import these tickets for you from overseas. (This is why, if
you must leave right away, you may have to pick up some of
your tickets from your agent's overseas affiliates as you
travel, an arrangement few people prefer and which can
usually be avoided by advance planning.)
Airlines wait until they have a good idea how full their
planes will be (based on advance booking levels) before they
decide how deeply they need to discount their tickets to
consolidators to fill their planes. So consolidator
contracts with the airlines are subject to change, usually
several times a year, and generally forbid sales of tickets
for travel commencing more than a few months after the sale.
Verifying prices with vendors around the world, and then
importing tickets, can take a couple of weeks (unless you
want to pay extra for air courier service).
So you can't expect to get the best price, or to get your
tickets, many months ahead (except for times like Christmas,
when prices are set and planes fill up many months in
advance).
On the other hand, it shouldn't take more than a month to
get your tickets from a reputable, efficient agency --
barring unusual complications. (The most justifiable
complication, especially with a complex ticket, is that one
of the rates has changed and a different source or fare
construction has to be found. Customers find this hard to
understand, but it isn't always possible to call or fax an
overseas -- or even a domestic -- supplier to verify every
fare in their tariff, which is always subject to change,
before quoting a price to the customer.)
8. DEALING WITH INTERNATIONAL TICKET DISCOUNTERS
Should you buy from a discounter? I wouldn't think of buying
an international ticket from a neighborhood travel agent,
even if I told them to try to find a consolidator fare.
Depending on your itinerary, try either an agency
specializing in that destination and/or a bucket shop. You'd
be surprised how often local agents, when they have a
customer for a weird destination or routing (especially
around the world) simply buy the tickets from a bucket shop
and mark them up to the customer.
You'll get the best price if you shop around, but remember
that rating an around the world itinerary can take an hour
of work (for which the agent is paid nothing if you end up
getting the ticket elsewhere). So don't be surprised that
the fare isn't in the computer and can't be given off the
top of the agent's head; the agent will give only a very
rough estimate of the fare unless you make clear that you
are really serious about getting the ticket from that agency
if the price is right.
Bucket shops serve a limited and specialized subset of the
air ticket market, and are mostly concentrated in a few
world cities.
The best places to find them are London and San Francisco;
other places with many are Penang and Kuala Lumpur
(Malaysia), Bangkok, and Athens. It's worth looking far
afield to find a good bucket shop -- the overwhelming
majority of travel agents don't even try to compete with
bucket shop fares. For that matter, most agents couldn't
construct the sorts of routings the better bucket shops
specialize in (especially customized around-the-world
itineraries) at *any* price. In the USA, most bucket-shop
advertising is concentrated in the Sunday travel sections of
the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, Miami Herald, New
York Times, and Los Angeles Times. There are ads for
discounted international tickets in newspapers in many other
regional and local USA cities, but one can often get better
deals from the agencies that advertise in the largest
gateway cities. This is especially true for travel to less
common destinations (i.e. outside North America or Europe),
and most of all for any trip involving destinations on
multiple continents that can't be ticketed as a round trip.
That doesn't mean you have to, or that you should, actually
travel to one place for the purpose of buying tickets there
to somewhere else. Travel agents anywhere in the world can
issue tickets originating anywhere in the world. An
elaborate network of international agreements has been
established to ensure that a customer in any country W can
buy a ticket from a travel agent located in country X for a
flight from country Y to country Z. If a local airline
office or travel agent tries to tell you that you can't
import tickets from an agent abroad, ignore them.
Not all agents are set up to deal with overseas customers,
but some are. Anywhere you would think of going to buy
cheap onward tickets, a good bucket shop can buy them for
you at wholesale, from reliable wholesalers with whom they
have established relationships, and send them to you so you
have them before you start your trip. And to the extent you
know where you are going, it is generally cheaper to get one
set of tickets to your complete set of destinations in
advance than to buy tickets in several stages en route or
from different agencies.
But buying your ticket from an agent in another country
doesn't have to mean going to the place where that agent is,
or waiting until you get there, to buy your tickets. The
Internet has made it far easier than ever before to deal
directly, from home, with an agent in another country.
When, where, and for what types of tickets is it most likely
to be worth dealing with an agent in another country?
There are transaction costs (in money, time, and
convenience) associated with importing tickets from an agent
in another country, rather than dealing with one where you
are. (This remains true even if most of your dealings with
them are via the Internet.) For this reason, it is most
likely to be worth the extra effort and extra cost of
shipping tickets, etc. to get tickets from an agent in
another country if some or all of the following apply:
(A) You are in a country where there are few local
discounters, or where local discounters only handle simple
tickets. From Japan, for example, discounted short-stay
round-trip tickets to many destinations are available
locally, but almost no discounts are available locally on
one-way or multi-stop tickets. In particular, travelers who
are in, and whose flights will originate from, the United
States, the United Kingdom, or Australia, are unlikely to
get better prices buying individual tickets at retail from
agencies in other countries (although for around-the-world
and other multi-stop tickets the better agents in the USA,
UK, and Australia often include tickets that they buy and
import at wholesale prices from other countries).
