 0 Discounts Target Young and Old
 1 Consolidators
 2 Example List of Consolidators
 3 air miles
 4 Cheap Fares ON THE NET

\0 Discounts Target Young and Old

Young and old travelers can now get special money-saving deals on transportation. Trans World Airlines and Amtrak, both looking for new niches, have student discounts. Seniors' coupon books provide cash up front to hard-pressed airlines. Some rules on these have been modified. The T.W.A. Youth Travel Pak, for students aged 14 to 24, can cut the price of trips to school in the approaching academic year. It consists of four coupons for domestic travel costing $548, valid for a year. So each round trip is $274, a good deal if a student attends school on the opposite coast, and similarly useful for long-haul vacations. Of importance for winter holidays, these coupons have no blackout periods. The coupon books may be ordered by mail, but before a boarding pass is issued, the passenger must show student identification. The coupons are usable for flights to anyplace in the lower 48 states that T.W.A. flies, and to Puerto Rico. Like the senior coupons they emulate, they may also be used for flights to Hawaii, but each leg requires two coupons. The coupon books include a voucher for a 20 percent discount on a flight to Europe, also valid for a year. Pat Davanzo of T.W.A. said that the student program was less than a year old. Student Discount Card Amtrak weighed in on Aug. 1 with its first nationwide student discount, solely for college students. A one-year test, this provides a 15 percent reduction in all fares with some exceptions on the Metroliner. The student must hold a $20 membership in Student Advantage, a three-year-old discount club based in Boston. According to Patricia Kelly, a spokeswoman for Amtrak, the student seeking a discounted ticket must also still show student identification to Amtrak or a travel agent. Incoming freshman can show a letter of admission or a class schedule. On the Metroliner, discount travel is limited to weekend trains or, from Monday to Friday, to trains originating in Washington or New York between 9 A.M. and 1 P.M. The Student Advantage card is based on an academic year; current cards are valid until December 1996. Until now, these cards have been distributed on East Coast campuses, where stores or outlets for national chains such as Taco Bell and Kinko's Copy Shops recognize them for discounts. Students ordering the card for use with Amtrak who do not attend a cooperating college will receive a modest list of national organizations recognizing the card, like Greyhound, Dollar Rent a Car (the card allows a waiver of the company's surcharge for drivers under 25), Choice Hotels, Cineplex Odeon and United Artists Theaters. The card is sold by Student Advantage, 321 Columbus Avenue, Boston, Mass. 02116; (800) 333-2920; credit cards accepted on phone orders. Coupons for Seniors At the other end of the age span, there have been some revisions in the airlines' senior coupon books, a program distinct from their regular 10 percent senior discount. The books are available to people 62 years old and above and are valid for a year. Here are the basics. T.W.A., which is again in chapter 11 reorganization, in June eliminated coupon-book blackout periods. Four coupons cost $548, and eight coupons $1,032. A companion of any age who travels with the senior may also purchase a coupon book, at a $100 surcharge. T.W.A. and Continental are the only airlines offering adult companion coupons. T.W.A.'s books include a voucher for a 20 percent reduction on a ticket to Europe, a $25 or $50 discount on a T.W.A. Getaway vacation package, and an upgrade for Dollar Rent a Car. One coupon is needed each way for trips in the lower 48 states and to Puerto Rico; two each way for trips to Hawaii. Reservations must be made 14 days in advance. (800) 221-2000 or (800) 247-5463. USAir charges $596 for four coupons, $1,032 for eight. This line also has a companion option, probably really a grandchild option. A traveler using coupons may also use them for up to two children aged 2 to 11 on each trip. The coupons are valid for travel in the lower 48 states, to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Canada and Mexico. Travel must originate in the country of purchase. No blackout dates. Reservations must be made 14 days in advance. (800) 428-4322. Northwest Airlines has eliminated its eight-coupon book and now offers only a book of four, for $596. Northwest has no blackout dates. A trip in the lower 48 states, to Canada or Puerto Rico, or between Seattle and Anchorage takes one coupon each way; two coupons each way on a trip to Hawaii. Jim Faulkner, a spokesman, said that for trips "where Northwest does not publish a fare," meaning an indirect trip to Alaska or Hawaii -- Phoenix-Minneapolis-Honolulu, for example -- three coupons are required each way. Reservations must be made 14 days in advance. (800) 225-2525. America West offers four coupons for $495 and eight for $920. Coupons may be used for travel from noon Monday to noon Thursdyy and all aay Saturday; reservations must be made 14 days in advance. Holiday periods are blacked out. One coupon is required for each trip between any two cities the airline serves. (800) 235-9292. Continental has two coupon programs. The Freedom Passport comes in domestic and worldwide versions, coach or first class. A domestic coach passport valid for a year costs $1,999, for four mounths, $999. With blackout periods and the restriction that travel must be between noon Monday and noon Thursday or all day Saturday, the passport permits almost one one-way trip a week, with a Sunday night stay required. The remaining 1995 blackout periods are Sept. 4; Nov. 22, 26 and 27 and Dec. 15 to Jan. 2. The earliest a domestic reservation may be made in a "peak" period is seven days in advance; with variations according to year, the off-peak period is early January to mid-February; mid-April to mid-May and early September to mid-November. Companion passports are available to people of any age for the same price. Continental's coupon books cost $579 for four coupons, $999 for eight. Travel is permitted in the United States and Canada, with one coupon needed for each flight; and for two coupons to Alaska, Hawaii, the Virgin Islands, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda. There are holiday blackout periods. Reservations must be made 14 days in advance. (800) 248-8996. American Airlines sells four coupons for $596, eight for $1,032. No blackout dates. One coupon provides travel in the lower 48 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; two are required for Hawaii. Reservations must be made 14 days in advance. (800) 237-7981. Delta sells four coupons for $596, eight for $1,032. No blackout dates. One coupon allows travel in the lower 48 states, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Canada; two allow travel to Alaska and Hawaii. Reservations must be made 14 days in advance. (800) 323-2323. United sells four coupons for $596, eight for $1,032. One coupon allows travel in the lower 48 states; two are needed for a trip to Hawaii. A blackout period, Dec. 15 to Jan. 15, applies to Hawaii only. Reservations must be made 14 days in advance. (800) 633-6563. CORRECTION-DATE: September 24, 1995, Sunday CORRECTION: The Practical Traveler column on Aug. 20, about discounts for students and the elderly, misstated a blackout period for using United Airlines senior coupons for trips to Hawaii. A reader's letter dated Aug. 22 points out that it is Dec. 15 to Jan. 10, not to Jan. 15. This correction was delayed because the letter was addressed to a vacationing writer.


