for the price of 9.

Did you know there’s a group of 16 European airlines with destinations in 26 countries that offers an AirPass program that lets you fly individual flight segments for $99 per flight. More on this later!

Every now and then an airline will announce an “unrestricted fare” with no minimum stay requirement, and NO expiration date! That means you can get that fare, and you don’t have to use the airline ticket until you want to fly! It’s one of the best ways to get cheap fares!

I’ll give you an example, in case I’ve confused you. Let’s say Continental Airlines announces a great fare for $129 from Newark, NJ to Orlando, FL. Let’s say you live in Newark but have family in Orlando. You go there several times a year. You can get your travel agent to book you ONE TICKET with as many coupons as you’d like flights. The ticket will read NEWARK-ORLANDO-NEWARK-ORLANDO and so forth for as many roundtrips as you’d like to take. The ticket will cost $129 multiplied by as many roundtrips as you want to buy.

The best part of this is that you do not need to lock yourself into specific dates. The only date that has to be on the ticket is on the first coupon. You have to take that first flight! And of course, you’d probably know your return date on the first trip to Orlando. And on the remaining coupons, you leave the date “open.” When you decide when you want to fly, you can call the airline and book the flight. There is no extra charge. You are protected even if the fare increases, or the airline cancels the fare code for which you booked. You get that fare at the same amount even though the person next to you on the same flight may end up paying hundreds more than you did!!!

Here are the exceptions to the open segment rule: sometimes, fares with no expiration date will ALSO prohibit open segments. You can use this trick with fare-war fares as well. The only exception in that case would be that you would have to complete all your trips within the time restrictions announced along with that fare war. That typically means completing all your travel within several months. Keep in mind this trick will work with family travel and business travel!

Secrets # 3: Time your travel well

If you can be flexible in your timing, you can often see BIG savings!

Seasonal Fares:

This is going to sound obvious to most, but I still felt it is worth mentioning, since some of my readers tend to be seasoned travelers, traveling several times a week, and some have never traveled before, or have traveled once or twice.

Travel in “high season” always costs more than in “low season.” There is a 3
^rd
category, which is sometimes referred to as “shoulder season” which is between high and low seasons during which fares go up and down.

Of course, you should keep in mind that the “seasons” vary by destination. Summer is VERY high season in Europe, but low season in the Caribbean. It should be obvious that leisure travelers may be simply touring at times when the tourist crowds are gone.

Holiday periods are HIGH SEASON EVERYWHERE, but if you’re one to leave behind friends and family, keep in mind that the slowest day of the year for airlines are Christmas day and Thanksgiving day! Those are the days to get the real bargains. 

Midweek:

I think I mentioned this a little before, but again it’s worth repeating. The cheapest departing day is almost ALWAYS Wednesday or Thursday.

Off hours:

Noone wants to fly at the crack of dawn, or really late at night. But there are sometimes flights departing at those times. If you can wake up before dawn, ask the airlines what flights they have available between 5 am and 8:30 am on the days you’re traveling. If you can travel at night, very late at night, especially if you’re flying from the West Coast to the East Coast, you should ask about “red-eye” flights.

Secret # 4: Purchase a package

If the trip you’re taking requires a hotel and/or a rental car, you should consider getting a package. It’s part of a retail tradition that allows buyers to save money if you buy several items.

Tour operators or “packagers” negotiate with various suppliers to purchase the individual package elements at wholesale prices, enabling them to offer the package at a very low price.

Most travel agents will know how to find you the best package deals, because many tour operators choose not to deal directly with the general public.

Secret # 5: Split Tickets

If you are willing to trade-off convenience, you can save some money by “splitting” your trip into two flights, changing planes at some intermediate point. This will typically involve using a low-cost carrier for one or both segments.

Here’s an example. Flying from Boston, MA to Honolulu, Hawaii non-stop costs $1,040 on a major airline. By making a connection in Los Angeles, you save $287. This is a big savings and you only need to be in the Los Angeles airport for one or two hours.

