Airline Tickets

I read about inexpensive airline tickets that are available through "consolidators. " How does one find a consolidator to check on these prices? A consolidator buys unsold airline seats in bulk from scheduled airlines, then resells them to the public at deeply discounted prices. There is no association of consolidators, nor is there a listing under the heading if you check the Yellow Pages. Most consolidators are local in scope and tend to be fairly recent additions to the sales scheme.

Question: I planned a once-in-a-lifetime trip for my two children and me to South Africa. I used a travel agency to book the airline tickets. My travel agent told me the flight was on American Airlines. As the date got closer, I called American and was told the booking was there but hadn't been paid for. I immediately confirmed and paid for the reservation. When I called my travel agent, I found out they had changed the flight arrangements to British Airways. I called American Airlines less than 24 hours later to cancel the reservation I had made.

Beginning next year, travelers will be able to walk up to a new kind of device - strikingly similar to a bank automated-teller machine (ATM) - and purchase an airline ticket. If the new Travel Teller Plus ticket-delivery system works as its owners plan, about 1,000 of the machines will be installed in airports nationwide over the next four years. An additional 4,000 machines eventually will be churning out tickets in many of the same kind of places where consumers look for bank ATMs, including office-building lobbies, shopping centers, branch banks and supermarkets, according to Travel Teller Inc. Travel Teller, the Phoenix company that will be selling and installing the machines in cooperation with travel agencies, says its device actually changes only a small part of the airline ticketing process - how a passenger takes physical delivery of a ticket.

The idea of businesspeople banding together to buy supplies in bulk so they get a volume discount is hardly new. A century ago, American farmers began doing so with grain cooperatives, many of them still in existence today, that bought large quantities of seed and resold it to co-op members. In the airline industry, the world's largest carriers are forming marketing and service alliances with one another. Among their reasons, some airlines have said, is that the partnerships enable them to buy everything from jet fuel to packs of peanuts in larger volumes to save money.

Following the rules for using airline tickets can be tricky. Just ask Franklin H. Littell, a clergyman, and his wife, Marcia Sachs Littell, a teacher, who live in Merion Station. Their recent experience provides a buyer-beware warning about what can happen to the value of an airline ticket if you get erroneous information from airline personnel over the phone. The Littells traveled extensively over the years to religious conferences and speaking engagements, building up miles in United Airlines' Mileage Plus frequent-flier program.

Travelers flying Pan Am are being offered free accommodations again this year at 400 lodgings in Britain, France and Ireland. To qualify, guests must dine (breakfast and dinner) at the bed-and-breakfasts, inns, hotels and manor houses that participate in the program. Other benefits are 50 percent reductions at 500 restaurants. Hotels and restaurants are described in a directory, and coupons provided are good for up to 15 nights at the various properties (London excluded). Requests for a directory and coupons must be made before airline tickets are issued.

I CAN'T BELIEVE Jocelyn Kirsch, charged in the ID-theft case, has a mental illness. Did she have this illness while she allegedly stole credit cards from hapless victims? She didn't have a problem getting airline tickets to travel to faraway places from a ticket rep who didn't find anything wrong with her. Was she ill while with her boyfriend, having a good time having sex in her hotel at the victims' expense? Now that she's been caught, she's diagnosed with so-called mental illness, thanks to a cooked-up sheme just to get her out of jail.

A 22-year-old Bensalem Township man who found an extra $69,300 mistakenly deposited into his bank account surrendered today on charges he spent most of the money. Police said Joseph Bucci, of the 3300 block West End Avenue in Trevose, used the money to buy food, clothing, furniture, a vehicle, airline tickets and a pet dog. Bucci was charged with theft and receiving stolen property, both third-degree felonies. Police said Wells Fargo accidentally deposited the money in his account but by the time the bank discovered the error, he only had $2,000 remaining.

Under the rules for government travel, federal employees are required to fly coach unless their flight is 14 hours or longer. But the Government Accountability Office found a more casual rule in practice by many federal employees: Fly first-class whenever you can get away with it. A draft report by the GAO shows that federal employees wasted at least $146 million in one year by purchasing first-class or business-class airline tickets in...

Three men accused of selling stolen airline tickets out of an Upper Darby travel agency were granted reduced bails at a hearing yesterday but were unable to get out of prison because the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service issued detainers for them. Irfan Shams Chaudhry, 29, Imran Shams, 35, and Abdul Awan, 40 - all Pakistani immigrants who live in Brooklyn, N.Y. - had been scheduled to appear yesterday at a hearing in District Court on charges of theft, receiving stolen property, deceptive business practices and conspiracy.

