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Archive-name: travel/air/handbook/part1
Last-Modified: Tue Mar 19 14:26:32 1996 by Mark Kantrowitz
Version: 1.22
Size: 90743 bytes, 1794 lines
URL: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/mkant/Public/Travel/airfare.html
;;; ****************************************************************
;;; Airfare FAQ, Part 1 ********************************************
;;; ****************************************************************
;;; Written by Mark Kantrowitz
This post is a summary of useful information for air travelers. The
focus is on obtaining inexpensive air fares, although other topics are
also covered. It was previously posted under the title "FAQ: How to
Get Cheap Airtickets".
The information in this FAQ applies primarily to US domestic flights,
though some information may also apply to international flights.
Please mail comments, corrections, additions, suggestions, criticisms
and other information to mkant@cs.cmu.edu.
*** Copyright:
Copyright (c) 1989-94 by Mark Kantrowitz. All rights reserved.
This FAQ may be freely redistributed in its entirety without
modification provided that this copyright notice is not removed. It
may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents
(e.g., published for sale on CD-ROM, floppy disks, books, magazines,
or other print form) without the prior written permission of the
copyright holder. Permission is expressly granted for this document
to be made available for file transfer from installations offering
unrestricted anonymous file transfer on the Internet.
If this FAQ is reproduced in offline media (e.g., CD-ROM, print form,
etc.), a complimentary copy should be sent to Mark Kantrowitz, School
of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue,
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3891 USA.
This article is provided AS IS without any express or implied warranty.
*** Recent Changes:
;;; 1.20:
;;; 31-MAY-95 mk Replaced all the URLs in [4-12] with a pointer to the FAQ's
;;; home page, which now includes a substantially greater
;;; number of links.
;;; 1.21:
;;; 20-DEC-95 mk Corrected several London numbers, thanks to Richard Relf.
;;; 19-MAR-96 mk Info about Jet Train provided by Srivathsan Narasimhan
*** Topics Covered:
Part 1:
[1-0] Obtaining the FAQ
[1-1a] Standard Tricks: Advance Booking Discounts
[1-1b] Advance Purchase Fares
[1-2] Nested/Overlapping Tickets Strategy
[1-x] Stopovers and Circle Trips
[1-3] Fare Classes
[1-4] Classes of Service
[1-5] Fare Types
[1-6] Special Fare Categories
[1-7] Children's Fares
[1-8] Clergy Fares
[1-9] Military Fares
[1-10] Senior Citizen Fares
[1-11] Student/Youth Fares
[1-12] Family Fares
[1-13] Conference Fares
[1-14] Sympathy Fares, Emergency Fares
[1-15] Refunds
[1-16] Flying Standby
[1-17] Getting Bumped
[1-18] Special Travel Dates/Fare Sales/Fare Wars
[1-19] Moving Up the Return Flight
[1-20] Hidden City Fares
[1-21] Buying Someone Else's Nonrefundable Ticket
[1-22] Discount Airlines
[1-23] Tour Desks
Part 2 (Travel Agents, Connections, Airports, Baggage):
Travel Agents:
[2-1] Travel Agents
[2-2] Unusual Travel Agents: Commission Rebaters
[2-3] Consolidators
[2-4] Couriers
[2-5] Travel Agencies that Specialize in Students
[2-6] Visit USA
[2-7] Free Upgrades to First Class
[2-8] Companion Tickets
[2-9] Avoiding Travel Scams
[2-10] Missed Connections
[2-11] Getting There Faster
[2-12] Airports Monopolized by One Carrier
[2-13] Hub Cities
Baggage:
[2-14] Lost Baggage
[2-15] Baggage Limits
[2-16] Pets
[2-17] Bicycles
[2-18] Restrictions on Electronics
[2-19] X-ray Machines/Metal Detectors
[2-20] Packing Tips/Checklist
Part 3 (Safety & Comfort, Frequent Flyers):
Travel Safety, Comfort, and Convenience:
[3-1] Travel Advisories/Health Information
[3-2] Travel Safety
[3-3] Air Quality
[3-4] Smoke-Free Flights
[3-4a] Air Pressure Problems (Colds)
[3-5] Special Meals
[3-6] Jetlag
[3-7] Pregnant Passengers
[3-8] Tips for Families Flying with Children
[3-9] Tips for Business Travelers
[3-9b] Best Seats
[3-10] Exchanging Currency
Frequent Flyers:
[3-11] Frequent Flyer Programs
[3-12] Premier FF Membership
[3-13] Hotel Frequent Flyer Plans
[3-14] Credit Card Voucher Offers
[3-15] Telephone Companies
[3-16] Discount Coupon Offers
Part 4 (Appendices, Miscellaneous):
Appendices:
[4-1] Airline Reservation Phone Numbers
[4-2] Flight Information
[4-3] On-line reservation services
[4-4] Complaints and Compliments
[4-5] Glossary
[4-6] Other Sources of Information
[4-7] Further Reading
[4-8] Phone Numbers Included in this FAQ
Miscellaneous:
[4-9] IRS Rules Change
[4-10] Airline Antitrust Litigation
[4-11] Miscellaneous Notes
[4-12] World-Wide Web (WWW) Resources
Search for [#] to get to question number # quickly.
