Never even occurred to me it would happen with a CSR - I envisioned it would be in Expedia or something - You'd click the "match best fare on AA" button and the computer would talk to AA's computer and choose whether to match the best fare. The AA flight might route through DFW as opposed to DEN or whatever, but you'd get the fare.

I suspect this is where most of this 'pick the best fare' stuff is going on - In online bookings engines where all the options are presented. For people who still to TAs, Saber (Sabre?) could offer the TA the same option.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada