 1 active am. travel club
 2 companion tickets
 3 coupons for seniors
 4 Around-the-World Ticket
 5 TRYING TO MUDDLE YOUR WAY TO LOWER FARES etc
 6 weekend
 7 airline upgrades
 8 visit usa
 10 tips

Standby= A discounted ticket that lets you fly only if there's a seat available at the last moment and are available only at the airport. It's on first come first served, get there early and get listed.

\1

AA/001 AActive Amer Tvl Club 800-421-5600  NYT 8/10/97 Buy tkts 14 days adv. Tkts can be chng $50, 14 days Adv. * $60yr with varying partners. $40yr

\2 companion tickets

Many airlines are now offering free or cheap companion tickets. Northwest currently has certificates which will allow a companion to fly at a reduced price ($199 round trip between the east and west coast, cheaper between shorter hauls). Travel must be completed by 1/15/94, 

Saturday night stay is required, and there are a lot of holiday period blackout dates. Companion earns frequent flier miles. Continental offers a deal to their One pass members where for $50 you can get a package which includes 5000 miles and a $99 RT companion ticket certificate. 

There may be some blackout dates on the certificate, but I was able to use this around Christmas time. Companion earns frquent flier miles. TWA is currently offering promotions by which it is possible to fly with them and get a free companion ticket certificate valid some months in 1994.

\3 coupons

Airline Coupons For Seniors Most of the major US airlines offer seniors discount travel coupon books which inc four or eight coupons, each good for one flt within the conUS. While there are some variations among the pgms, most sell a book of four coupons for about $560, and some also sell books of eight coupons for about $1000. The coupons are valid for one year and are avail to tvlers 62+.

Two coupons are usually reqd for flts to Alaska and Hawaii. Restrictions vary by airline and are subject to change as are prices at any time. All flights taken with airline coupons earn frequent flyer mileage, however, most are not eligible for free upgrades. You'll obviously get the best value out of these coupons by using them for more expensive fares and in between fare sales.

America West  800-235-9292 4 coupons $549 Valid to all U.S. cities served by America West.

American Airlines 800-237-7981 4 coupons $697 ConUS, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. Two coupons needed for Hawaii.

Continental 800-248-8996 4 coupons $579 8 coupons $1079 All U.S. cities, two coupons needed for Alaska & Hawaii. 

Delta 800-221-1212 4 coupons $596 U.S., Canada, St. Thomas, St. Croix and Puerto Rico. Two coupons needed for Alaska and Hawaii.

Northwest 800-225-2525 4 coupons $540 U.S. and Canada. Two coupons needed for Alaska and Hawaii.

TWA 800-221-2000 4 coupons $548 8 coupons $1032 Inc a coupon for a 20% discount off a round-trip intl flt. Valid for tvl in conUS. Two coupons needed for Hawaii.

United  800-241-6522 4 coupons $596 Valid in North America including the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Two coupons needed for Alaska and Hawaii. United coupons are good for one year.

USAIR  800-428-4322 4 coupons $579 ConUS, Canada and Puerto Rico. Up to two children 2-11 years of age may travel with you using the same coupon book.

\4 Around-the-World Ticket
 More Americans than ever are setting off on extended global jaunts, and a number of travel agents are catering to them. By CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS, NYT Tvl Writer
  While you sit home on a Sunday, scanning these pages and waiting for another workaday week to arrive, a few of your neighbors and co-workers are laying altogether different plans. Around-the-world plans. 
     Specialists in the field of round-the-world air fare planning say more Americans than ever are setting off on these global treks--including at least 650 departures per month through the three leading discount agencies in the field. 
     These travelers' itineraries generally range from one month to one year. Their air fares usually run $1,200 to $2,200. And their demographics have never been more diverse. Consider these case studies: 
     * In Seattle on May 6, a couple of early-30s computer-company workers, having secured leaves of absence, will board a London flight. Then they will go by land to Istanbul, by air to Egypt and South Africa, by land to Zimbabwe. Then on to Mauritius, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Cook Islands, Tahiti and LAX, returning to Seattle in June 2000 after 13 months. Their air fares are about $3,600 each, spread among seven airlines. 
     Travel agent Nicholas Kontis, whose San Francisco company booked the trip, reports that the Seattle couple's overall budget calls for a mix of luxurious and spartan lodgings and works out to $20,000--about $50 per day. 
     * In San Francisco on July 2, a single, self-employed woman in her mid-40s will board a transpacific flight to Bali, Indonesia, then continue by land to Jakarta, Indonesia. Then Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, India (New Delhi, Cochin and Bombay), Egypt and--disdaining Europe entirely--a transatlantic flight back to San Francisco. She returns shortly before Christmas, after a little more than five months. 
     "The majority of our travelers are doing this as a couple," says her San Francisco travel agent, Edward Hasbrouck. "But we get almost as many solo women as men."

