Various Air Links etc. Many airlines offer last minute NetSaver fares for webizens.
.c The Associated Press
The Travel Channel -
Keyword: Travel
The major U.S. airlines regularly offer Internet deals. How to participate:
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American Airlines
NetSAAvers are sent via e-mail to subscribers at no charge. International
lists are sent Monday for departures on Thursday that return on Monday or
Tuesday. Domestic lists are sent Wednesday for departure Friday night or
Saturday, and return Monday or Tuesday. It also offers some first class
fares, as well as special offers from Hilton Hotels and Avis Rent a Car.
Subscribe to the mailing list at: http://www.americanair.com
---
American Trans Air
Net Fares are available only on the Web.
Access the site at: http://www.ata.com
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Carnival Air Lines
Cyberdeals are e-mailed on Wednesday for weekend getaways.
Subscribe to the mailing list at: http://www.carnivalair.com
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Continental
COOL (Continental On Line) fares are e-mailed free to subscribers on
Wednesday. Some international destinations are included, as are some
discounts on car rentals from National. Travelers must depart on Saturday,
and return Monday or Tuesday.
Subscribe to the mailing list at: http://www.flycontinental.com
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Northwest
CyberSaver fares are posted on the Internet at 3 a.m. EST Wednesday for
travel Saturday and returning Monday or Tuesday. CyberSaver travel to Europe
is Tuesday through Thursday, making the trips slightly longer than a weekend.
Access the site at: http://www.nwa.com
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TWA
TWA started e-mailing its special fares in January. They are sent
Wednesday, and do not always require travel to start the follwing weekend.
The same fares also are available at TWA's web site. It also offers
discounted car rentals with Alamo.
Access the site at http://www.twa.com
---
USAir
E-Savers fares are sent free to subscribers via e-mail on Wednesday for
travel the following Saturday and returning on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday.
Tickets must be purchased at the time of reservation.
All fare specials originate in: Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New
York, Newark, N.J., Washington, Charlotte, N.C., and Baltimore.
USAir also offers international fares, e-mailing them on Sunday for
travel the following Wednesday, and returning no later than Sunday.
Subscribe at http://www.usair.com
AP-NY-02-18-97 1633EST
Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP
news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
*****************************************************
By KAREN SCHWARTZ
Business Writer
.c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (Feb. 18) - Thanks to the Internet, Jim Fairburn keeps a home in
Minneapolis and an office in Chicago.
He's not telecommuting. Instead, the deep airline discounts he gets
online allow him to work in one city and fly home for weekends in another.
''I would not have been able to afford a $600 commute every weekend,'' he
said, explaining that he makes the trip about three times each month using
the special fares, which lower the cost to about $70 for the round trip.
Most of the major airlines offer special Internet discounts, with savings
of up to 90 percent. With the belief that some cash is better than no cash,
the carriers use the offers as a last-minute way to fill planes that would
otherwise fly with empty seats. And since they promote the offers over the
Internet, they have virtually no advertising costs.
''We believe it is business that we would not otherwise have gotten in
any other form,'' said Steve Cossette, senior director of distribution
planning for Continental Airlines, which offers its Continental On Line
Travel Specials, or COOL, to more than 70,000 subscribers each Wednesday via
e-mail.
American, which pioneered the concept when it launched its NetSAAver
program nearly a year ago, made more than $1 million from the incremental
fares in its first eight months and sends its weekly list to more than
250,000 people.
USAir, TWA and Carnival Air Lines also send their weekly Internet
promotions for free to subscribers via e-mail. Northwest and American Trans
Air post their fares on their Web sites. And Delta expects to offer specials
at its Web site by yearend.
A recent Northwest CyberSaver offered a round-trip Detroit-to-Seattle
fare for $179, a savings of 69 percent off the 21-day advance purchase fare
of $572, and 88 percent off the full fare of $1,496.
There are variations from airline to airline, but in general, the offers
are posted Wednesday for flights departing the following Saturday and
returning that Monday or Tuesday. And despite the low fare, a passenger can
still collect frequent flier points on the flight.
''It works out great if you want a long weekend,'' said Jerry Brown,
president of C/A Communications in Dallas. While Brown claims he's not an
Internet expert, he's been able to find fares to Florida, Los Angeles, and
even Calgary in the Canadian province of Alberta.
The deals are not for everyone. In addition to the restrictions on travel
dates, the cities and fares vary from week to week, and while some major
cities appear, so do a lot of out-of-the-way places.
And one naysayer, Florida lawyer Donald Pevsner, contends the fares just
aren't fair. In a petition to the Department of Transportation, he argues
that consumers are being deceived because, if they call the airline and ask
for the lowest fare available, they often won't be quoted the Internet fare.
The traveler, or travel agent, needs to know to ask for it.
The airlines say there's nothing that requires them to offer all
discounts to all passengers. For instance, airlines offer special rates to
government employees and senior citizens.
And, Continental's Cossette said, a traveler would be quoted the Internet
fare on his airline if they happened to be departing and returning on the
dates when the fares were available.
''It's sort of like a lottery,'' he said.
There's more than money at stake for the airlines. They're excited about
the Internet fares because they are attracting a new type of flier - young
Web surfers who don't yet have a loyalty to a particular airline or frequent
flier program.
''The Wall Street Journal went online and found that 60 percent of the
online subscribers were not (news)paper subscribers,'' Cossette said. ''We're
seeing a similar phenomenon - a significant group of these people are new
customers. This, frankly, was a pleasant surprise for us.''
As the popularity of the program has caught on, the airlines have
expanded them to include discount hotel rooms and special car rental rates.
Northwest complemented a $69 round-trip Minneapolis-to-Chicago fare with a
$49 per night rate at a Chicago Radisson hotel.
Also becoming a part of the offering are Internet fares to destinations
in Europe, Canada, Mexico and Central America. (American offers separate
e-mail on Mondays with its international fares.)
Continental will even sometimes allow travelers to combine frequent flier
miles with the special fares. For instance, a traveler might be able to use
5,000 points and $19 for a ticket.
For Fairburn, a telecommunications manager for an major drug company, the
international fares allow him to attend meetings he couldn't otherwise
afford. He recently flew to Amsterdam on a $285 Internet fare, a 70 percent
savings.
''I was just there for a one-day presentation,'' he said. ''I couldn't
have done it any other way and I couldn't have found it any other place.''
And while the fares help his business, they also help his down time.
''On the odd weekend when I'm completely tired of work, for $70 to $120 I
got golfing'' - in Miami or Orlando, Fla.
For his leisure travel, Fairburn looks at the Internet postings as an
exciting game of chance - an opportunity to get away to a destination that
won't be known until the 11th hour.
''In a particularly cold Minnesota winter, Phoenix and Miami make an
attractive destination at an affordable rate,'' he said. ''I could blow that
much money on dinner and a movie.''
AP-NY-02-18-97 1632EST
Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP
news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
****************************
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