Consolidators are companies that sell, usually at a discount, the tickets that airlines fear they cannot sell at any advertised price. The airlines supply the tickets with the proviso that consolidators not advertise which airline will supply the seats. Consolidators, or bucket shops, as they are called in Britain, deal almost entirely in overseas tickets. Many of them, including George Ch n, president of C. L. Thomson Express, probably the largest in this country, began their businesses in ethnic communities in the United States where residents wanted to visit their countries of origin for reasonable fares. The consolidator industry has had an uncertain reputation. The New York Metropolitan Better Business Bureau has kept an eye on it virtually since it sprang up, after the airline industry was deregulated in 1979. Two things have dropped a mantle of respectability on the business in recent months. The first is that more travel agents are willing to deal with consolidators. Because major airlines now cap at $50 the 10 percent commissions they pay travel agents for domestic airline tickets, agents are looking for profit opportunities. One is to buy tickets at a cheaper price, which is the consolidator's stock in trade. The agent then marks up the tickets and resells them. The customer pays no more than before, perhaps even less, and the travel agent can still earn more than the airline's 10 percent. A second change is on the horizon: nine big consolidators are organizing the Air Consolidation Association, a trade group that plans to set standards and police the industry. One Passenger Saves $834 A friend of mine who wanted to travel to London inexpensively contacted her travel agent, Joyce Palmer at Union Tours in New York. Ms. Palmer sold her a consolidator ticket on British Airways with a daytime departure on a Wednesday earlier this month. The ticket, which Ms. Palmer obtained through Travac, a consolidator, cost $450 plus airport taxes round trip, a saving of $168 over the $618 quoted by British Airways for a 21-day advance purchase economy ticket with a Wednesday morning departure. The price the airline would have charged her for the full economy ticket was $642 one way, plus taxes. She saved $834, taxes not counted. My friend did not have to buy her ticket 21 days in advance, and this waived requirement for advance purchase, as well as for Saturday night stays, is a big part of the value of a consolidator ticket. But there are drawbacks. If a flight is canceled, the ticket cannot be used on another airline. This may not be a problem if the line has many flights to the client's destination, but if there are only three flights a week, say, it may be. Frequent flier mileage is not usually given, although Ms. Palmer said that sometimes gate agents will punch the frequent flier number in for a traveler. Other limits may apply: changes may cost $75 or be strictly curbed. British Airways, for example, will not give an advance seat assignment because seats for lower-priced tickets are limited. Another problem is that tickets may be delivered quite late, but consolidators who have long-standing agreements with airlines may provide tickets well in advance. An Unregulated Area The files in this department contain dismal tales of consolidators who have run off with the money. No one regulates them. One expert said that to set up as a consolidator, "all you need is a telephone and a fax." A dishonest operator can fax notice of a fictitious three-day fare sale to travel agents, with tickets to be delivered later. By the time the agents realize that the tickets are not coming, the phone is disconnected. Airlines, the source of the tickets, try to provide consolidator tickets to companies that will not damage their reputations, but they cannot control a secondary consolidator who may buy from the original one, or several intermediaries. Jax Fax, a monthly magazine that lists cheap fares and tours, is a principal resource for travel agencies; 28,000 of them subscribe to it. The June issue will contain 5,000 listings, a record number, paid for by the 125 consolidators offering them. Clif Cooke, who has published Jax Fax from Darien, Conn., since 1973, says he drops three or four "listers" every month, either because they evoke complaints from travel agents or they fail to pay their Jax Fax bills. New advertisers fill out a "sort of credit rating form," Mr. Cooke said, and the total of 125 consolidators has been pretty stable. Last month, however, he rejected six new applicants, another record. "The commission caps have kicked off a big desire on the part of quasi-businessmen to get into this area," he said. "There are a lot of slippery people out there. They start out as United Wonderful Travel, go out of business and reappear as Global Integrity Tours." Unlike Jax Fax, which limits its circulation to travel agents, a new loose-leaf directory of consolidators is sold to both agents and consumers. According to Pamela Erwin, associate publisher, "Index to Air Travel Consolidators and Wholesalers" was first issued by Travel Publishing Inc. in 1993 and has been updated three times. The price of $49.50 plus $3.75 postage provides the basic book and a year of updated pages. In May the book listed 200 consolidators. There is no charge for the listings, which include names of airlines. The book includes numerical ratings provided by some of the travel agents among the 2,000 to 3,000 subscribers reported by Ms. Erwin. If a dozen or so agents give a good rating, it is put on the sheet that gives details about the consolidator. Lower ratings are provided on separate rating sheets, which may be based on reports from fewer than three subscribers. Agents who give ratings feedback get a discount on subscriptions. As a sample entry, the sheet on Travac says the company has annual sales of $25 million and uses British Airways, Delta, Air France, United, American, Continental, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Swissair. Travac gets a rating of 8.89 on a scale of 10. It accepts payments by Visa, Mastercard or travel agency check. Sindy Calay, a co-owner, said that the company could deliver tickets six weeks in advance, with overnight delivery costing $7 more. Ms. Calay said that Travac sold to the general public, but made 80 percent of its sales through travel agents. For information about buying the directory: Travel Publishing, Norwest Center Skyway, 56 East Sixth Street, Suite 402, St. Paul, Minn. 55101; (612) 292-0325. The Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York offers a helpful four-page fact sheet about consolidators, originally prepared in 1992 and sent on mail request. It also has two automated phone lines for learning about or lodging complaints. If the call is made to (212) 533-6200, a charge of $3.80 will be put on the caller's credit card. A call to (900) 225-5222 costs 95 cents a minute, with an average call costing $3.80. This charge appears on the phone bill. A company's record is free on request from the Better Business Bureau, 257 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10010. 

Consolidators, companies that buy plane tickets in bulk from the airlines for resale to consumers, often at discounted prices, come in many shapes and sizes. They may be here today and gone tomorrow, with no more assets than a fax machine, a telephone and a customer's money, which they may use to buy a ticket from another consolidator at a slightly lower price. On the other hand, they may, like Council Travel, a company with 40 offices across the country, run a successful business reliably for decades. The question is how to tell the difference. In days of a squeeze on airline commissions to agencies, consolidators are increasingly popular with travel agents, who may be able to earn more on a ticket this way because the margin between buying price and selling price may be greater. The rise in use of consolidators is leading to efforts to quarantine shady companies. One such attempt is being made by a Minnesota travel agent, Gary E. Schmidt of Travel by Nelson, who has published a consolidator directory for consumers, "Fly for Less 1996," following three editions of a directory for other agents. The new book lists consolidators that deal with the public (not all do). The directory includes ratings of consolidators' performances by travel agents, who get free updates of the agents' book for their participation. Mr. Schmidt, the editor as well as the publisher, said the company tried to keep consolidators from rating themselves. "Fly for Less 1996" by Gary E. Schmidt, published by Travel Publishing Inc. of St. Paul, is available in bookstores for $19.95. Information: (800) 241-9299. The difficulty of publishing such rapidly changing material is apparent. Earlier this month, David Harris, the owner of Unitravel in St. Louis, was indicted by the Federal Government on charges of evading $300,000 in Federal taxes by removing $5 million from a Unitravel escrow account. The trial date is May 6, the United States Attorney's office in St. Louis said, and Mr. Harris is under house arrest and continues to go to his office. According to Sophia Desherlia, Unitravel's office manager, "It's business as usual." In a statement Unitravel said, "The allegations of 1988-92 tax violations by David Harris did not then nor do they now affect the safety of Unitravel's customers' deposits or Unitravel's current operations." It said customer deposits had been held in a trust account for 21 years. In the "Fly for Less 1996" directory, published before the indictment was issued, Unitravel receives ratings from 47 client agencies -- the third-largest total -- that average out to "good." Pamela Erwin, associate publisher, said that the entry would not be removed but that a newsletter the company publishes would provide subscriber agencies with "pertinent information" on Mr. Harris's indictment. Clif Cooke, publisher of Jax Fax, a monthly consolidator magazine for agents only, decided not to list Unitravel in its April issue. Mr. Cooke says he maintains a tight grip on his listings to minimize subscribers' risk. Safeguards One development offers a safeguard that covers seven companies, although most of their sales are through agents. Some tour-operator companies have begun to act as consolidators as a convenience to travel agencies that sell their tours.

These seven are among the 46 members of the United States Tour Operators Association, which requires $1 million in surety from each company among other assurances of stability. The $1 million is held for refunds in case of a company collapse. These companies are Brendan Air of Van Nuys, Calif., Central Holidays of Jersey City, DER Tours of Los Angeles, J &O Air of San Diego, Jet Vacations of New York, Jetset Tours of New York and Sunny Land Tours of Hackensack, N.J. Perhaps because they have evidenced financial security, "Fly for Less 1996" shows that these members of the association got good ratings from a significant number of travel agencies. Buying a consolidator ticket through a travel agent can sometimes be a good idea. Agents will add a commission, but they may accept credit card payment, providing another level of security if a ticket is not delivered. Some consolidators will take only cash or checks. Moreover, agents, though not infallible, may know track records. Few Domestic Tickets Do not bother asking about domestic consolidator tickets. There are few and the prices do not knock your socks off. For example, the March issue of Jax Fax, in its modest domestic listings, has fares from New York to San Francisco ranging from $303 to $339 round trip, without commission, against Tower Air's published fare of $290 early in March. Overseas fares are another matter. Last fall, a friend's daughter, a recent college graduate, was going to Kenya to teach for a year; her family was aghast at the fares quoted in calls made in October for a December departure. K.L.M. offered a round trip at $4,896, as did Lufthansa. Swissair quoted $3,856, for a one-way flight to Nairobi at $2,448, with a return to be purchased there at $1,408. Kenya requires a nontourist visa applicant to have a return or onward ticket, so this was out. British Airways quoted $2,724. The young woman called several consolidators offering travel to Africa. What she learned shows the varied contracts that airlines give consolidators to sell tickets at cheap, unadvertised prices. For example, advance-purchase and Saturday-stay rules do not usually apply to consolidator tickets. But a maximum length of stay may be applied. Here are examples. Air Travel Discounts of New York and Worldwide Travel of Washington said they did not allow a return as much as a year later. Travel N Tours of Beacon, N.Y., offered a round trip, on Virgin Atlantic New York to London, using Kenya Airways for London-Nairobi, at $1,945. Magical Holidays of New York said it could provide a British Air round trip at $1,921. International Travel Exchange of New York offered her a Swissair round trip at $1,650 or British Airways at $1,750 with a charge of $140 for 70 extra pounds of luggage. Travel Core of Lincolnshire, Ill., proposed an Alitalia round trip for $1,389, saying that changes in date would not be permitted. Travel Today of New York came up with Saudi Arabian Airlines at $1,098, with a probable overnight stay in Jiddah. She bought her ticket from Council Travel after purchasing a teacher identification card, similar to student identification. She paid $1,540 for a British Airways round trip on a ticket with a printed price of $3,290. She was not charged for her extra baggage, and got an aisle seat to London and three seats across for the nine-hour flight on to Kenya. "In other words," her mother reported, "British Airways treated her as a full-paying passenger." John W. Lampl, a spokesman for the airline, said that as soon as a passenger received a boarding pass, the fare was irrelevant to the flight attendants. Only if it comes to upgrading a passenger, he said, does the payment of a full, discount or consolidator fare play a role.

introduction to the concepts of "consolidators", "bucket shops", and international airline ticket discounting. It has a few small revisions since the last posting a few months back, including my new affiliation as per the .sig. (My e-mail address remains the same.) DISCLAIMER: Neither this nor any of my Internet newsgroup postings is, or is intended to be, a solicitation for business. I'm a travel agent because I love travel, and I want to encourage and empower people to learn about and explore the world. I maintain this account at my own expense on my own time, not my employer's, for the pleasure and satisfaction it gives me, not in any hope of remuneration. Most of those on rec.travel.air are, it appears, travelling mainly on business within the USA, or at most on round trips to single destinations. I am not seeking this business, and would decline most of it if offered. One of the most important pices of advice I would give anyone selecting a travel agent is to find a specialist in your sort of travel. My specialties are around-the-world tickets and tickets involving the former USSR. Even if you call my agency for other sorts of tickets you will be referred to an appropriate specialist, not to me. There is no one best agent for everything, and I am happy to remain in my small niche. I list my affiliation to give readers fair notice of my potential commercial interest in the topic.