     * In New York on May 1, a couple of 29-year-olds will set aside their jobs in finance and board a flight to London. Then they'll cross Europe by land and board another plane from Greece to Turkey. Then to Jordan, then India and Nepal and Thailand and Indonesia and Australia (Brisbane and Melbourne) and New Zealand and Fiji and Los Angeles. The air fares for their six-month itinerary come to just over $3,000 each. 
     "I don't know if they've given notice or taken a leave," says Hasbrouck, who booked this trip too. "But these are just the sort of people you'd think wouldn't be doing this." 
     The typical round-the-world customer these days, Kontis says, is "anybody 18 to 80. It's not a bunch of kids bumming around the world. Kids don't have [enough] money." 
     Hasbrouck notes the growing numbers of self-employed and contract workers who are no longer limited to two or three vacation weeks yearly. Eimerd Evertsen, yet another San Francisco around-the-world specialist, recalls that when he started booking tickets in the 1980s, "a lot of the people who were traveling were the backpacking type, and younger. But I've seen a gradual change toward older people"--including many recent retirees. 
     Consumers and travel agents can book around-the-world itineraries (RTWs, in industry shorthand) through major airlines, which pass travelers on to their alliance partners to get them around the planet. A Consumer Reports Travel Letter survey showed economy-class RTW bookings via the airlines typically cost $2,570 or more. Discounters often have similar bookings for half that price. 

Indeed, discounted RTW bookings are a niche for the most ferocious travelers--and also for a uniquely well-briefed and logistics-happy breed of travel agent. 
     Hasbrouck, for instance, has been selling round-the-world tickets for nine years, and in 1997 wrote "The Practical Nomad," a global travel guide published by Moon Publications. Hasbrouck has not only gone around the world twice, but he did it once on the much-maligned Aeroflot, the still-massive flagship of the former Soviet empire. ("I'd do it again," Hasbrouck says. "San Francisco, Anchorage, Khabarovsk, Vladivostock, Irkutsk . . . ") 
     Three of the leading sources of RTW tickets, discounters who specialize in mixing and matching bookings on half a dozen or more airlines on a single itinerary, are all in San Francisco near Union Square. And the experts at those companies largely agree on many nuggets of advice for the prospective globe-spanner: 
     Don't book less than a month in advance. Do a lot of research, both cultural and logistical. Get your shots and visas. Stay flexible. Don't expect to travel using frequent-flier miles (several air carriers are usually involved) and, for the same reason, don't expect to earn mileage in one tidy pile. 
     Try to avoid peak flying seasons like late December and summer school vacations. Expect to pay as much as $1,000 extra for an itinerary that dips into the Southern Hemisphere, to Africa or Australia. Don't expect everyone everywhere to speak English, but also don't let language concerns scare you away. 
     Book lodgings as you go. 
     If your time is tight, says Evertsen, go west with the Earth's rotation to minimize jet lag. Expect your stops to include a few of the most likely RTW suspects: London; Athens; Bangkok, Thailand; Sydney, Australia; Nairobi, Kenya; New Delhi and Bombay, India. 
     Also, if you're eager to make cultural connections, give yourself at least one substantial overland portion. Remember that the less you hurry, the less it's likely to cost. "The more continents you touch, the higher the price," adds Evertsen. Also: "The more miles you travel, the higher the price, and the more airlines involved, the higher the price." 
     A list of three firms specializing in round-the-world trips follows. Keep in mind, however, that many other agencies book RTW itineraries on occasion. 
     * Air Brokers International, founded in 1987 by owner Eimerd Evertsen; telephone (800) 883-3273 or (415) 397-1383, Internet http: //www.airbrokers.com. 
     * High Adventure Travel Inc., where Edward Hasbrouck works, founded in 1987 by Jim Pilaar (now president); tel. (800) 350-0646 or (415) 912-5600, Internet http://www.airtreks.com. 
     * TicketPlanet, founded in 1997 by Nick Kontis after a falling-out with Evertsen; tel. (800) 799-8888 or (415) 288-9999, Internet http:// www.ticketplanet.com. 

Christopher Reynolds welcomes comments and suggestions, but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053, or send e-mail to chris.reynolds@latimes.com. 


\5 TRYING TO MUDDLE YOUR WAY TO LOWER FARES

With each passing day, the challenge of getting a good air fare gets a bit more tangled on the bloody battlefield of the Internet marketplace. Miss a chapter and you could end up spending a month's rent for a ticket to Denver. Here are three chapters--recently written or about to be written--that travelers should be aware of:

- In the first, Southwest Airlines and the Travelocity online travel agency get a divorce, a move that could change fare-hunting habits for thousands of travelers every week, especially in areas where Southwest is strongest, like California.

- In the second, Orbitz.com, a travel-booking site-to-be that is largely bankrolled by the biggest airlines in the country, expands beta testing and draws nearer to a projected June debut that critics say could unfairly blow scores of travel agencies out of the Internet's waters. Still to be heard from: the federal officials reviewing the venture who could declare it a violation of antitrust laws.

