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(c) Elliott Publishing.

Good Luck, BizTravel
Cheap Charlie · July 31, 2000

Any cheapskate has to love the BizTravel.com "guarantee." If you are booking airline tickets BizTravel is making an offer that is hard to refuse.

Do it sooner than later because I am sure that this can't last.

The offer is generous and has been heralded as a throwing down of the gauntlet to the rest of the online travel industry. If BizTravel can do it, conventional knowledge has it that everyone else will as well. Don't hold your breath waiting for copycat suicide attempts.

BizTravel has got to be smoking something stronger than a Havana left over from a White House cigar party. They are basing most of their guarantee on factors that are completely beyond their control. Not only are the factors beyond their control, they are factors that have been bedeviling the airline industry for years without a solution.

My best wishes follow BizTravel but my own common sense says, "Kiss your money goodbye." I hope they manage to stay in business.

Here is the deal; catch it while you can. Remember these refunds are only available for tickets purchased through BizTravel and must be applied for through BizTravel.

Airline flight guarantees: $100 for flights arriving 30 minutes late $200 for flights arriving 1 hour late Complete refund for flights arriving more than 2 hours late Complete refunds for cancelled flights $25 refund when seat assignment not honored $25 refund when choice of entrée not available in First Class or Business Class Up to $200 for incidentals when luggage is lost.

These guarantees are good on all American, United, US Airways, British Airways, Air France and Continental flights.

The BizTravel Service Guarantees $10 for slow phone answering (more than 90 seconds) $10 payment for slow e-mail response (within two hours) $10 payment for slow on-line chat response $10 payment for slow call-back service (must be within 10 minutes) $50 payment for slow response to a customer service inquiry (more than 48 hours) $50 payment for unprofessional travel services associate $25 payment for non-receipt of ticket (if the address is correct in the data base)

Make your claim within 24 hours of the occurrence of the problem.

Best of luck BizTravel. If you can do it, others will follow, but I believe this is folly to tie your future to good airline service that is continually diminishing. It is a dangerous form of Russian roulette.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at charlie@ticked.com or access his Web site.