ABOUT CONSOLIDATORS, BUCKET SHOPS, AND DISCOUNT TICKETS "Consolidator" and "bucket shop" are sometimes used interchangeably, but aren't exactly the same. Consolidators are agencies that have discount agreements with the airlines. In most cases, especially with the U.S. and other big airlines, consolidators are wholesalers who sell only through retail agencies, not directly to the public. In any case, wholesale consolidators do NOT offer retail service. If you want a straightforward round-trip ticket, know what airline you want to go on, and exactly what dates, and that that airline has the best route and price, fine. But of course many itineraries aren't like that, and most people need a retail agent's help to figure out what's the best ticket for them. Most publicly-available lists of "consolidators" -- such as those published periodically in Consumers Report Travel Newsletter, and several which have been posted on the Internet -- indiscriminately mix wholesale consolidators who also sell directly to the public with retail bucket shops. But retail customers are charged more than wholesale customers by the same consolidators, so you can often get the same price -- and better service, and advice -- by going through a retail agency even if the wholesaler is (minimally) willing to deal with you directly. So you won't necessarily (or even usually) get a better price by going directly to a consolidator. And it doesn't make sense to ask a retail agent, "Are you a consolidator?" In any event, most retail agents understand this question to mean merely, "Are you a discounter?", and will answer "Yes" even if they aren't really a consolidator (i.e. wholesaler). Many retail customers also try to get wholesale prices by claiming to be travel agents. It doesn't work -- consolidators have many ways to distinguish bona fide agents -- but only alienates the consolidator. Any retail travel agent can buy tickets from consolidators, and most U.S. agents who do significant international ticketing are familiar with some of the biggest consolidators for major carriers. Bucket shops are retail agencies that specialize in knowing the full range of consolidators (every airline has many consolidators) and in knowing other techniques of fare construction, importing tickets, etc. for discount prices. Consolidators, bucket shops, and discounters basically fall into three categories: (1) Wholesale only -- no retail sales or advertising. (You may have seen their names, however, in the validation box of tickets bought through a retail agency.) These are the consolidators most local travel agents know about. They generally deal only with round trips originating in the country where they are based, and seem to be most common in the U.S. They advertise only in the travel agency trade press, not in consumer publications. (2) Specialty agencies selling both wholesale and retail. Frequently an agency operating and retailing tours to a particular country will have a discount agreement with the airline it uses for its tours (generally the national carrier of the destination) and will also sell wholesale tickets on that airline. One reason they do the wholesale business, even if their markup on wholesale tickets is very low, is to boost their volume of production (sales) with the airline, as many discount contracts are contingent on a specified sales volume, and/or have year-end bonuses or additional commission rebates based on sales threshholds. Sometimes they are "general sales agents," that is, official representatives of an airline (usually a small one) that doesn't have service or its own office in a country. You can often find agencies like this through publications targeted at immigrants from the country you want to go to. Even in foreign-language ethnic publications the travel ads are generally recognizable, with at least the phone number, the destination cities, and the round-trip prices in Latin letters and numbers! Even more than general bucket-shop ads in the Sunday newspaper travel supplements, a quick glance at the ethnic press will give you the best idea of the absolute lower limit of possible prices for tickets bought long in advance for travel in the most unpopular season on the worst airlines with the worst connections in the most undesirable or expensive stopover points. Realize that the lowest advertised price is usually either a loss leader and/or a bait-and-switch gambit to attract callers. The lowest advertised prices for transoceanic tickets from the USA, for example, generally range from wholesale cost for the cheapest ticket to about $20 BELOW cost. It is unlikely that you will actually get a ticket for your itinerary at these prices. (3) Bucket shops. These are discount retail agencies. Many bucket shops negotiate their own deals directly with the airlines for routes where they can't get good (or any) discounts from (1) or (2). They use these deals for their own retail customers, and frequently also to other bucket shops. (Sometimes they negotiate these deals specifically to be able to export the tickets to bucket shops in other countries, as when a Singapore bucket shop gets permission to discount tickets originating in the U.S.) Bucket shops' own deals tend to emphasize one-way tickets, which are essential for constructing around-the-world tickets and which often aren't available from other general-purpose consolidators. Many people have heard that they can get a cheaper ticket if they wait until the last minute, when "airlines sell off blocks of unsold seats cheaply to consolidators, who sell them for whatever they can get". THIS IS NOT TRUE. Airlines and agencies don't really work that way. It is sometimes possible to get a cheap ticket on very shorrt notice, but you never get a cheaper ticket than if you had planned ahead, and it may be impossible to get a reasonable price, or even to find any available space at all, at the last minute. Getting the best price on most around-the-world itineraries requires having tickets issued in several different places, often on several different continents; it takes a minimum of a couple of weeks for your agent to import these tickets for you from overseas. (This is why, if you must leave right away, you may have to pick up some of your tickets from your agent's overseas affiliates as you travel, an arrangement few people prefer and which can usually be avoided by advance planning.) The belief that consolidators pay the airlines up front to buy seats, which they then try to unload for whatever they can get, is widespead but ENTIRELY FALSE. I think this misimpression must have been started by people outside the industry trying to, as it were, "reverse engineer" the workings of the system. Seats aren't paid for until tickets are issued, and names cannot be changed once tickets are issued (with the very limited exception that airlines sometimes, in their discretion, permit the ticket of a member of a group who has cancelled to be reissued in the name of a replacement group member). So you are wasting your time if you try to bargain with a consolidator on the assumption that they have already paid for a ticket and that they would rather get any money for it at all than have it go unsold. The consolidator hasn't paid a penny for a seat until they have sold a ticket to a specific person. And they don't pay any less to the airline just because the particular flight on which they have booked you has a lot of empty seats. Consolidator rates are adjusted based on overall yield and load factors. Tickets on flights at certain times of the day or week may be cheaper if the airline has, in general, lower yield and load factors on those flights. But neither airlines nor consolidators "dump" tickets for a specific flight more cheaply at the last minute just because that particular flight has a lot of empty seats. Airlines wait until they have a good idea how full their planes will be (based on advance booking levels) before they decide how deeply they need to discount their tickets to consolidators to fill their planes. So consolidator contracts with the airlines are subject to change, usually several times a year, and generally forbid sales of tickets for travel commencing more than a few months after the sale. Verifying prices with vendors around the world, and then importing tickets, can take a couple of weeks (unless you want to pay extra for air courier service). So you can't expect to get the best price, or to get your tickets, many months ahead (except for times like Christmas, when prices are set and planes fill up many months in advance). But you can't get the best price, especially on an around-the-world ticket, at the last minute eaither. As a very rrough guide, the best time to buy most tickets is between two and four months before your departure, longer in advance for December travel. On the other hand, it shouldn't take more than a month to get your tickets from a reputable, efficient agency -- barring unusual complications. The most justifiable complication, especially with a complex ticket, is that one of the rates has changed and a different source or fare construction has to be found. Customers find this hard to understand, but it isn't always possible to call or fax an oversees -- or even a domestic -- supplier to verify every fare in their tariff, which is always subject to change, before quoting a price to the customer. Should you buy from a discounter? I wouldn't think of buying an international ticket from a neighborhood travel agent, even if I told them to try to find a consolidator fare. Depending on your itinerary, try either an agency specializing in that destination and/or a bucket shop. You'd be surprised how often local agents, when they have a customer for a weird destination or routing (especially around the world) simply buy the tickets from a bucket shop and mark them up to the customer. You'll get the best price if you shop around, but remember that rating an around the the world itinerary can take an hour of work (for which the agent is paid nothing if you end up getting the ticket elswhere). So don't be surprised that the fare isn't in the computer and can't be given off the top of the agent's head; the agent will give only a very rough estimate of the fare unless you make clear that you are really serious about getting the ticket from that agency if the price is right. Bucket shops serve a limited and specialized subset of the air ticket market, and are mostly concentrated in a few world cities. The best places to find them are London, Bangkok, and San Francisco; other places with many are Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, and Athens. It's worth going far out of your way to deal with a bucket shop -- the overwhelming majority of travel agents don't even try to compete with bucket shop fares. For that matter, most agents couldn't construct the sorts of routings the better bucket shops specialize in (especially customized around-the-world itineraries) at ANY price. How do they do it? For one thing, simple specialization. Almost all air tickets sold in the U.S. are domestic round trips (the majority) or the simplest international round trips (mostly to resorts in the Caribbean, Mexico, or perhaps Europe). I haven't the faintest idea what the price of a package to Disney World is, and I've worked at an agency whose policy was to tell callers flatly, "I'm sorry, we don't handle domestic travel." On the other hand, most agents have never booked a ticket to Moscow in their life, and might get one around-the-world customer a year. I get round-the-world enquiries every day. "You need to go to Manila, Moscow, and Paris? No problem. Of course, no airline flies directly from Manila to Moscow, so the cheapest route would be as follows..." How do they get their fares? That's an extremely complex question, which I can't answer fully both because (1) it would take too long and (2) I can't divulge all my trade secrets. Even a sketchy answer requires some explanation of fares in general: International airfares are set by interantional agreement and regulated by the airline cartel, IATA. Most international airlines are closely related to, if not directly owned by, their national governments. Most governments in turn have an interest in protecting the profits of their national airline, and the IATA fares are therefore set artificially high. IATA rules officially prohibit discounting, and in some countries these rules are actually enforced -- one reason some countries have no bucket shops whatsoever (although tickets originating in those countries can often be bought in other countries, if you know where to look). All official fares are "published" either in hardcopy (the OAG) or electronically to the CRS's. Most important, only published fares are shown in any CRS. That works OK for domestic U.S. fares, since with deregulation domestic carriers can publish pretty much any fares they want, and change them at whim. If they want to lower the fare, they lower the published fare. So getting the best domestic fare means learning how to search whatever CRS the travel agent uses (the major ones are pretty comparable on completeness of listings of published USA domestic fares), figuring out which seats on which flight itineraries it applies to, booking seats accordingly, and driving the ticket directly from the CRS (using its "auto-price" capability). Bucket shops subvert the airline cartel conspiracy against discounting in various ways. Airlines can contract with wholesalers ("consolidators") to sell tickets at less than published fares. The rules on routes, stopovers, seasonality, etc. for these tickets are governed by the contract, not by the rules for any published fare. Sometimes bucket shops contract directly with airlines and sometimes they buy and resell tickets from consolidators. Since the goal of the airlines is to get each passenger to pay the most they are willing to pay, airlines try to discount tickets in such a way as to fill otherwise empty seats rather than divert full-fare passengers to cheaper tickets. Frequently, they restrict how consolidator tickets can be advertised, such as forbidding mention of the name of the airline or allowing the discount fare to be promoted only to a particular geographic or ethnic market. It's common for tickets to be most heavily discounted in a place far (even on a different continent) from where the ticket either begins or ends, so as not to depress the primary market. If a consolidator fare is TOO successful, the airline will raise the fare or terminate the contract. Many conolidators won't deal directly with the public, and net fare tariffs are confidential. One of the most important skills for a bucket shop agent is having a feel for the wholesale ticket market. It's one thing to ask your local agent to try to buy you a consolidator ticket. It's quite another for the agent to know who, and where, has the best price for what you want. Other consolidators, and some retail agencies (especially those with a large volume on one airline to one destination, such as those serving specialized ethnic markets) receive more than the standard commission on some or all of the published fares of a certain airline to certain destinations. This is permitted by IATA rules. The "incentive," "override," or "bonus" commission is officially forbidden to be rebated to the customer, but of course is. (In fact, bucket shops often end up with a smaller commission, as a percentage of the selling price, than normal agencies.) Figuring the actual price to the passenger with such commission deals is particularly complex, since one must satisfy all the conditions of both the published fare and the commission deal. Net fare contracts usually have much simpler rules. (For example, the cheapest ticket may be issued at a higher fare that also has a higher commission. For this reason, and because net fare tickets usually carry the "full" fare as their official price, the "face value" of a ticket need bear no relation to the price paid. All else being equal, the HIGHER the face value of the ticket the better, since in general high-value tickets are more readily changed, rerouted, etc.) Finally, the bucket shop business is global. Your local travel agent might buy from a domestic consolidator, but they WON'T import your ticket from overseas (and probably have no idea that it is even possible), even if that would be much cheaper. The major bucket shops around the world regularly buy from and sell to each other. Costs of DHL and international faxes are less than the wide international variations in ticket prices. There's a lot more to it (especially in constructing routes and connections, which no CRS does well for complex international routes), but much of the role of a bucket shop is that of a ticket broker, buying for its retail customers on the world wholesale ticket market. Most bucket shop tickets, if you inspect the validation, are not issued by the bucket shop itself. If you already knew exactly where to buy them, you could often get a slightly better price directly. But the odds are you couldn't find the best deal for yourself -- the whole system is DELIBERATELY stacked against just that. Round-the-world tickets are the epitome of the bucket shop agent's art. Don't be fooled by published around-the-world fares. They restrict you to the extremely limited routes of just one or two airlines. Only rarely are they the best deal; to put it another way, only the rare itinerary can be shoehorned into such a fare without mangling it. Most around-the-world itineraries can be best and most cheaply ticketed as a series of one way tickets from point to point. Constructing a round-the-world fare requires both deciding at what points to break the circle into segments and getting the best price for each segment (where each ticket may actually, with stopovers, cover several legs of the journey). On top of that, most people aren't sure when they start planning a round-the-world trip exactly what stops they want, or in what order. Good round-the-world agents are rare, even in bucket shops -- but your average travel agent doesn't even know where to begin. As for bucket shop reliability, it varies. Caveat emptor. They tend to be wheeler-dealers, and of neccessity they cut their margins thin. Find out how long they've been around. Check them out with the Better Business Bureau. Go to their office in person, if you can. If it's worth it to your peace of mind, pay by credit card so you can refuse the charge if you don't get your tickets. You'll probably be surcharged 2 - 5% for using a credit card, but it's simple, cheap, and effective insurance. One thing not to believe is favorable references. Except for complete frauds, even rip-off agencies have satisfied customers. The test is what they do when things go wrong. For what it's worth, I have yet to encounter a completely fraudulent bucket shop, and most are pretty reliable. But you have to recognize that you can't expect the best service at the lowest price. It's especially important to remember that fares change constantly and that no estimate is certain until the tickets are actually issued. (Amazingly, airlines claim the right to increase fares even after tickets are issued, but I've never seen them do so.) Don't even consider buying tickets from a "sub-agent" or an agency which is not accredited by the International Airline Travel Agents' Network (IATAN) and, in the USA, the Airline Reporting Corporation (ARC). Sub-agents and non-ARC/IATAN agents cannot issue any of their own tickets, but must purchase them all from other agencies, wholesalers, or the airlines. Since the basic qualifications for ARC and IATAN appointment are proof of financial means and ticketing experience, non-ARC/IATAN agents are, by definition, inexperienced, under-financed, or both. If you have any doubt, you should try to check directly with the airlines, immediately before paying for your tickets, to make sure that you are holding confirmed reservations. This is not always possible, as some of your flights may be on airlines that have no representation in the country in which you are buying your tickets, such as Royal Nepal Airlines in the USA. If a travel agent has placed you on a waiting list, you may be able to improve your chances of getting confirmed by calling the airline yourself to ask them to confirm you from the waiting list. Do not be surprised, and do not argue, if the airline mentions that the reservation was made by by an agency other than the one you dealt with. It may have been necessary or required for your agent to make the booking through a wholesaler either as a condition of the fare or to use "block" space held by another agent or wholesaler on an otherwise sold-out flight. Contrary to some ill-advised recommendations, you should NOT, however, make reservations directly with the airline and then try to shop around for the best price at which to have them ticketed. Doing this reduces your chances of getting the best price, or of getting confirmed on the flights you want, and may result in all your reservations being entirely cancelled without prior warning. There are many booking classes, and there is no way you can tell in which class to make reservations for the cheapest fare. The cheapest published fare may be booked in one class, the cheapest discounted fare in another. Different discounters may have different contracts requiring bookings in different classes. Even some airlines that have only one coach booking class require reservations for special fares to be made only by agents either directly with the airline, through designated consolidators, or in sppecial booking classes which are not listed in the OAG and whose existence the airlines won't even admit to retail callers. Travel agents can more easily prioritize you on the waiting list if they make the reservations for you. Most airlines have at least two, usually three, levels of waiting lists. Names on the regular waiting list -- the only one on which you can place yourself directly -- are considered for confirmation only after all names on the priority list -- on which travel agents can place you -- and the highest priority list, on which you can be placed only by special request by the airline itself. Waitlist clearance requests are more likely to be acted on if they come from the travel agent than the passenger, especially as difeerent airlines have different procedures and the travel agent knows best from whom at the airline to request prioritization. If a travel agent makes reservations for you, they may be able to use "block" space held by them, by the airline, or by a consolidator for all or part of your itinerary. This may be difficult or impossible if you have already made reservations for all or part of your itinerary, since many airlines prohibit or restrict the combining of reservation records ("split PNR's). Finally, some airlines refuse even to consider for confirmation passengers holding more than one reservation; some airlines will automatically cancel all reservations, whether or not confirmed, of anyone found to be holding multiple bookings. It is thus imperative that, if you have already made reservations, you advise your travel agent(s) of this immediately. If you don't, the agent may make another booking for you, and both may be cancelled. Give the agent the airline with which you made the reservations, the record locator, the exact name(s), airline(s), date(s), flight number(s), and booking class(es). Do NOT assume that all coach reservations are made (or should be made for the cheapest) made in "Y" class, even if "Y" is the only coach class shown in the OAG, Easy Sabre, or the airlines own timetable. Most CRS's do not permit an agent to retrive, by record locator, a record booked by you directly with an airline, so don't expect them to be able to do so. For this reason it will be more difficult for an agent to assist you with special meals, seat assignments, boarding passes, or in the event of schedule changes or changes in your plans, if you did not make the reservations through that agent. In short, it only makes work for both you and your agent not to make your reservations through your agent. (c) 1993-1994 Edward Hasbrouck. Permission to reproduce granted on condition of acknowledgement of source and copyright. 
Edward Hasbrouck NEW AFFILIATION: Travel Time 1 Hallidie Plaza, Suite 406, San Francisco, CA 94102, U.S.A. 1-415-677-0799, fax 1-415-391-1856 1-800-956-9327 (1-800-9-LOW-FARE) toll-free in the U.S.A. [Please note that I am no longer associated in any way with Aereo Travel Group. I have changed agencies, along with several other employees, as a result of recent changes by the Aereo management which make it impossible for me to recommend or endorse Aereo. Since those employees who have left Aereo include all three of those agents who have e-mail accounts, Aereo should be removed from any listings of travel agencies accessible by e-mail.]