- Meanwhile, as these digital stories unfold on line, you can join an old-technology story by picking up a telephone. Ever since a directive from the U.S. Department of Transportation last October, the major airlines have been working out how to tell their telephone customers that the best deals are being held aside for somebody else, somebody using a computer and modem. Now the carriers have their disclaimers in place, but unless you're paying close attention, you may not recognize them for what they are.

Southwest Airlines and Travelocity Since its birth in the early 1970s, Southwest Airlines has focused heavily on low prices, minimal amenities and direct sales to customers, paying less attention to travel agencies. When online agencies began cropping up, Travelocity (www.travelocity.com) emerged as the only major online service with the ability to book Southwest flights via the Sabre computer reservation system. 

That's the only res system of which Southwest is a part; other major airlines belong to multiple res systems. (Travelocity is the most popular online agency in the U.S., followed closely by Expedia. Together, the two account for an estimated 70% of the travel bookings made on the Web.)

But Southwest's connection through Sabre was a delayed link. The result: Some travelers booked Southwest flights via Travelocity, received what they thought were confirmations, arrived at the airport and found that the flight had been sold out and that they were seatless.

To solve the problem, airline officials realized they had to spend millions of dollars on a more immediate reservations link with Sabre (as other airlines do) or stop taking bookings through Travelocity, said Southwest spokeswoman Linda Rutherford. They chose to back away from Travelocity.

Since Mar 1, Travelocity users have been unable to book Southwest tickets. The only way to book a SW ticket online is through Southwest's Web site, southwest.com.

Orbitz, its timetable and its critics Next month, the deep-pocketed backers of Orbitz.com plan to broaden the beta testing of the travel booking technology behind their Web site-to-be. To their air fare searches they will add information on hotels, rental cars, tours and cruises. The result, Orbitz claims, will be the most convenient Web site ever for one-stop travel shopping. The Web site's operators plan a June debut.

Since Feb. 20, a beta version has been available for air fare searches but not bookings. But inside the travel business, plenty of people are rooting against it, and some government officials say they have reservations. Why? Because the original investors in Orbitz are Continental, Delta, Northwest and United Airlines, later joined by American. 

The collective wealth and marketplace domination of these companies, critics say, mean Orbitz would be an 800-pound gorilla from birth, likely to surpass all rivals in short order.

The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) denounced the creation of Orbitz as a predatory step that would short-circuit the industry, putting thousands of agents out of business and ultimately giving a handful of airlines dangerous power in price-setting. In Jan 20 state attorneys general (including those of California and New York) signed a letter raising concerns about possible antitrust violations. Reviews by the Justice and Transportation departments are pending.

Where the bargains aren't - Because it's more economical for airlines to take bookings online than it is to take them by telephone, most carriers have created special Internet fares, Web-only discounts designed to drive customers to their Web sites. In the early stages of this innovation, consumer advocates complained that airlines' tele res operators were not mentioning this, an omission that some said amounted to deceptive practices. The U.S. Transportation Dept agreed.

But that doesn't mean callers are hearing about all those discounts now. At United, before an operator comes on the line, callers to the airline's 800 number are told: "We invite you to visit our Web site, at united.com, where even lower Internet-only fares may be available."

At American, the message says: "In addition to the fare information you receive on this call, American may offer lower fares through one of our Internet partners or on our own Web site at www.aa.com."

At Delta: "Lower fares may be available on our Web site at delta.com." But the operators are still following the same routine. When I asked operators at American, Delta, Southwest and United about their Internet discounts, all said that not only couldn't they sell me an Internet discount fare, but they couldn't even tell me what the discounts were.

Christopher Reynolds' e-mail address is chris.reynolds@latimes.com.


AIRFARE TIPS FROM A PRO

It's Tom Parsons' business to ferret out travel deals. And despite what he calls the "whole big mass confusion" of cut-rate hotel rooms, airfare wars and rental car deals, Parsons knows just where to look.

Parsons should know. His magazine -- Best Fares -- and Web site -- Bestfares.com -- are devoted to deals. But, he noted, "consumers are confused" about where to look for bargains. "Everybody's looking for them, but the info is hard to find."

For instance, it's fairly common thinking that your best deal on an airline ticket will come in the form of a 21-day advance fare. That's not true, Parsons said. His advice: Watch the fares to your destination from six months to even a year in advance of your trip. The further out you plan, the better fare you're likely to get. That way, if you see a great fare offered as a result of, say, an airfare war, you can jump on it.

Also, check alternatives, such as traveling to a smaller airport near your destination -- for instance, Chicago Midway Airport instead of Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Fares to these smaller airports can be cheaper.

Ever seen a great fare to a place you've never been and don't know much about? Book it and take a "mystery tour," Parsons said. "Keep an open mind. If the idea is not going to see Grandma and you're just looking, look for a good deal."

