You Don’t Have To Pay Sky-High Prices For Tickets

In July, Shirley B. Caminer of Rockville, Md., paid $428, the lowest nonstop fare she could find, to fly on Northwest Airlines from Washington to Minneapolis with her sister for a family reunion. When she returned home, she read a travel article that said Northwest was selling seats for just $257. A week later, the airline’s special “fall sale” fare between the two cities dropped briefly to just $238.

“What is going on here?” she asks in a letter.

It’s an understandable question, but the answer isn’t an easy one. Basically, the airlines are trying to fill planes, and they do this by carefully monitoring upcoming flights to determine which are selling well and which aren’t.

If the airline sees a flight (maybe hundreds of flights) ahead with lots of unsold seats, it probably will lower the fare on some of the seats. It’s a system that benefits the airlines, but it can confuse passengers.

If you buy an airline ticket today, for example, there’s really no guarantee the price won’t drop tomorrow. But if you hesitate, the fare might actually go up instead of down. What are travelers to do? Nowadays, it’s a dilemma confronting the budget-conscious everytime they want to fly.

“There’s nothing more complex than the airline fare system,” says Doris Davidoff, vice president of Belair Travel in Bowie, Md. She likens buying an airline ticket to playing the futures market. “You take a chance.”

Jim Faulkner, spokesman for Northwest, agrees. “If anyone can truly understand pricing and explain the rationale behind it, then they should be up for the Nobel Prize.”

Without searching Northwest’s records, Faulkner suspects Caminer and her sister purchased their tickets during a period when no sale on seats to Minneapolis was under way. Or - another possibility - all of the cheaper advance-purchase seats, which typically are limited in number, could already have been snapped up by other passengers. In either case, in a hypothetical game of “Who’s Found the Best Fare?” they were on the losing side. To be a winner, you should know how to play the game.

If you have ever tried to shop for a low fare by calling each airline individually, you probably have encountered a clerk who sounded bewildered by the flight information appearing on the airline’s computer reservation screen. It’s not surprising, given the profusion of differing fares listed for practically every flight. During the autumn air fare war at the end of August, 254 different ticket prices were listed for round-trip flights between New York City and Los Angeles, according to Tom Parsons, editor of Best Fares Discount Travel Magazine. The fares ranged from $299 to $2,324.

Airline fares for round-trip travel between the same two destinations within the United States vary for many reasons:

With a higher-priced first-class or business-class ticket, passengers get roomier seats, a better meal, more attentive service and few, if any, restrictions on the ticket.

A full-fare coach class ticket also carries no restrictions and - like first- and business-class tickets - usually is fully refundable or changeable.

Lower-priced coach-class seats typically require an advance purchase of seven, 14 or 21 days; a Saturday night stay; and, sometimes, travel on specific days. They usually are not refundable, and a fee of $35 to $50 is imposed to make an itinerary change.

Beyond these restrictions, airlines may set lower fares on flights scheduled for off-peak hours, slow days or even slow seasons. During the week, Northwest’s late afternoon flights between Minneapolis and New York are considered peak-period flights because that’s when business travelers fly, says Faulkner. Mid-morning flights, when flights tend to be emptier, are off-peak. Fall is off-peak to many destinations, because vacation travel drops after a busy summer.

Other variables may affect the ticket price. You may be able to get a lower price by choosing an itinerary that requires one or two connecting flights to your destination rather than flying nonstop. Fares also may vary depending on which airport you fly out of or into.

And to make the fare structure even more baffling, the airlines have established special discount fares (or coupon booklets) for seniors, children, college students, the military, conventioneers and travelers buying tour packages. Some airlines also quote what is called a “bereavement” fare. Using this fare, families hit by sudden illness or death can gather quickly without paying the full price for an unrestricted coach-class ticket.

Further complicating things, airlines generally limit the number of lowest-price tickets they make available. On peak-period flights, which often are booked full, fewer cheap seats are offered; at off-peak times, lower-priced seats are more plentiful.