New Ticket Rule
Cuts the Cost
To Fly Overseas

Airline Group Allows Access
To Cheap Fares Offered Abroad;
Dallas to Istanbul for $900 Less
By AVERY JOHNSON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 27, 2005; Page D1

A little-noticed rule change is making it easier for travelers to get cheaper tickets on some international flights.

Under the new procedures, it is possible for travelers to benefit from the fact that some tickets cost substantially less when bought overseas. Previously, airlines had a system that kept many of these lower prices off-limits for travelers trying to book overseas flights -- you had to physically go to, say, Thailand, to get the cheaper Thai price.

But on Jan. 15, an airline trade group discarded that system, putting the new ticketing guidelines into effect.

THE MIDDLE SEAT




Take a look at the ups and downs of airlines and travel with Scott McCartney.



The change has had an immediate impact on fares. For example, the lowest price on American Airlines for a Dallas-Istanbul business-class round-trip via Zurich used to be $6,946, not including taxes. Now, however, a traveler can book the same trip as two one-way tickets (instead of one round-trip), and pay $6,047, undercutting the listed round-trip price by about $900. That wasn't possible before, because travelers buying outside Istanbul would have been charged the higher Zurich-Dallas fare by default.

It is a potentially risky move for the airlines, which long have carefully priced international tickets based on a complex system that factors in currency exchange rates, demographics and what they think certain markets will bear. Throwing the system open so that a buyer in London can get a ticket priced for a buyer in Bombay is "like a turkey voting for Thanksgiving," says Andy Newman, distribution manager for British Airways in North America.

However, the airlines and their trade group decided to revisit the ticket-pricing restriction amid booming ticket sales online, where it is tougher for airlines to keep track of where a customer is buying a ticket in the first place. On top of that, the airlines are eager to sell more tickets through their own Web sites instead of third-party vendors, which often slice off a sales commission. Removing the codes makes it easier for the airlines to sell the tickets online to passengers, regardless of where they are located.

FINDING THE DEALS



� Some of the best deals can be found on itineraries that include connections overseas.

� Booking a trip as two one-way tickets (instead of one round-trip) can turn up savings.

� The lowest prices generally appear on long-haul routes to destinations such as Southeast Asia.




For travelers, however, the window of opportunity to take advantage of the ticketing discrepancies may close fairly quickly. Already, some airlines are starting to adjust some of their one-way pricing, particularly out of Europe, to eliminate the bargains, says Robert Laney of Firstair, a company that for eight years has been buying cheaper tickets overseas to sell to U.S. travelers. Lufthansa, for example, says it is considering writing new restrictions to keep some fares for sale only in certain countries.

Airlines aren't required to use the new procedures, which took effect Jan. 15 on the recommendation of the International Air Transport Association, after a vote by members of the trade group of 270 carriers that sets guidelines on a wide range of matters -- ticket printing to baggage handling. Specifically, the airlines voted to eliminate a printed code on the ticket that showed where tickets were bought, which previously enabled carriers to charge different prices to different markets, and a consumer would pay the higher price when buying the ticket outside the country where travel originated. IATA's members also did away with a restriction that charged much more for flights with connections through some international hubs.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1...%5Fcolumn%5Fhs

The WSJ was a bit slow on the uptake here. It has been discussed for two weeks, with a link to the official IATA site in the original post, in this thread in (IMHO more appropriate) TravelBuzz:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=389413

As this is not "Miles" and "Points" specific. and has been covered elsewhere. I'm closing here.

Craig6z
Moderator