(B) Your desired route is unusual and/or complex (e.g.
involves multiple stops, gaps in your desired flight
itinerary to be covered by surface transportation, and/or
does not end in the same place it begins).
(C) You have specialized and/or unusual interests or needs
that cannot be served by local agencies (e.g. you can't find
a discount agent in your country who knows anything about
travel for surfers or people who use wheelchairs, or whatever).
(D) Your tickets will be expensive. The more expensive the
tickets and distant the destination(s), obviously, the
greater the potential savings. It's rarely worth importing
tickets for travel within the same continent, for example.
There is no comprehensive list of discount agencies on the
Internet, and not all agents are set up to deal with
customers in other countries. Consolidators of one-way and
round-trip international tickets in most countries limit
their sales to customers in their own countries, and are
only beginning to implement the complex software required to
offer tickets online. (Most reservations software has been
developed by airlines who want you to pay more, and don't
want to make it easier to find consolidator tickets. Online
consolidator pricing and ticketing has proven much more
difficult that anyone who has attempted it has expected.)
There is no single site -- not even a bad one -- for
comparing prices from different consolidators in the USA.
Each online consolidator has a completely separate system
for their own prices only. (In the UK, Farebase,
, is an independent information
aggragator who offers online access to prices from several
dozen major UK consolidators. But the site doesn't enable
you to check availability -- i.e., the prices you are shown
may be sold out -- and it refers you to local UK agents of
varying competence, not the consolidators themselves. All
prices are in British Pounds, and most agents listed in
Farebase won't sell to customers outside the UK.)
What can you do if you *aren't* in a country like the USA,
UK, or Australia where there are plenty of local
consolidators? One source of listings for multi-destination
specialists willing to deal with customers in other
countries, neither comprehensive nor a guarantee of price,
service, or reliability (despite its efforts to ensure that
its members meet its standards), is the Association of
Special Fares Agents (ASFA), an international trade
association of discount agencies, . But
keep in mind what I said earlier: for round-trip tickets to
a single destination, the lowest prices are usually from
specialists in that particular destination, not from multi-
destination specialists like most of the ASFA members. And
for any tickets from the USA, UK, or Australia, the best
deals will usually be from discount retail agencies in those
countries.
How do bucket shops offer better prices for complex
international trips? For one thing, simple specialization.
Almost all air tickets sold in the USA are domestic round
trips (the majority) or the simplest international round
trips (mostly to resorts in the Caribbean, Mexico, or
perhaps Europe). I haven't the faintest idea what the price
of a package to Disney World is, and the agency I work for
does not handle domestic USA tickets or simple international
round trips. On the other hand, most agents have never
booked a ticket to Moscow in their life, and might get one
around-the-world customer a year. I get round-the-world
enquiries every day. "You need to go to Manila, Moscow, and
Paris? No problem. Of course, no airline flies directly from
Manila to Moscow, so the cheapest route would be as
follows..."
How do they get their fares? That's an extremely complex
question, which I can't answer fully both because (1) it
would take too long and (2) I can't divulge all my trade
secrets. I've tried to give an introduction in the section
above on "international airfares".
Bucket shops subvert the airline cartel conspiracy against
discounting in various ways. Airlines can contract with
wholesalers ("consolidators") to sell tickets at less than
published fares. The rules on routes, stopovers,
seasonality, etc. for these tickets are governed by the
contract, not by the rules for any published fare. Sometimes
bucket shops contract directly with airlines and sometimes
they buy and resell tickets from consolidators. Since the
goal of the airlines is to get each passenger to pay the
most they are willing to pay, airlines try to discount
tickets in such a way as to fill otherwise empty seats
rather than divert full-fare passengers to cheaper tickets.
Frequently, they restrict how consolidator tickets can be
advertised, such as forbidding mention of the name of the
airline or allowing the discount fare to be promoted only to
a particular geographic or ethnic market. It's common for
tickets to be most heavily discounted in a place far (even
on a different continent) from where the ticket either
begins or ends, so as not to depress the primary market. If
a consolidator fare is *too* successful, the airline will
raise the fare or terminate the contract. Many consolidators
won't deal directly with the public, and net fare tariffs
are confidential. One of the most important skills for a
bucket shop agent is having a feel for the wholesale ticket
market. It's one thing to ask your local agent to try to buy
you a consolidator ticket. It's quite another for the agent
to know who, and where, has the best price for what you
want.
Other consolidators, and some retail agencies (especially
those with a large volume on one airline to one destination,
such as those serving specialized ethnic markets) receive
more than the standard commission on some or all of the
published fares of a certain airline to certain
destinations. This is permitted by IATA rules. The
"incentive," "override," or "bonus" commission is officially
forbidden to be rebated to the customer, but of course is.
(In fact, bucket shops often end up with a smaller
commission, as a percentage of the selling price, than
normal agencies.) Figuring the actual price to the passenger
with such commission deals is particularly complex, since
one must satisfy all the conditions of both the published
fare and the commission deal. Net fare contracts usually
have much simpler rules. (For example, the cheapest ticket
may be issued at a higher fare that also has a higher
commission. For this reason, and because net fare tickets
usually carry the "full" fare as their official price, the
"face value" of a ticket need bear no relation to the price
paid. All else being equal, the *higher* the face value of
the ticket the better, since in general high-value tickets
are more readily changed, rerouted, etc.)
Finally, the bucket shop business is global. Your local
travel agent might buy from a domestic consolidator, but
they WON'T import your ticket from overseas (and probably
have no idea that it is even possible), even if that would
be much cheaper. The major bucket shops around the world
regularly buy from and sell to each other. Costs of DHL and
international faxes are less than the wide international
variations in ticket prices.
There's a lot more to it (especially in constructing routes
and connections, which no CRS does well for complex
international routes), but much of the role of a bucket shop
is that of a ticket broker, buying for its retail customers
on the world wholesale ticket market. Most bucket shop
tickets, if you inspect the validation, are not issued by
the bucket shop itself.
If you already knew exactly where to buy them, you could
often get a slightly better price directly. But the odds are
you couldn't find the best deal for yourself -- the whole
system is *deliberately* stacked against just that.
Round-the-world tickets are the epitome of the bucket shop
agent's art. Don't be fooled by published around-the-world
fares. They restrict you to the extremely limited routes of
just one or two airlines. Only rarely are they the best
deal; to put it another way, only the rare itinerary can be
shoehorned into such a fare without mangling it. Most
around-the-world itineraries can be best and most cheaply
ticketed as a series of one way tickets from point to point.
Constructing a round-the-world fare requires both deciding
at what points to break the circle into segments and getting
the best price for each segment (where each ticket may
actually, with stopovers, cover several legs of the
journey). On top of that, most people aren't sure when they
start planning a round-the-world trip exactly what stops
they want, or in what order. Good round-the-world agents are
rare, even in bucket shops -- but your average travel agent
doesn't even know where to begin.
Bucket shop reliability varies. Caveat emptor. They tend to
be wheeler-dealers, and of necessity they cut their margins
thin. Find out how long they've been around. Check them out
with the Better Business Bureau. Go to their office in
person, if you can. If it's worth it to your peace of mind,
pay by credit card so you can refuse the charge if you don't
get your tickets. You'll probably be surcharged 2-5% for
using a credit card, but it's simple, cheap, and effective
insurance.
One thing not to believe is favorable references. Except
for complete frauds, even rip-off agencies have satisfied
customers.
The test is what they do when things go wrong. For what
it's worth, I have yet to encounter a completely fraudulent
bucket shop, and most are pretty reliable. But you have to
recognize that you can't expect the best service at the
lowest price. It's especially important to remember that
fares change constantly and that no estimate is certain
until the tickets are actually issued. (Amazingly, airlines
claim the right to increase fares even after tickets are
issued, but I've never seen them do so.)
Be especially cautious about buying tickets from a
"sub-agent" or an agency which is not accredited by the
International Airline Travel Agents' Network (IATAN) and, in
the USA, the Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC). Sub-agents
and non-ARC/IATAN agents cannot issue any of their own
tickets, but must purchase them all from other agencies,
wholesalers, or the airlines. Since the basic qualifications
for ARC and IATAN appointment are proof of financial means
and ticketing experience, non-ARC/IATAN agents are, by
definition, inexperienced, under-financed, or both.
If you have any doubt, you should try to check directly with
the airlines, immediately before paying for your tickets, to
make sure that you are holding confirmed reservations. This
is not always possible, as some of your flights may be on
airlines that have no representation in the country in which
you are buying your tickets. (Don't try to request seat
assignments or other special services, or enter frequent
flyer numbers, until after you have your tickets in hand.
Just verify that you have reservations on the flights you
want. Some special prices forbid or restrict things like
advance seat assignments or frequent flyer mileage credit,
and by requesting such things prior to ticketing you could
cause your reservations to be canceled or render your
reservations ineligible for the special fare.)
If a travel agent has placed you on a waiting list, you may
be able to improve your chances of getting confirmed by
calling the airline yourself to ask them to confirm you from
the waiting list. Do not be surprised, and do not argue, if
the airline mentions that the reservation was made by an
agency other than the one you dealt with. It may have been
necessary or required for your agent to make the booking
through a wholesaler either as a condition of the fare or to
use "block" space held by another agent or wholesaler on an
otherwise sold-out flight.
