The (Sort Of) Lowest Airfare
Charlie Leoha slaps newspapers for letting readers think the "lowest fares" chart is much more than an airline ad:
We've all seen the tables of "lowest air fares" in the Sunday papers. I remember using them regularly. But I've never really examined them for accuracy. I always assumed they were a true listing of low fares.Not so. They're often flat out wrong.
In fact, the charts I just examined in the Boston Globe (and many other newspapers) are often wrong and misleading.
Just after Independence Air began flying to Boston from Washington, I took a look at the "lowest round-trip air fares chart" in the Boston Globe. Strangely, Independence Air wasn't mentioned at all. And jetBlue wasn't mentioned anywhere as having the lowest air fares.
Then I noticed flights from Manchester, N.H., and flights from Providence, R.I., and noted that no Southwest flights were listed.
How can a Lowest Air Fare Chart not even mention these three airlines? Independent Air, jetBlue and Southwest are the epitome of low cost airlines and in most cases lead the low fare fray. Without them, we would still be paying $800+ for a walk-up fare to Philadelphia and thousands of dollars for transcontinental flights.
Upon closer examination, I noticed that the fine print at the bottom of the Lowest Round-trip Air Fares Chart said, "Air fare information is supplied by Orbitz on the internet at www.orbitz.com."
Ah ha!
Orbitz doesn't list Independence Air, jetBlue or Southwest. Hence the chart in the paper is a product of journalistic laziness. Heaven forbid, that a newspaper journalist research flight costs between various points by checking out more than one Web site.
Leoha's just one of the columnists on Ticked.com -- along with Chris Elliott, my favorite on the site. Lots of insider information on travel. And here's another one of my travel secrets -- BiddingForTravel.com -- to figure out how low you can go in bidding for Priceline and Expedia flights, hotels, and more.
Did you see today's (sunday 10/10) LA Times Trav section? Rosemary McClure bravely went through the humiliating process of responding to one of those "Congratulations, you've been selected to receive a free 5-day vacation....bla bla" promos on behalf of all of us. (Chris Reynolds and his wife did something similar on "free" cruises a while back).
Well it's just like you thought -- high-pressure salesmanship ý la Timeshare-condo, and you end up paying so many "taxes" and "handling fees" that you could have had the bloody trip cheaper through Expedia.
Also in the trav section: Miss Dimwit Spano is now pining for popcorn in the cinema. Ughhhhhh....
Stu "El InglÈs" Harris at October 10, 2004 3:56 PM