Consolidators (wholesalers, ``bucket shops'') are often 30-40% cheaper than buying direct from the airline. They buy blocks of unsold seats from the airlines and resell them at a slim margin. Such tickets are usually heavily restricted and are for a standard profile (e.g., no special meals, no changes, no transfers, no refunds). It used to be the case that you couldn't get frequent flyer miles for travel on consolidator tickets, but that seems to be changing. Cancellation penalties are often much more severe than on regular tickets. The greater the distance traveled, the greater the chances of saving money through a consolidator ticket. This is especially true for international flights. If you're planning a round-the-world trip, definitely use a consolidator to buy your tickets. Consolidators don't buy their tickets until a month or two before the flight, so you probably won't be able to buy your tickets very far in advance. The Sunday NY Times travel section has a list of such wholesalers, as do many other major newspapers. You can also find some in your local yellow pages, under the same listing as regular travel agents. Although "consolidator" and "bucket shop" are often used interchangeably, they refer to different kinds of wholesalers. Consolidators buy large blocks of tickets at discounted rates direct from the airlines. When an airline can't sell their tickets at regular prices, they sell them to consolidators at lower prices. The restrictions on these tickets are governed by the consolidator's contract with the airline, and not by the rules for published fares. Such contracts usually preclude consolidators from naming airlines in advertisements, but do allow them to specify prices. Sometimes they are restricted to promoting the fares only to a particular geographic or ethnic market. Usually they sell only through retail agencies and not directly to the public. Some consolidators sell tickets only to travel agencies. Others sell both wholesale and retail. Bucket shops are retail agencies that specialize in getting discounted prices on tickets. They are familiar with the full range of consolidators for all the carriers (every airline sells to many consolidators) and in other techniques of fare construction, importing tickets, etc. Many bucket shops don't have any direct contact with the airline, in contrast with consolidators. International airfares are set by international agreement and regulated by the airline cartel, IATA. Most interantional airlines are closely related to, if not directly owned by, their national governments. Thus most governments have an interest in protecting the profits of their national airline, with the result that the IATA fares are artificially high. IATA rules prohibit discounting, and in some countries these rules are actually enforced. Bucket shops work around the rules by buying discounted tickets direct from the airlines or through consolidators. These tickets are discounted with restrictions that attempt to ensure that the airlines fill otherwise empty seats instead of diverting full-fare passengers to cheaper tickets. Some restrictions include limitations on the advertising of such tickets, forbidding mention of the name of the airline, or restricting the promotion of such tickets to a particular geographic or ethnic market. Another method of discounting tickets is through rebating a portion of the consolidator commission to the public. AirHitch (212-864-2000; 2790 Broadway, Suite 100, New York, NY 10025) is a consolidator which buys unsold seats very close to the wire. You provide a window of times (or destinations), and AirHitch lets you know about available flights within your window on extremely short notice. Tickets are one-way and there may not necessarily be a perfect match with the destination you had in mind. Since this is a form of standby travel, it is possible that there will be no seats left when the you arrive at the airport. If that happens you'll have to try a different destination in the same window, maybe the same day, maybe a day or two later. If you want to travel to "somewhere" in Europe and then return to "somewhere" in the US, AirHitch can be a very inexpensive method of traveling. A similar outfit is AirTech (800-575-TECH) . There have been reports of complaints by consumers about both outfits. Be sure you understand the risks and uncertainties involved in flying this particular kind of cut-rate standby travel before buying their flight vouchers. Not for the faint of heart. When buying tickets from a consolidator, it is best to use a reputable one that has been around for a while. Many are small companies and tend to go out of business frequently. Check the out with the Better Business Bureau. Caveat emptor. The best advice we can offer is to purchase tickets through a travel agent who regularly deals with consolidators. Some tips: + Shop around. Unlike regular tickets, different consolidators may offer different prices for the same destination. + Buy your tickets with a credit card, so you can get a refund from your credit card company if you never get the tickets. Many consolidators, however, do not accept credit cards, or add a 2-5% surcharge for non-cash purchases (possibly phrasing the difference in price between credit card and non credit card purchases as a cash discount). The reason for credit card surcharges has to do with the economics of selling tickets for air travel. When a regular travel agent sells a ticket for travel on an airline, the credit card is in effect being charged by the airline, not the agent. Normally a merchant pays a fee from 1% to 5% of the purchase price to the credit card company. Due to their high volume, airlines are able to negotiate very low fees with the credit card companies. When a consolidator accepts credit cards, they are doing it as an individual merchant, and hence aren't able to get the low fees available to airlines. Given how little money they earn from each ticket, they just cannot afford to accept credit cards without adding a surcharge. For example, if a consolidator earns a commission of 8% of the selling price, and then has to pay 2% to the credit card company, they've cut their income by 25%. Most consolidators can't afford to do this and stay in business. Credit cards also pose a risk of chargebacks, which can affect the consolidators bottom line. + Deal with a local consolidator, since you can check them out yourself (e.g., verify that they aren't just a mail drop for a scam). + Don't put much stock in favorable references from satisfied customers, unless you personally know the customers. Even the worst consolidator has some happy clients. + If possible, pick up the tickets in person. If you don't get the tickets within a day or two by mail, something is wrong. + When you get the tickets, call the airline immediately to verify that the tickets are legitimate. + Airlines reserve the right to change the fares on consolidator tickets at any time, so the fares are not guaranteed until you actually receive the ticket. If the airline increases the fare after you purchase the tickets but before you receive the tickets, some consolidators will charge you the difference. 

