"20/20" Finds Best Fares Through Agent

NEW YORK -- Air travelers often can save money using "Six Secrets to Cheap Air Fares" and by booking through a travel agent, a segment of the ABC network news show "20/20" reported.

The show, which aired on Jan. 19, detailed inconsistencies in airline pricing policies using a quiz-show style format called Beat the Fare. Using several examples, Terry Trippler, a former agent who publishes Minneapolis-based Airfare Report and who appeared on the show, consistently found lower fares in an agency computerized reservations system for the same flights that "20/20" reporter Arnold Diaz obtained quotes for using the airlines' 800 numbers.

Continental, Delta and Northwest were among the carriers used in the Beat the Fare examples.

In one case, Diaz sought a ticket on Delta from Minneapolis to Lexington, Ky., and was quoted a fare of $732 for two people traveling together. Trippler, using a companion fare found in the CRS, could have booked the same Delta flight for $373.56 per couple.

In another example, Diaz was quoted a $1,687 fare on Northwest for a Los Angeles-Detroit routing. Trippler, using Lansing, Mich., as an alternate airport -- 90 minutes by car from Detroit -- found a fare of $393.

In an interview following the show, Trippler told Travel Weekly that he began working with "20/20" producers last November, and he was filmed for the show last month.

The program did not address back-to-back ticketing, which Trippler said was particularly disappointing because "['20/20'] got United to book a back-to-back on camera. I told them how important the back-to-back issue is, but in the end it's in their hands. [The show] said back-to-backs would be too hard to explain to consumers."

However, the "20/20" report did describe hidden-city ticketing, which is another way to reduce travel costs that raises some of the same issues as back-to-backs. As Diaz told viewers, the practice of booking a two-leg journey but disembarking after the first leg is regarded as a violation of a contract with the airline; consumers argue that tickets are not contracts but products they can buy and use as they wish. However, he warned, using this approach can be risky and some agents have faced carrier disciplinary action for providing these fares to clients.

Trippler said he was talking with "20-20" producers about a follow-up segment.

The other three "secrets" that can result in lower fares, according to "20/20," were:

Additionally, the news show detailed a list of Department of Transportation fines levied against dozens of carriers for violations in print advertisements.

The "20-20" segment concluded with a statement by co-host Hugh Downs, who told viewers, "A good travel agent can do better than you can."