WASHINGTON - For many passengers, air travel is only about finding the cheapest fare. But as airlines offer a proliferating list of add-on services, from early boarding to premium seating and baggage fees, the ability to comparison-shop for the lowest total fare is eroding. Global distribution systems that supply flight and fare data to travel agents and online ticketing services like Orbitz and Expedia, accounting for half of all U.S. airline tickets, complain that airlines won't provide fee information in a way that lets them make it handy for consumers trying to find the best deal.

A 22-year-old Bensalem Township man who found an extra $69,300 mistakenly deposited into his bank account surrendered today on charges he spent most of the money. Police said Joseph Bucci, of the 3300 block West End Avenue in Trevose, used the money to buy food, clothing, furniture, a vehicle, airline tickets and a pet dog. Bucci was charged with theft and receiving stolen property, both third-degree felonies. Police said Wells Fargo accidentally deposited the money in his account but by the time the bank discovered the error, he only had $2,000 remaining.

Question: I planned a once-in-a-lifetime trip for my two children and me to South Africa. I used a travel agency to book the airline tickets. My travel agent told me the flight was on American Airlines. As the date got closer, I called American and was told the booking was there but hadn't been paid for. I immediately confirmed and paid for the reservation. When I called my travel agent, I found out they had changed the flight arrangements to British Airways. I called American Airlines less than 24 hours later to cancel the reservation I had made.

DREXEL JUNIOR DAN PYNE leaves Monday for Erzurum, Turkey, where he'll take part in the Winter World University Games as a member of the U.S. men's national ice hockey team. Turkey? Might he bump into another athlete with Philadelphia ties? A guy who plays basketball named Allen Iverson? "I thought about that, but I had enough of him when he was in Philly," Pyne said with a laugh last night. The 21-year-old goalie is a dual marketing/entrepreneur major. Three years ago he helped lead La Salle High to the state title.

Question: I need your help with a vacation to St. Kitts that was missing a key component: our airline tickets. I had paid Expedia $2,521 for the package, which was supposed to include airfare from Cleveland. But when I arrived at the airport, I discovered that our tickets hadn't been issued. I had received an e-mail from Expedia the day before, confirming our reservations. I called Expedia's customer service department, which asked me to buy new tickets. Expedia agreed to reimburse me the difference between the package price and the tickets, which came to $871.

Question: I'm hoping you can help me. I read your column, and I really believe you are my last option. My family and I were scheduled to visit Walt Disney World for six nights this spring. However, life got complicated when our daughter ran away. We called police and reported her a runaway, and then canceled our vacation. She had not come home, and the police suggested we not leave the state while our minor child was missing. While I realize the running away of minor children is not a listed excuse for travel cancellation, how can it not be a bona fide reason?

The lure of lush tropical vistas and free airfare might have scammed more than $100 million from Pennsylvania residents, the state Attorney General's Office said yesterday. Attorney General Tom Corbett filed consumer-protection lawsuits against four subsidiaries of the Florida-based Bluegreen Corp., an $8 billion business that launched an aggressive and deceptive statewide campaign to market time-shares, said Nils Frederiksen, Corbett's deputy press secretary. "It's the largest and most wide-reaching, vacation-related scheme that anyone here can recall," said Frederiksen, who cited the $100 million plus as the likely loss to Pennsylvanians.

The head of US Airways dropped by The Inquirer while he was in town a couple of weeks back. If only he had come this week, after I had spent 14 hours trying to fly from Chicago to Philadelphia. He would have gotten an earful from me. Violent storms caused much of my flight delays; nothing the airlines can do about the weather. But three of my flights - two on American Airlines, one on US Airways - were either delayed or canceled because of announced equipment malfunctions.

I CAN'T BELIEVE Jocelyn Kirsch, charged in the ID-theft case, has a mental illness. Did she have this illness while she allegedly stole credit cards from hapless victims? She didn't have a problem getting airline tickets to travel to faraway places from a ticket rep who didn't find anything wrong with her. Was she ill while with her boyfriend, having a good time having sex in her hotel at the victims' expense? Now that she's been caught, she's diagnosed with so-called mental illness, thanks to a cooked-up sheme just to get her out of jail.

Under the rules for government travel, federal employees are required to fly coach unless their flight is 14 hours or longer. But the Government Accountability Office found a more casual rule in practice by many federal employees: Fly first-class whenever you can get away with it. A draft report by the GAO shows that federal employees wasted at least $146 million in one year by purchasing first-class or business-class airline tickets in...