Be vigilant about monitoring airfares and you could land a whopper of a deal that's offered unintentionally. "Airlines make mistakes," Parsons said. One airline might retaliate against another airline flying to the same market and, in doing so, mistakenly post a lower fare than intended.

Airlines load fares into computer res systems three times a day. While they can pull the fares from their own systems at any time, they can't pull all fares from the systems used by travel agents until after midnight. They can make one or two changes, Parsons said, but doing so is extremely expensive.

His advice: When you hear or read about a ridiculously low airfare, don't call the airline, call a travel agent. There are more reasons to call a travel agent: 

- Internet booking engines, such as Sabre, can get backed up, which can delay the booking of a fare so much that the fare may no longer be available. Travel agents' systems book the ticket immediately.

- Unforeseen changes in travel plans, such as flight cancellations, can be hard to resolve without help.

"A travel agency is the place to go," said Parsons. "Try talking to Expedia when you're stuck in an airport." Parsons also keeps abreast of coupon offerings, which can save travelers hundreds of dollars. For instance, he mentioned "Kiplinger's Tax Cut" federal tax edition, which comes with a certificate for a $298 round-trip good for travel aboard US Airways to more than 100 U.S. cities. If you filed for an extension on your taxes, this still could be a purchase to consider.

Subscribers to Parson's Best Fares magazine or Web site can get the latest scoop on where to find such money-saving travel coupons. Subscriptions cost $59.90 annually. For more information, visit the Web site or call 800-880-1234. To order by mail, send a check payable to Best Fares along with your mailing address to Best Fares Magazine, 1301 S. Bowen Rd., Suite 430, Dept. 1020, Arlington, TX 76013.

DEFENSIVE FLYING

As long as we're telling you how to get cheap, e-mail air fares and advising on other ways to save money on plane tickets (see Fare Game on Page 1 and Fare Check on this page), we might as well pass along a few tips from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Aviation Consumer Protection Division on what it calls "Defensive Flying":

Departure time: Flights that depart earlier in the day are less likely to be delayed than later ones. And if you book the last flight of the day, a delay or cancellation could leave you stranded overnight.

Connecting flts: Suppose you have a choice of connecting through either of two intermediate airports to get to your final destination. If fares and service are equiva- lent, go with the connecting airport that is less con- gested with traffic and less likely to have bad weather.

Fly now, pay later: Paying by credit card offers certain protections. For example, in all recent airline bankrup- tcies, the Transportation Department says that passengers who had paid by credit card and were not provided service were able to have their credit card companies credit their account for the amount of the fare.

That's the ticket: Pick up your ticket from a tvl agency or the airline tkt office. Procs for replacing a ticket you claim was lost in the mail can be inconvenient.

Getting carded: Most airlines require a photo I.D. at check-in for security purposes -- and the name on your ticket must match the one on your I.D.

Keeping tabs: Call a day or two before your flight to reconfirm your reservations. Flight schedules sometimes change. And though most airlines will try to contact you to let you know of changes, it's in your own best interest to double check.

\6 weekend

If you travel regularly to a particular destination, but don't stay over weekends, you can get the cheaper weekend rates by staggering your tickets. I.e., if you're flying from A to B and back Monday and Wednesday of Week 1, and the same Week 2, instead of buying roundtrip tickets for each week, buy a roundtrip ticket leaving A Monday of Week 1 and returning Wednesday of Week 2, and a second roundtrip ticket leaving B Wednesday of Week 1 and returning to B Monday of Week 2. This works out to be precisely the same flights, but since both tickets are over a weekend, you get the cheaper rate. The only problem is that you have to know your schedule in advance to make this work. Using the Pittsburgh-San Francisco example from above, this method would save you $1708 on a pair of midweek round trip flights. If this seems confusing, perhaps the following diagram will make things clearer.

\7 Airline Upgrades

You've seen them, the chosen ones. One moment they're standing cheek-to-jowl beside you in the line for economy-class boarding and the next they're skipping down that gloriously uncrowded passageway toward a world filled with signature cuisine, seats that recline into beds and cabin crew that say, "Please, call me Daphne." It's just not fair. You did everything right: wore your snappiest suit, bantered wittily with the boarding agent and inquired politely and knowingly about load levels. And yet some other guy's going to business class while you're wedged into 54E. Just how do they pick who gets an upgrade?

It turns out that getting bumped up isn't a byzantine process. Nor is it a popularity contest. Despite what you may have heard about folks schmoozing their way into the big seats, upgrades are governed largely by a structured set of unpublicized rules. It's rarely up to the gate agent to decide if he or she likes the cut of your suit or the scent of your perfume.