9. MAKING RESERVATIONS
Contrary to some ill-advised recommendations that have been
widely distributed on the Net, you should *not* make
reservations directly with the airline and then try to shop
around for the best price at which to have them ticketed.
Nor should you make reservations with more than one travel
agency.
Doing this reduces your chances of getting the best price,
or of getting confirmed on the flights you want, and may
result in all your reservations being entirely canceled
without prior warning. More and more airlines have
implemented auto-cancellation software for duplicate
bookings.
There are many booking classes, and there is no way you can
tell in which class to make reservations for the cheapest
fare. The cheapest published fare may be booked in one
class, the cheapest discounted fare in another. Different
discounters may have different contracts requiring bookings
in different classes.
Even some airlines that have only one coach booking class
require reservations for special fares to be made only by
agents either directly with the airline, through designated
consolidators, or in special booking classes which are not
listed in the OAG and whose existence the airlines won't
even admit to retail callers.
Travel agents can more easily prioritize you on the waiting
list if they make the reservations for you. Most airlines
have at least two, usually three, levels of waiting lists.
Names on the regular waiting list -- the only one on which
you can place yourself directly -- are considered for
confirmation only after all names on the priority list -- on
which travel agents can place you -- and the highest
priority list, on which you can be placed only by special
request by the airline itself. Waitlist clearance requests
are more likely to be acted on if they come from the travel
agent than the passenger, especially as different airlines
have different procedures and the travel agent knows best
from whom at the airline to request prioritization.
If a travel agent makes reservations for you, they may be
able to use "block" space held by them, by the airline, or
by a consolidator for all or part of your itinerary. This
may be difficult or impossible if you have already made
reservations for all or part of your itinerary, since many
airlines prohibit or restrict the combining of reservation
records ("split PNR's).
Finally, some airlines refuse even to consider for
confirmation passengers holding more than one reservation;
some airlines will automatically cancel all reservations,
whether or not confirmed, of anyone found to be holding
multiple bookings. It is thus imperative that, if you have
already made reservations, you advise your travel agent(s)
of this immediately. If you don't, the agent may make
another booking for you, and both may be canceled. Give the
agent the airline with which you made the reservations, the
record locator, the exact name(s), airline(s), date(s),
flight number(s), and booking class(es). Do *not* assume
that all coach reservations are made (or should be made for
the cheapest price) in "Y" class, even if "Y" is the only
coach class shown in the OAG, Travelocity, or the airline's
own timetable.
Most CRS's do not permit an agent to retrieve, by record
locator, a record booked by you directly with an airline, so
don't expect them to be able to do so. For this reason it
will be more difficult for an agent to assist you with
special meals, seat assignments, boarding passes, or in the
event of schedule changes or changes in your plans, if you
did not make the reservations through that agent. In short,
it only makes work for both you and your agent not to make
your reservations through your agent.
Airfares are an intrinsically complex system, and much of
that system is deliberately obscure. There are so simple,
easy answers to some of the most frequently-asked questions.
I've tried to strike a balance in this FAQ between
simplicity and completeness. If you still have questions,
especially questions not answered in my books, please let me
know. I can't answer requests for referrals to specific
travel agencies for specific destinations (lest I be held
liable for the performance of other agencies over which I
have no control), nor will I provide lists of wholesale
consolidators (they already get harassed by enough retail
customers pretending to be travel agents in order to try to
get wholesale prices, and supplier networks are valuable
trade secrets in any industry). I and the agency I work for
only handle around-the-world and other multi-stop
international ticketing, but I welcome other questions and
suggestions for future versions of this FAQ.
Bon voyage!
Edward Hasbrouck
10. CONTACTING THE FAQ-MAINTAINER
This FAQ is written and maintained by Edward Hasbrouck.
Edward Hasbrouck
1130 Treat Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
telephone/fax +1-415-824-0214
I wear several related hats, as follows:
(A) author of:
"The Practical Nomad Guide to the Online Travel Marketplace"
"The Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World"
(B) author and maintainer of the FAQ that you are reading:
"Airline Tickets Consolidators and Bucket Shops FAQ"
(C) travel consultant:
AirTreks.com
(AirTreks.com is a service of High Adventure Travel, Inc.,
the oldest and largest travel agency in the Americas
specializing exclusively in around-the-world and other
multi-destination international tickets.)
(c) copyright 1991-2001 Edward Hasbrouck
The HTML version of this FAQ was converted with AscToHTM,
courtesy of John A. Fotheringham, .
--------
"Freedom and power bring responsibility"
(Jawaharlal Nehru, midnight, 14 August 1947)
