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In Search of Low Fares
Cheap Charlie · October 31, 2002

It all started when my girlfriend noticed an Aer Lingus ad proclaiming, "Ireland for $99."

The fine print brought a bit of reality to this figure by noting that the fares were each way based on round-trip purchase, prior to such-and-such a date, and between such-and-such dates. And, of course, in the new airline advertising chic, all taxes were stripped from the offer. In the end the entire trip would cost in the range of $250 per person round trip - still an amazing fare. The seed of travel had been firmly planted in her mind.

She noted in a casual conversational tone, "I can take a week off work in early November."

Which to any normal person listening carefully, "I want to go to Ireland, or somewhere in November. Why don't we go?"

My reaction was, "Who wants to go to Ireland in November? Let's look into Rome."

And so began an interesting trip through today's fare playground. This exercise underscored the need to check with as many of the Internet fare options as possible.

I started by going to Expedia, normally my first stop. There I found what would prove ultimately to be my lowest fare - $360 round trip! But, I didn't take it. I still wasn't sure whether I could convince my girlfriend that wandering through the sunny streets of Rome and Naples would be more enjoyable than spending a week huddled in the pubs of Dublin, Cork and Limerick.

But the new price was enough to really get things moving. Her reaction was, "Wonderful, let's do it."

I immediately went back to Expedia to snatch the British Airways tickets to Rome, but, alas, they were no longer there. Fares now had jumped to $420 or so.

I went to check with Orbitz and found the lowest fare was also $420 on US Airways. But, I really don't need any more US Airways frequent flyer miles. I'm convinced that the airline will not be around much longer. Plus, even though I am an elite-level frequent flyer with US Airways, they will not allow me to upgrade from a low fare to business class whether the section is full or not. US Airways was not in the mix as far as I was concerned. The next fares jumped dramatically to more than $500.

I checked with Travelocity, Continental, Northwest, Delta, British Airways, Alitalia, Swiss, American, Lufthansa and again with Expedia ... all were showing fares of more than $500. The original British Airways offer of $360 found on Expedia was never repeated or matched during my searches that afternoon. Bummer.

The next morning I started the search once again. I know that new fares are loaded into the system overnight. Lo and behold, on Orbitz I found a Boston-Rome-Boston airfare for only $395. That was close enough for me.

Since anyone who reads this column, knows my love of Orbitz, I shifted to the Continental site to make my reservations. There I met a roadblock. The least-expensive Continental fare was more than $500.

I called the Continental help line and asked, "Why don't you have the same fares on your site as I can fine on Orbitz?"

They replied, "That fare is not all on Continental aircraft or our co-branded flights. We can't make those reservations."

I went back to Orbitz and scrutinized the fare that was quoted. It had me flying from Boston to Newark and then onward to Rome on Continental. But, the return was from Rome to London on Alitalia with a connection in London to a Virgin Atlantic flight back to Boston. Amazing.

This was the first time I had seen such a ticketing structure combining three different airlines resulting in a fare that was more than $100 less expensive than the preponderance of other lowest fares. These airlines don't even share frequent flyer programs.

I even went to Hotwire at that point to check fares. The $395 fare wasn't beaten on that site either. So, Orbitz it was, and still is.

After making reservations, paying and receiving my tickets, I called Continental to submit my frequent flyer number. I gave them my Continental OnePass number and my girlfriend's Northwest Worldperks number.

The agent thanked me and asked of I had any other questions. I asked her, "Will these frequent flyer numbers work for all of the flights? These flights are on three different airlines and I don't think you are all partners."

The agent informed me that the transatlantic portions from Boston to Rome and then from London to Boston (Continental code-shares with Virgin Atlantic) would be credited, however the Alitalia flight from Rome to London had to be registered with someone else. She didn't know whom. I'm assuming that I can get Delta miles for that leg.

That is the story of a very strange ticket that came through Orbitz. I like the price, but don't really understand how it was created. That is grist for a future column. And my story, once again, underlines the need to check with as many different Internet fare providers. Each works with different pricing matrixes.

For my rental car, it is easy. I use AutoEurope. They guarantee the best rates and that saves a lot of time on the Web.

Now, I'm off later tonight to enjoy the Eternal City and the Bay of Naples. In a week I'll come back to reality.

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 leocha@aol.com or access his Web site.