Susanna Pik used to fly more than 200,000 miles a year as a J.P. Morgan investment banker based in Hong Kong. She qualified as a Diamond member of Cathay Pacific's Marco Polo club, which gave her an upgrade edge. "I usually flew business class for work," she says. "But for personal trips I'd book an economy seat and would almost always get moved up. It's not really a matter of asking. If the flight is close to full in economy, they look for people to bump up." J.P. Morgan spent a fortune flying Pik around the region on Cathay (more than $1,300 for a return business-class seat from Hong Kong to Tokyo, for example). Thus Cathay considered her a particularly valuable customer, and was happy to reward her loyalty with an upgrade when the opportunity materialized.

But such perks aren't just about keeping high flyers happy. To ensure a full load amid last-minute cancellations, airlines often overbook their flights. When their economy section begins to overflow, they look for upgrade fodder. Besides frequent flyers like Pik, the favored few often include people who shelled out the full fare for an economy ticket.

Beyond that, many airlines don't like to detail the precise criteria they use in selecting freebie upgrades. JAL spokesman Geoffrey Tudor says his airline has no public policy on upgrades because it doesn't want to disappoint passengers by making promises it can't keep. Indeed, many airlines try to dampen expectations: if passengers get used to being moved up, they might hold a grudge when they're stuck in economy.

Of course, you can always buy your way to a better class. On JAL, for example, you can use your accrued Mileage Bank points: a shift from economy to business class costs roughly 20,000 points for a short-haul trip and 40,000 for a longer journey. The catch is that airlines allocate a limited number of seats for point upgrades, and some carriers won't let you use them in combination with ultra-cheap tickets. 

There's also the nagging reality that you have to spend your frequent-flyer points for the upgrade, instead of getting it just for being you. 

Free Upgrades to First Class
 The main method of getting first class seating without paying the exorbitant fares is to belong to a frequent flyer program like TWA's program, where gold and silver members get unlimited free upgrades to first class on a space available basis. Some airlines, like USAir, sell booklets of upgrade certificates, at an average cost of $15 per certificate. Of course, with both programs, you won't always be able to get first class seating. The other method is to fly on an overbooked flight where first class is underbooked. If you have a confirmed reservation, the airline will usually prefer to upgrade your ticket over bumping you. Even though American gold upgrade stickers have an expiration date, American ticket agents rarely turn someone down because they tried to use expired upgrade stickers. The same goes for similar programs at other airlines. (It doesn't hurt to try.) Wearing business attire probably helps your chances of getting a free upgrade. Upgrades are often at the discretion of the gate agent. If you look like a businessman, you'll get treated better. So try wearing a suit the next time you ask. On the other hand, if you look like bum, you probably won't get the upgrade, if for no other reason than to not degrade the appearance of first class.

\8 visit usa
 Several airlines have a program called "Visit USA" (VUSA) which allows foreign nationals or US citizens who reside abroad to purchase tickets that have unlimited standby travel within the US during their stay. 

The tkts must be purchased abroad (usually in conjunction with an international roundtrip ticket) and residents of Canada and Mexico are ineligible. (Some of the pgms are also not avail to people living in the Carribean.)

Other airlines with this program include United Airlines, Northwest, and Delta. Delta's program is called "Delta Pass". The pass is actually a set of coupons, with each coupon being good for a sector. You must purchase at least N coupons, where N depends on the airline. 

For United, the minimum is three coupons. There may also be a maximum number of coupons. On United the price is about $90/sector if you purchase the minimum number of coupons, and falls to $60/sector if you purchase 10 coupons. There is also a two-tier pricing scheme depending on whether the Visit USA pass is issued by the same airline you used to travel to the US. 

The difference is about $15/sector. Prices and programs may differ on other airlines. For example, Delta Airpass gives 30 days unlimited travel for about $500 (60 days $800). No rerouting or refunds are allowed. (Some airlines will refund a completely unused pass -- ask when you buy it -- but none will refund a Visit USA pass after the first flight segment has been flown.) You must make confirmed reservations for the first sector. 