\2 Example List of Consolidators + Airbrokers:

 800-883-3273 415-397-4767 fax + Best Travel Service 800-800-4788 (713-777-4888) 713-777-4886 fax + Cheap Tickets 800-377-1000 + Council Charter 800-800-8222 + Dixieland Tours 800-256-8747 Baton Rouge, Louisiana + Euram Tours 800-848-6789 + Global Access 800-283-5333 + IntraTours 800-334-8069 (713-952-0662) 713-952-2631 fax + Nippon Travel 800-662-6236 + Overseas Tours 800-878-8718 / 800-227-5988 + Sunline Express Holidays 800-786-5463 + STA Travel 800-777-0112 Specializes in student/youth travel. + TFI Tours International 800-745-8000 + Travac Tours and Charters 800-872-8800 407-896-0046 fax + UniTravel, St. Louis 800-325-2222 314-569-2503 fax + Worldwide Travel Center 800-886-4988 703-379-6363 703-379-6283 fax AUSTRAVEL is a consolidator for travel to Australia. They have offices at 360 Post Street, Suite 606, in San Francisco, phone 800-633-3404 (415-781-4329), fax 415-781-4358. They have other offices in New York, Chicago, Houston, Sydney, and the UK. PASSENGER'S CHOICE 1-800-666-1026 advertises business class for up to 40% off in the San Francisco paper. They aren't really a consolidator. They get the low fares by buying excess frequent flyer miles from high volume frequent flyers, and then redeeming the certificates for a ticket in your name. The selling of frequent flyer miles in this manner is a violation of airline rules (the original certificate holder can issue a ticket in your name, but isn't supposed to accept compensation for doing it). This is a gray area. Other bargain travel agencies: + Travel Bargains 800-872-8385 + Airfares for Less 800-AIR-FARE Consolidators are now also buying up blocks of hotel rooms and selling them at steep discounts. For example, Hotel Res Network (HRN) 1-800-964-6835 offers rooms at 10 to 40 percent off AAA rates, especially in NYC and SFO.

\3 air miles

Air miles are boring. Trying to understand what you're entitled to from which airline in an era of alliances, partnerships and code-sharing is about as much fun as sitting down to do your taxes. Airline groupings may have improved life for frequent travelers. But the rules and regulations that govern mileage pgms are mystifying and guaranteed to leave you 5,000 points short of that free ticket to Tahiti.

When the alliances (Star Alliance) (inc United, SIN, All Nippon and Thai), Oneworld (with American, Cathay and British Airways) and the newly established SkyTeam (Air France, Delta and Korean Air)first divvied up the sky among themselves, "seamless travel" was the big selling point. The marketing harped on the idea that flying within an alliance would be like using one big airline: passengers and baggage would transfer effortlessly, multi-leg trips would be simple to book and earning and burning mileage would be easy. But when it comes to the last goal, gaps between member airlines are still wide enough for plenty of miles to fall through.

Even if you have the diligence to fly only with members of a single alliance, you won't necessarily rack up thousands upon thousands of miles. If you've joined through one airline, for example, you will often receive only partial credit for flights on its partners' planes. For the most part, alliances haven't coordinated their rules so that you simply earn the same miles for the same flights and burn the same amount to land a free ticket. An alliance is not a merger, so airlines look after their own bottom lines first. So before you start country- hopping with one of these sky cartels, beware of a few common restrictions.

With the two largest groupings, Star Alliance and Oneworld, the most straightforward snags are those that limit the miles you can earn on partners. Thai's Royal Orchid Plus does not credit miles on Air Canada's domestic flights, for example, and gives you only 70% credit for miles flown on Ansett's discounted economy fares. Similarly,

Singapore credits only 70% for miles flown on All Nippon Airways in economy class and nothing for certain discount tickets. American AAdvantage and British Airways members can't earn miles on each other's flts between Europe and the Americas (due to antitrust issues). Qantas credits only 70% for miles flown with U.S. economy fares.

Airlines confuse the issue further when it comes to obtaining Elite status within their mileage programs. Business and first-class travelers can often earn double or triple the miles for each journey. But on United and Thai, for instance, these miles do not bring the flyer any closer to privileged ranks. Requirements for attaining that vary greatly from one program to the next.

A United Mileage Plus member who flies 50,000 miles a year can qualify for Premier Executive status, earn double the miles on subsequent flights and gain Star Alliance Gold status. A Lufthansa Miles & More member who flies the same amount is a mere Frequent Traveler, earns no bonus and qualifies only for Star Alliance Silver status, losing out on perks like extra luggage and check-in priority. Korean Air's Morning Calm members need to fly 50,000 miles to become SkyTeam Elite members, while their Delta brethren earn the same privileges with just 30,000.