Secret # 6: Find a fare, and a flight

The way airlines keep track of all their fares is by the fare code. An example of a fare code is something like KE14NR. The fare code is linked to lengthy “fare rules” that list the restrictions and conditions, making a specific fare different from all the rest. And the fare code is what allows the airline to be able to answer the questions “why did the guy sitting next to me on this plane pay $350 less for his ticket than I did?”

Here’s how fare codes work: The first letter of every fare code identifies the “class.” The most obvious letters are “F” for first class, “C” for coach. Other letters are “Y” for full price, most unrestricted, and most expensive coach fare. Then there are the various letters for coach class, which may include B, H, K, L, etc. They tend to vary with different airlines. The numbers and letters that follow the “class” designator tell you other restrictions that you must abide by. For example, with this fare code KE14NR, it means you booked in coach class K, E is for excursion fare, 14 means this fare is for a 14-day advance purchase, and NR means it is non-refundable.

You’re going to learn how to quickly become very good at interpreting fare codes. Let me tell you why right now, before I get into examples on how to get low fares using these codes. The internet makes it VERY easy to locate the lowest published fares between any two cities. Once you find the low fare, you can print out the fare rules associated with it. The fare code equals POWER. If you have a fare code, you have some power over the airline reservation agents. That’s all I wanted to say for now about fare codes. Let me explain now how to use them:

Let’s say you decide to fly from Phoenix to Cleveland on a Thursday three weeks from now and return the following Thursday. You call your travel agent and you ask for the lowest fare, and what do you get? $238 for roundtrip flight. If you look up the flight on the internet first, you’ll find the fare between these two cities is $198, and it’s offered by 8 different airlines. Why didn’t your travel agent find that low fare? Because to get the lower fare, you would have to fly in both directions, on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. To fly back to Phoenix on a Wed instead of Thurs, you save $40. So, learn to alert your travel agent when you can be flexible on dates!

It’s not always that simple of course. But, that’s why you’ll love your new-found FARE CODE power. I was once trying to book a flight from New York to Albuquerque New Mexico on American. I tried booking online and the best fare I could get was $482 with a connection in Houston (a HUB airport). But, I had the FARE CODE for the lowest fare and had the fare rules for the $178 fare. I called up the airline’s toll-free reservation number and with the airline reservation agent, I was able to get the fare. Of course, I had to make a connection in Phoenix, but I saved hundreds of dollars!

The point I’m trying to make here is that with the fare code, you have some power. Of course, not with the internet booking engines, because they don’t know what the fare code is. But, with the fare code, you can use travel agents and airline reservation agents to make your arrangements. When you call up the airline reservations line, the agent will not always immediately be able to recognize a fare as valid between two cities on given dates. The computer they have defaults to getting you from Point A to Point B, but not the cheapest way. So, if you give them the fare code, the will be able to keep looking for you. Some might insist that they found you the lowest fare, but when you give them the fare code, they change their minds.

A tip to keep in mind, if two cities are connected by a low-fare airline whose fares are not listed in the computerized reservations system used by your internet source, it is possible that the low-fare carrier might have a fare even lower than the LOWEST fare you find online.

Some more tips on fare codes:

X: usually appears in the 2
^nd
position, indicating travel MUST occur Monday thru Thursday, usually in both directions.

Y: if this appears in the 2
^nd
position, then it usually indicates that travel must take place Friday through Sunday.

N: if this appears in the 2
^nd
position, it indicates the fare is available only on a night flight.

IP: indicates instant purchase, meaning “non-refundable”

AS, CS, COM: indicates a companion fare (where one passenger flies free) paying only taxes and other charges

25, 50, 75: shown at the end of a fare code indicates the percentage penalty you will have to pay if you cancel your flight. For example, if the code is 75, you get back 25% of the fare if you cancel.

Secret # 7: Pick the right airport

Things to keep in mind:

Figuring out whether a different airport will save you money may be harder than you think. Internet booking engines may or may not be helpful in situations like this. Some of course allow you to search for all neighboring airports, while others tend to be “dumber” and allow you to search one departing airport at a time. If you don’t want to do all the work, a travel agent could help.