Schemes, Scams & Savin' a Buck (12/11/00)

Dec. 12, 2000 -- Flying has become notoriously unpleasant these days — thanks to endless delays and planes packed as full as cattle cars.

So the least you can do is make sure you’re not paying too much for the experience. And there are cheap tickets available, if you know where to look for them.

If you believe the ads, the best deals are found on the Internet. One online travel agency, Lowestfare, boasts that it’s “the biggest bargain in air travel today,” while Cheaptickets’ slogan is “because you’re cheap, and so are we.” But Bill McGee, editor of the Consumer Reports Travel Letter, cautions that “[while] these Web sites advertise themselves more or less as being one-stop shopping, we don’t believe they are.”

He speaks from experience, because Consumer Reports recently checked out four of the most popular travel Web sites — Travelocity, Expedia, Cheaptickets and Lowestfare — comparing their prices on six different routes with the best fare a travel agent could get using a standard industry reservations system.

At first it looked as if the Web sites’ fares were the hands-down winners. But when Consumer Reports took a closer look, it found that while the Web sites’ fares were lower, there were plenty of “buts” to consider.

It’s a Good Deal, But …

One big problem Consumer Reports found: the price quoted was low, but according to McGee, “on one system, in many cases the fare advertised was just not available for booking.” That system was Cheaptickets. When McGee tried to book any of the 10 lowest fares listed from Newark, N.J., to Los Angeles, in each case it was sold out.

Another problem: to get that quoted low fare you might have to take a round-about route to your destination. Says McGee, “For most travelers the flight itineraries [often] just didn’t make sense.”

For instance, Consumer Reports found that Travelocity’s cheapest fare from New York to Chicago forced you to make a stop in Atlanta — hundreds of miles out of your way and more than doubling the two-hour non-stop flight travel time.

Even worse, Cheaptickets’ lowest fare on that New York to Chicago route was an 11 ½-hour marathon with stops in Syracuse, Buffalo and Philadelphia. And Cheaptickets’ best available fare from Newark to Los Angeles stopped in Phoenix and Las Vegas — an 11 ½-hour trip.

When we asked the agencies why they offer routes like this, some told us they want to show their customers all possible options, since to some travelers it may be worth the hassle to save money.

Small Airlines Excluded

Another caveat about the Web sites is it may skip low-fare options from some smaller airlines. In fact, McGee says, “While we did not find conclusive evidence of bias, we thought there were disturbing signs.”

For instance, Expedia didn’t list Southwest Airlines, and neither does Lowestfare, which also doesn’t include discount airlines such as ATA or Vanguard.

And Consumer Reports found that Travelocity often appears to favor the airlines that advertise on its Web site by listing their flights first — even when they’re not the cheapest.

All the sites denied that they give preference to any one airline or their advertisers, and some told us they are working to add some of the low-fare carriers to their listings. Expedia noted that it tries to give its customers the best airfares available, because otherwise travelers would just go elsewhere.

Lowestfare, however, admitted that it blocks listings from Southwest because that carrier doesn’t pay the commission that other airlines do.

So What’s Left?

Consumer Reports’ next stop was to throw out all the fare listings that either weren’t available, required more than one stop, a change of airline or too long a layover. It took what was left and compared it to the fares generated by the reservations system used by travel agents.

The result? McGee says “the computer reservations system used by travel agents still provided both lower fares and viable itineraries in more than 50 percent of the cases.” Overall, the sites did best on travel booked several weeks in advance.

And while Consumer Reports found that Travelocity and Expedia did the best of the four services tested, McGee cautions that “no one should really look at [any of these sites] as being a silver bullet … what we found was that they require comparison shopping” in order to find the best deals.

Shopping the Sites

Fortunately, it’s just become easier to do that shopping around. That’s because ABCNEWS found that two new Web sites, Qixo.com and Farechase.com, do much of the work for you. Their search engines will check your flight request on several online travel agencies at once — and show you which ones have the best deal.You can then go directly to the site and book your flight.

Once you’ve found a good deal, it might be worth making one more stop before booking it. Head over to the Web site of the airline involved and see if you can get the same deal there. You could save even more money — that’s because airlines often hand out incentives such as extra discounts or additional frequent flier miles for Internet purchasers.

They’re trying to convince more customers to buy online (which saves them money), so they often make it worth your while to book directly.

Since the computer reservations system used by travel agents did so well in Consumer Reports test, are they still your best bet to find the lowest fares?

In some cases, yes, especially if the agent takes the time and has the skill to do so. Unfortunately their systems are only as good as the agents using them — and an agent who doesn’t try very hard may not come up with the best fares the computer has to offer.

Even worse, warns McGee, some agents receive incentives to sell you one airline over another-even if the fare may be higher.

Deep Discount Options

Consumer Reports did not test the heavily advertised Priceline, which boasts that users can “name your own price” for tickets. But like the Web sites it did check out, Priceline can save you money. However, the flights you end up with may be far less than ideal.

Here’s how it works:

You specify where and when you want to travel — and how much you’re willing to pay for a ticket. If you’ve done your homework, and know how much to bid, Priceline says you can save an average of 54 percent off retail fares.

Priceline’s biggest savings are on last-minute travel, according to industry analyst Henry Hartevelt of Forrester Research. He says that despite its claims, the company’s savings are only about 15-20 percent for travel planned further in advance.

Harteveldt warns that in exchange for the discount, you sacrifice much of the control over when you travel. That’s because you only find out the details of your flight after your bid is accepted and you’ve already committed to buying the tickets (no refunds are allowed). Here’s what to expect:

Your departure times could be anywhere from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. — which can really eat into your leisure time on a short trip.

For instance one Priceline customer, Carole G, wanted to fly home from Boston to Louisville, Ky., for a three-day weekend last Easter. Her winning bid got her a flight that arrived in Louisville on Friday at 11:26 p.m., then departed for the return home on Sunday morning at 6:45 a.m.

So her three-day weekend was whittled down to just 30 hours with her family. After spending hours complaining to the company, they finally made an exception to their policy and gave her a refund.

Layovers can be as long as four hours between flights, and you can’t request a non-stop. Priceline does allow you to specify a maximum of one connection, but Kathleen C. didn’t check that box.

As a result, she did save hundreds of dollars off the direct fare from Oakland to Chicago (usually a four-hour flight). The bad news was that she had to fly three legs in each direction, a virtual tour of the United States with stops in Dallas and Atlanta on the way. Because she missed a connection, the total travel time ended up to be 14 hours.

Another Alternative

None of this surprises Harteveldt, who feels that “if price is absolutely the only thing standing between you and making that trip, [then] Priceline is good for you.”

Otherwise he recommends against the site. The company acknowledges that customers have to make a tradeoff, but says that in exchange for your flexibility, it gives you significant savings.

As for Harteveldt, he suggests that fliers in search of deep discounts try a new service called Hotwire instead. Hotwire is owned by several airlines, and you face the same restrictions as you do on Priceline; for instance, you won't know your itinerary or flight times in advance.

The difference is that you don’t have to guess what a good bid might be; instead, you’ll see Hotwire’s best price posted for you to accept or reject before committing to the purchase.

“Hotwire has a better mousetrap,” says Harteveldt, “why put yourself through extra steps and guesswork with a Priceline?”