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Warm Passport
Cheap Charlie · September 18, 2000

It's getting difficult to be cheap with the airlines these days. They just don 't even give you enough time. Heck, even a writer with his eye out for cheap airfares can't write about bargain airfares these days unless he has a daily column.

I returned home last Tuesday after a weekend trip to find the Wall Street Journal waiting for me. After being gone for five days, and away from newspapers, it would be nice to catch up on the world. Flipping through the paper I came across a US Airways advertisement stating, "Keep your passport warm." Mine was.

The next line in the ad really caught my interest. It read, "Warm up fall and winter fares to Europe starting at $154…valid for travel between October 1 and October 31." All right, finally the end-of-summer sales that I could pass along to my readers. Wrong.

I kept reading. There was the normal stuff such as, "fares are each way based on required roundtrip purchase." and "purchase online at … and you'll receive an additional 5% off."

There was also another surprising kicker, "Book now. Sale ends August 25th."

I looked at my calendar. I was reading this sale ad on August 22nd and the sale ends on August 25th. I realized they were selling trips to Europe that had to be purchased within 80 hours. If I had received the newspaper at midnight, I would have only had 96 hours to respond.

I pondered the situation. Heck, by the time I could get another column up online, the sale would be over. Heck, that's my problem. Then I wondered to whom in the world this advertisement was directed. Every ad has a target audience.

Just whom are the airlines trying to reach with these ads? I figure these full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal cost a chunk of change … more than most of us make after a year of hard work. How many of us are sitting around with a warm passport wondering what we will be doing in October and, by happenstance, come across this ad and can make a virtually immediate decision.

Seasoned travelers all know that every other airline will sell flights to the same destination for exactly the same price within minutes of this advertisement appearing. Therefore there is really no advantage to US Airways, since this advertisement that came out of their marketing budget becomes an announcement of an across-the-airlines airfare-of-the-half-week.

I'm convinced that the airlines are fostering our gambling instincts. Very few, travelers can make a decision on taking a European vacation in 96 hours. US Airways is obviously aiming at the person who has already decided to fly to Europe in October, but has not purchased a ticket-a gambler waiting for the last-minute bargain.

I know that when I'm getting ready to purchase an airline ticket for a European flight, I feel like I'm pulling the handle on a slot machine. If I happen to be in the right place at the right time and the stars are properly aligned, I'll win a jackpot and get a super-low airfare.

I feel a bit like a gambler checking his number when I get my Internet airfare emails every Wednesday that tempt me with slashed weekend fares to who-knows-where. But that is part of the fun about it. There is suspense, surprise and a happy serendipitous bargain at the end.

But those fun Internet fares are for spur-of-the-moment weekend jaunts, not for a trip to Europe. Even on the Internet, most of the "last-minute spur-of-the-moment" Internet international specials are for flights with about a ten-day advanced purchase.

Hey, it's nice to know that last week US Airways, and everyone else, was offering roundtrip flights in October between Philadelphia and London for $308 or between Chicago and Madrid for only $498. Cool. Or as Austin Powers says, "Groovy baby."

Cheap, I am. But I'm obviously not your audience. Who is?

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 cheapch@aol.com or access his Web site.