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Beating the bushes for a bargain ticket

May 21, 2008 | Online Travel

With prices rising - the average cost of an airline ticket in the United States was up 10.2 percent in March, compared with a year ago - and with airlines raising fees on everything from ticket changes to checked bags, it's no wonder that a lot of travelers are talking about just staying home this summer.

Taking a page from the hotel industry, airlines have begun to guarantee equal or better prices to travelers who book with them directly. This helps drive traffic to their sites and save on commission expenses they would otherwise pay to third-party booking sites like Orbitz or Expedia. Moreover, some airlines - including Delta, American, United and Continental - are offering compensations like a $50 or $100 voucher for a future flight if passengers find an online fare lower than the one they are offering on their own sites for that flight.

Not unlike clothing chains that dole out special “family and friends” discounts to employees and repeat customers, airlines quietly offer special coupon codes to travelers who sign up for their weekly newsletters or frequent flier programs. Airfarewatchdog.com, which monitors such deals and posts the codes on its Web site, reports that it has noticed an increase in deals recently, including new promotion codes in Alaska Airlines newsletters every few weeks with savings typically of 20 percent.

Get the full story at the International Herald Tribune

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