So, while it's a lot of work, choosing the right airline program to accrue miles with can make a big difference. If you start to feel frustrated, just remember: all mileage programs may not be created equal, but all mileage members are equally confused

\4 Cheap Fares ON THE NET

AESU Discount Fares     aesu.com
Bargain cheep fares     bargainholidays.com
Cheepest air fares      aviation.com
Cheep fares             bestfares.com, cheapflghts.co.uk
Cheep fares             gov/ost/aviation.com 
City guide Info         citysearch.com
Fares                   travelocity.com
HKG HRC                 hrc@hardrock-cafe.com.hk
INet Tvl Svcs/fares     itsnet.co.uk
JAX FAX consolodator    jaxfax.com
KL (Stn Htl Bldg)       elim.net/~inkor96/station 
Lei Yue Mun Rest.       taifathau.com
Maps                    mapquest.com 
Really cheepest fares   1travel.com
Tvl,                    peekaboo.com 
                        travelersnet.com 
 Info
Air Tvler's Handbook    cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/ 
Airport maps/trans      thetrip.com
Asia World              asiaworld.co.uk
American Air Lines      americanair.com 
AMSterdam, the city     clix.net/clix/amsterdam
Art of Tvl              artoftravel.com
Aviation Enthusiasts    brooklyn.cuny.edu 
Aviation safe/secure    faa.gov 
Backpacker              thebackpacker.com
CDC Atl, US.            cdc.gov/
CHI Tribune On-Line     chicago.tribune.com/travel
Courier travel          courier.com
Distance 2 cities       indo.com/distance
Embassies, Foreign      embassy.org
Exchange rates          oanda.com
Fielding Tvl Guides     fieldingtravel.com
Frequent Flyer          insideflyer.com
Hospitality home stays  aitec.edu.au
Internet Asia (SIN)     margaret_chan@regentpacific.com  
Israel                  goisrael.com
KL Tvler Stn (htl bldg) station1@tm.net.my  
Let's Go Guides         letsgo.com
Lonely Planet Tvl Gdes  lonelyplanet.com
MapBlast US/Europe      mapblast.com
Maps                    ipl.sils.umich.edu/ref/RR/GEN/
Maps On Us USA          mapsonus.com
Maps PARC               mapweb.parc.xerox.com/map/
Map, US cities          neosoft.com:80/citylink/
Maps On Us              mapsonus.com
Med, MCW Intl Clinic    intmed.mew.edu/itc/
Moon Guide excerps      moon.com
Period Tvl              period.com/travel
Priceline               priceline.com
Reed Travel Net         traveler.net
Rough Guides            roughguides.com, panix.com
SFO Brewing Co.         sfbrewing.com
Search sheet info       bendnet.com/travelsearch.html
Thai Air                thaiair.com
Travel, air             rec.travel.air
Travel, FAQs            metro.turnpike.net/s/spaoli
Travel Health Online    tripprep.com
Travel Maps             mapquest.com
Travel Warnings         travel.state.gov/
			travelocity.com
Tokyo, Japan events     so-net.or.jp/tokyoq
Tourist info            wings.buffalo.edu/world/
UK Streets/ZIPs         qas.com/
UK Tvl                  visitbritain.com
Vesuvio's Bar SFO       vesuvio.com
Weather Yahoo           weatheryahoo.com, wmo.ch
world cities            city.net
Yahoo Tvl               yahoo.com/recreation/travel/

cdc.gov
city.net
dfait-maeci.gc.ca
dfat.gov.au/consular
hostels.com/hostels/
itn.net/airlines
intellicast.com/weather/intl
istc.org Student discounts
iyhf.org Intl hostelling
lonelyplanet.com
moon.com
sta-travel.com
travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html

AIRFARES 2002 from...

 1 Los Angeles
 2 Chicago
 3 San Francisco
 4 Miami
 5 New York (east / south)
 6 NY (west)
 7 around Thailand

\1
BKK $ 750 TG  8/23/98          SEL $ 866 KE,SQ 4/13
DPS $ 350 CO  4/01/98          PEK $
JKT $1050 GA  8/03             SHA $
SIN $ 825 SQ 10/24/99 
KUL $                          MEB $1248 UA, QF 9/20/98
MNL $                          SYD $998 QF,UA,NZ 6/21
                               AUK $1079 AA 10/05 
OSO $ 518 UA 9/21              Cairns $350 CO 4/01/98
RIO $1253 RG 11/02/98 
BUE $1215 UA AR 9/14

\2
LAX/SFO $406 AA,UA 9/06        MIA $178 AA,UA 12/28
TYO $1600 AA,JL,UA 6/14        MEX $389 AA,UA 11/02
HKG $1560 UA 5/09/99           OCO $585 AA, LR 4/97
BKK $                          RIO/SAO $299 CO 9/05
KUL $                          CLS $
SIN $1250    3/97              BUE $

See CX All Asia Pass $999 till 12/15/97.

\3
BKK $1187 NW 6/15              SEL $866 KE,SQ 4/13
JKT $                          SHA $1047 UA 6/21/98
SIN $                          PEK $887 UA 9/28
KUL $
OSA $950 UA 6/11/00            SYD $1248 UA 10/18/98

\4
SJU $                          Forteleza $823 RG 3/22
HAV $                          SSA $608 RG 8/02/98
MEX $                          RIO $655 AA UA RG 4/19
OSO $289.                      BUE $470 AR 7/12
TGU $539 AA 8/10.              MVD $734 AA 5/03
                               CLS $832 AA, UA 4/13
Recife $608 Vasp 8/30/98

\5
MSY $190 TW 11/09/98           PAR $289 AA,CO,TW 12/14
MIA $178 AA,TW,DL 8/02         ROM $438 CO 9/16
MEX $347 UA,CO 11/02/98        ZRH $651 SW 11/02
OCO $480 CO,Lasca 8/27/98      BOM $1416 AI, DL 5/09/99
RIO $638 AA 10/10/99           ATH $760 OL,DL 10/05
BUE $659 UA,AR 9/06/98         IST $460 DL 9/20/98
SCL $769 CO 6/11/00            NDL $1416 UA 10/18/98

\6
TYO $675 NW,UA,JL 8/16/98      MNL $
HKG $1210 CX 6/11/00           BKK $
SEL $859  OZ 9/06/98           JKT $
PEK $1670 Air China 6/98       SIN $995 SQ 9/20/98
SHA $1670 CA 12/14             SYD $
TPE $1100 UA,NW,CO 10/10/99    AUK $

\7
BKK SIN $ 90  CNX KUL  OW   RT 
    HKG  108      PEN  78  133
RT  TPE  146  US$ SIN  78  133
US$ SEL  216      KMG  35   70 
    MNL  114      HKG 101  174
    PEN  106      KUL  74  131
    SGN  152      BKK     1650b
    KTM  200
    TYO  184  5200b OW 9400b RT