There is a charge for changing the date on the first sector flight. Travel must start within 30 days and must be completed withing 120 days of entry into the US (for travel on United; other airlines may have different policies). Open jaw travel is permitted. You may be limited to one trans-continental direct flight per Visit USA pass, depending on the airline. Council Travel has been known to sell Visit USA tickets on USAir without any restrictions at all -- you don't have to be a foreign resident or national, and you don't have to be a student. Many travel agents outside the US don't check whether you reside outside the US, so you can buy the Visit USA coupons even if you are a US citizen. They won't, however, send the tickets overseas; you have to be physically present to pick up the tickets. Many foreign carriers offer similar programs in conjunction with the purchase of an international round-trip ticket. The following should give you an idea of the range of programs; call your airline and check if they have similar programs (you may have to ask for the tour desk). Air France (France Pass). The pass gets you unlimited flights within France, but must be used during a single week for off-peak travel. Alitalia (Visit Italy). Each voucher lets you fly two one-way segments within Italy for $100. A great deal, considering that a Rome-Milan coach roundtrip ticket costs more than three times as much. Aloha Airlines (AlohaPass Commuter). The pass provides unlimited interisland travel on Aloha Airlines and Aloha IslandAir for one month. Reservations are guaranteed when booked 48 hours before departure. Includes other minor perks, such as bonuses in the frequent flyer program and some free first class upgrades. British Airways (UK Air Pass/Visit UK). Flight segments cost around $80, with a 3-segment minimum. Destinations and travel dates must be booked seven days in advance, and the dates cannot be changed. Hawaiian Airlines (Commuter Airpass). The pass provides unlimited interisland travel for one month. Reservations are guaranteed when booked 24 hours before departure. Includes other minor perks, such as a free one-day car rental, bonuses in the frequent flyer program, and some free first class upgrades. SAS (Visit Scandinavia). Each coupon costs $80 and covers one flight segment within Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. 6 coupon maximum. Thai Airways (Discover Thailand). Each pass costs $239 and covers four flight segments within Thailand. Varig, VASP, and Transbrasil (Visit Brazil). The pass is a very good deal for travelers who are flying from one end of Brazil to the other, but not as good if you're just flying between Sao Paulo and Rio De Janiero. [Yes, yes, I know Hawaii is part of the United States.] When buying one of these passes, always compare the cost with the prices of basic excursion fares. Sometimes the excursion fares are cheaper.

\9 apex

Tickets that must be paid for in advance with penalties if changed. Typically, tickets must be purchased 4, 7, 14, 21, or 30 days in advance of the departure date. All require confirmed reservations. Seats are always limited. Most do not permit changes/cancellations, and those that do will usually charge you.

Some require a roundtrip ticket, though there are some that give lower rates for one-way tickets. Most do not permit open-jaw travel (most require circle-trip for excursion fares). Some permit stopovers, and may or may not charge you for the privilege (typically $15-30 per stopover). Fares are often seasonal. 

For those that have a minimum and maximum stay period (e.g., stay over the weekend, must return 150 days after departure), the day of departure is not included as part of the minimum and maximum stay period. Children's rates are usually discounted against the applicable fare.

(Some airlines now apply children's discounts against the highest fare only.) As usual, children must carry proof of age. Note that fares are almost always not applicable to/from intermediate points. This means a ticket from Boston to Chicago passing through Pittsburgh could be cheaper than a ticket from Boston to Pittsburgh! But, of course, you can get off at Pittsburgh so long as you don't have checked bags nor have subsequent legs on the same ticket. 

Use the same carrier and flight class for all segments of your itinerary. Changing airlines usually adds to the cost of your trip. But sometimes you may be able to get a dirt cheap fare on one airline to an airport 150 miles or so from your destination, and then use another airline to get to your final destination.

(This most often happens when the first airline has no direct flights to your final destination.) Sometimes fares which involve a connection are cheaper than direct flights. So if all the fares are non-stop, ask if flights that involve a connection are cheaper. For example, flights from Pittsburgh to Boston on TWA are often cheaper than flights on USAir, because USAir offers non-stop service while TWA flights are routed through their JFK hub. Other tips: + If all the fares are on one airline, ask your travel agent if there are cheaper fares on other airlines. Be prepared to ask for specific airlines. Don't run down a list of a dozen airlines, but ask for two or three. If all show similar lowest fares, you aren't likely to do better on another airline. (Obviously, this advice doesn't apply if you're calling the airlines directly. If so, call 2-3 airlines before purchasing tickets.) + If there are two airports near where you live (e.g., Washington DC, New York), ask if fares from the other airport are cheaper. It may pay to drive 40 miles to save $100 on airfare. + If you qualify for special discounts (youth, student, senior citizen, etc.) ask about the availability of such discounts. If you don't ask, they won't volunteer the information -- how are they to know whether you qualify? + Tickets are generally cheapest for travel in late August and from March (excluding Spring Break) through mid-June, when air traffic is the lowest. Of course, this rule of thumb depends a lot on the destination, since some destinations have strong traffic year-round. 

\10 tips

APEX, Advance Purchase Excusion Fare. Usually 30-40% cheeper than full economy. 

Discounted; offical (promotional, APEX) and unoffical (bucket shops). Entails inconvenience in scheduling, dates, and other limitations. 

Air Tkts - Extra fees Jun 18, 2000 Here a Fee, There a Tax--Extras Empty the Wallet 
 Costs * 'Little' charges and levies can add as much as 30% to the vacation tab. Some are avoidable; others aren't. By CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS, Times Travel Writer
  Call it the niggle index.
 I'm talking about those little extra costs that crop up here and there when a traveler is on the road. Not tips to waiters and hotel maids; a traveler should expect those. The niggle index is driven by other fees, taxes, surcharges, levies and recommended donations that often don't show up in the advertised prices. 
 On better days, a traveler comes across only those merchants and local governments (masters at assessing taxes on visitors, who don't vote in those elections) that see no honor in having customers nickeled and dimed to death. On such days, the niggle index falls, and a traveler finds a measure of hope. 
 But on a day when every little thing seems to carry its own price tag, I've seen the niggles push my expenses up by 30%. 
 A recent car rental experience in Colorado was a veritable niggle-fest. When all the calculations were done, I paid 29% more than the first price quoted, and I was powerless to do anything about it. 
 Here, in no particular order, is my top-five list of travel niggles. Some can be avoided. Others are inescapable. But either way, it's better to be prepared for them. 
 Rental car add-ons. In dozens of U.S. airports, the daily rate of your rental car is just the beginning. You're also likely to find a retail tax of about 8%, an airport concession fee of about 10% and other airport-related levies of as much as 3%, according to a survey of major U.S. cities by the Travel Industry Assn. of America, based in Washington. 
 Denver, from which I recently returned, is pricier than most. My Avis car cost $41 per day for five days, plus $1.60 per day in facility fees (that's the rental car company defraying the cost of building its facilities) plus a 10% "concession recovery fee" (that's the rental car company defraying the cost of leasing the land on which the facilities are built). On top of this there was a local tax of 13.05%, calculated on the total cost that includes the other fees. The result: a $41-a-day car cost almost $53 daily. And for those who returned with the tank less than full, the gas price was $3.99 a gallon. It's not just Avis that levies. These practices persist among all the major rental car companies doing business at the Denver airport. 
 Hotel phone fees. The fancier the hotel is, the more likely it is to charge you 75 cents or more for every local call or calling-card call from your room. Why? Because hotels can boost profits by taking a cut of phone fees paid by guests. A 1998 survey by accounting firm PKF Consulting found that for every $100 a typical hotel spent on telecommunications, it raked in $227.05 in revenue from guests, a margin that rivals the profits hotels make on alcohol sales. It's usually much cheaper, though less convenient, to call from a lobby pay phone. If you have a cellular phone, it might be cheaper to use that. Meanwhile, budget hotels and motels, notably the Motel 6 chain, frequently allow local and calling-card calls at no charge. 
 Hotel bed taxes. Hoteliers are blameless in this. The bed tax--the government tariff assessed on most hotel rooms in the U.S. and abroad--can add 10% to 20% to the hotel's advertised rate. In some foreign countries, including Britain, the government requires hoteliers to include such taxes in the rates they quote so travelers know their total costs. But in many other countries (including Mexico) and throughout the U.S., taxes are excluded from quoted prices, either surprising travelers or forcing them into an extra mathematical step when figuring their costs. 
 Bed taxes averaged 12.36% in the top 50 destination cities in the U.S., researchers found in a 1998 survey of bed taxes by the Travel Industry Assn. The highest was Houston at 17%, a rate that's still used. 

Cruise ship incidentals. One reason for the growing popularity of cruises is the simplicity of an "all-inclusive" vacation. But the price you pay up front for a cruise will almost certainly be followed by other costs that are not as boldly advertised. One such cost is port fees, which some lines assess separately to cover expenses associated with port calls. They usually come to about $100, sometimes more, per person for all ports. Another cost involves land excursions in port, which can range from $30 to $300 or more, depending on the place. Yet another cost involves gratuities for waiters and room stewards. Following recommended amounts on mass-market cruise lines such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean, those tips add up to about $9 per person per day. (If you're tempted to scrimp, remember that most shipboard workers are foreign nationals unprotected by U.S. wage laws. Their before-tips wages may be less than $3 per workday.)

 Airline fuel surcharges. The airlines may change fares more often than Italy changes governments, but on the whole, unless you fixate on those $4 fees for headphones in coach class, the airlines haven't niggled a lot--until recently. (Federal taxes, for instance, are built into advertised ticket prices.) 

 But then came the great fuel-price increase of early 2000. To cover their rising expenses--and to reduce their commission payments to travel agents and keep the price increase out of their advertised prices--several of the largest U.S. airlines decided to assess a "fuel surcharge," typically $9.30 on one-way flights, $18.60 on round trips. The word "surcharge" may sound like a government tax, but this is just the airlines finding a way to pass along their increased overhead without changing their base prices. To complicate matters, the airlines haven't imposed the surcharges uniformly. (A United spokesperson, for instance, notes that the carrier imposes the surcharge on some routes, but not on routes also flown by its competitor Southwest.) 

 When shopping for fares, ask for the price after all taxes and surcharges. If you're online, look closely for an explanation of what is and isn't included--and if it isn't clear, call the airline and ask. 

 Christopher Reynolds welcomes comments and suggestions, but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, or send e-mail to chris.reynolds@latimes.com. 

 Weighing Paper Against an E-Ticket Plane Ride. Airlines * Both types of bookings are usually equivalent. But differences may appear when flights are canceled. By CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS, Times Travel Writer

Bad news: Your flight has been delayed or canceled, like the thousands of flights this summer that have been scrubbed amid labor strife at United Airlines or delayed by Midwestern storms or held up by some undisclosed vagary of our nation's air traffic control system. But you hold no ticket in your hand. 
 You have booked an electronic ticket. And now, facing the prospect of finding another flight, you wonder: Am I better off than those travelers with old-fashioned tickets? Or worse? 
 The airlines say there's no meaningful difference for the typical leisure traveler. But some people think differently. 
 "You're never going to be worse off with a paper ticket," said Terry Trippler, a longtime travel agent and air fare expert for the Web site 1travel.com. "Sometimes it may be even [between those with e-tickets and those with paper tickets]. But you're going to be better off, at times, with a paper ticket." 
 Ed Perkins, an ombudsman for the American Society of Travel Agents, chooses paper tickets over e-tickets whenever his route might mean changing airlines. 

 Trying to understand the advantages and disadvantages of electronically issued tickets is a demanding task. But now is a fine time for it because the practice is still growing and because different kinds of tickets give you different options in case of flight delays and cancellations--in a year that has been rife with them. 

Electronic ticketing began conquering the airline industry in the early 1990s. It saves airlines the cost of printing and delivering tickets, and it's convenient for travelers, who don't have to wait for the tickets to arrive or worry about losing them. Though customers can request paper tickets at no extra charge, most have followed the carriers' e-ticket encouragement. 
 United Airlines, which sold its first e-tickets in 1994, reports that e-tickets make up about 60% of its sales. Other major carriers have made similar transitions. 
 Because your reservation is stored in the airline's computerized records, you need only appear at the airport on your day of travel and show photo identification (and perhaps, if asked, the credit card you used to secure the reservation). You can't lose your ticket, you don't need to wait for somebody to deliver it and, if you need to make changes before your travel date, you can do so by phone. Once you're at the airport with your ID, the gate agent can issue you a boarding pass. 
 But there are catches. If the computers crash while you're in the check-in line, holders of paper tickets may get boarding passes while e-ticket travelers are delayed. If a reservation agent finds that your booking has unaccountably vanished, an e-ticket traveler may have only a confirmation number, while a paper-ticket holder has a document that airlines are bound to honor. 
 These are relatively rare occurrences. The biggest question about e-tickets is this: If your flight is delayed or canceled, the best way out may be to book a flight with a different carrier, so what kind of ticket works best? 
 It's usually a tie, said United spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch. But as Trippler points out, paper tickets never lose out, unless you lose them. 
 Nine of the 10 major airlines (Southwest is the exception) will accept each other's paper tickets when circumstances force re-bookings. (If you change to a Southwest flight but are already ticketed on another carrier, you must request a refund from the first carrier and buy a new ticket from Southwest.) 
 If you have an unrestricted paper ticket, agents said, it is easily transferred to another carrier. But if you have an unrestricted e-ticket, you'll need to get a paper ticket, then take it to your second choice--which could cost you time. 
 Most leisure travelers, however, buy less costly restricted tickets. To change carriers after a delay or cancellation, travelers on restricted fares typically must get a paper ticket, get the first airline's endorsement on it, then present it to the second airline.

 Consumers who arrive at the airport with paper tickets sometimes can head directly to the second carrier's desk, and the second carrier's gate agent will get endorsements by telephone from the first carrier, Trippler said. 
 Delays and cancellations have been epidemic at United this summer, partly because of a labor dispute with pilots that has forced the airline to cancel in advance 3% of its scheduled departures in September and October. Many other flights have been canceled on shorter notice. 
 Spokesman Ebenhoch said that because United is still flying more than 90% of its flights, it can accommodate most of its rescheduled customers on United flights. Changing carriers after a United cancellation or delay, you'll probably need an endorsement from a United gate agent, with any restricted ticket. In most cases, Ebenhoch said, e-ticket holders are on even footing with paper-ticket holders. 
 To avoid cancellations and delays, Perkins and Trippler offer these tips: 
 * Book flights with early departures; delays tend to increase as the day wears on. If you have connecting flights, don't settle for the "legal minimum" connecting time (usually about an hour for domestic flights). Give yourself an extra half-hour or hour. 
 * Before leaving for the airport, find out your flight's status. 
 * Arrive at the airport knowing your options if something does go wrong--the next two flights to your destination, for instance. 
 * It also helps to know what the airline is required to do for you. If you find that staffing or weather problems have forced a delay or cancellation, the airline's legal responsibility is fairly limited. For instance, under the language in United's "contract of carriage," the carrier's only responsibility is to refund any unused part of your ticket if you decide to cancel your trip. Though they often seek to find seats for frustrated travelers, airlines are not required to do so.

* * * Christopher Reynolds welcomes comments and suggestions, but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, or send e-mail to chris.reynolds@latimes.com.