*** Notes:
All dollar ($) amounts in this FAQ are in US dollars.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-0] Obtaining the FAQ
Certain questions and topics come up frequently in the rec.travel.air
newsgroup. This FAQ is intended to gather these questions and their
answers into a convenient and comprehensive reference. The hope is
that this will cut down on the user time and network bandwidth used to
post, read and respond to the same questions over and over, as well as
answering questions some readers may not even have thought to ask.
Posts of a commercial nature, such as the buying and selling of
airplane tickets, should be posted to rec.travel.marketplace and not
this newsgroup.
An updated version of this file is posted once a month on the 13th of
the month to the newsgroups rec.travel.air and news.answers. The
version date for the file is located in the header near the top of the
file.
In between postings, the latest version of this FAQ is available by
anonymous FTP from
ftp.cs.cmu.edu:/user/mkant/Travel/ [128.2.206.173]
using username "anonymous" and password "name@host" (substitute your
email address) or via AFS in the Andrew File System directory
/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mkant/Public/Travel/
as the files airfare1.faq, airfare2.faq, airfare3.faq, and airfare4.faq.
Other files available from this directory include:
bucket.faq Edward Hasbrouck's FAQ on Bucket Shops and Consolidators
classes.txt List of fare classes
discounts.txt Table of Airline Special Fare Discounts (29-JUL-92)
em_intrfrnc.txt Summary of EM Interference by Laurie Bechtler
ff.faq Joel Chan's Frequent Flyer FAQ
flt_attdnt.txt Description of the Job of a Flight Attendant
iata.tgz List of worldwide airport IATA codes by Peter Loibl
and Paulo Santos
jetlag.txt The ANL jet lag diet.
online.faq John Levine's FAQ on Online Computer Reservation Systems
tourism.faq Where to get tourist/travel information
The FAQ postings are also archived in the periodic posting archive on
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/travel/air/handbook/ [18.181.0.24]
If you do not have anonymous ftp access, you can access the archive by
mail server as well. Send an E-mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
with "help" and "index" in the body on separate lines for more
information.
A HTML version of the FAQ is available as
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/travel/air/handbook/top.html
If you need to cite the FAQ for some reason, use the following format:
Mark Kantrowitz, "Air Traveler's Handbook", rec.travel.air, , ,
ftp.cs.cmu.edu:/user/mkant/Travel/airfare?.faq, mkant+@cs.cmu.edu.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-1a] Standard Tricks: Advance Booking Discounts
Airlines give better fares to people who advance book because they are
trying to encourage people to book as early as possible. If the
airline were to lower fares just before flight time there would be a
flood of people (on random flights) at the last minute. Airlines need
an accurate estimate of the number of people and amount of baggage on
a flight so that they can load the proper amount of fuel. (Meals and
beverages also have to be loaded.)
Moreover, people who book at the last minute are usually flying on
business, and therefore the business is paying for it. People flying
for pleasure usually know weeks or months in advance, and can't afford
the prices that a business would pay. Thus it is to an airline's
advantage to set rates according to the major differences between
business and leisure travelers:
o Business travelers fly mostly between 9 and 5, whereas leisure
travelers can fly offpeak hours.
o Business travelers buy tickets on very short notice, whereas
leisure travelers plan trips well in advance.
o Business travelers do not stay over a weekend (= Saturday
night), whereas leisure travelers do.
So airlines typically give discounts for people who stay over a
weekend, flying offpeak hours, and purchasing tickets 7 days, 14 days,
21 days or 30 days in advance. Such fares are known as excursion,
discount, or supersaver fares.
For example, US domestic excursion fares require that you buy
your roundtrip ticket 7 days, 14 days, or 30 days in advance, and that
you stay over a weekend (usually Saturday night, though sometimes
Sunday night as well). Some may also restrict the travel to a
30-day maximum stay. Stopovers aren't allowed, except for the purpose
of connection (if you want a stopover, you'll have to pay extra).
Some fares may be limited to a particular routing (e.g., routes with
connections cost less than nonstop flights). You may also be limited
to flying during offpeak hours, with flights during the busiest times
of the day costing more. Tickets are usually non-refundable and
non-transferable, and may either be non-changeable or have a $35
change fee. The price is usually the average of the two one-way
tickets. (E.g., a 2-week advance PGH/BOS advance ticket is around
$200 this way.) Tickets must be purchased within 24 hours of the
reservation.
For international excursion fares, also known as apex fares, you must
book at least 21 days in advance of the flight, and you may have to
purchase the tickets at the time of the reservation. Minimum stay is
usually 7-10 days, and maximum stay can range from 3 months to a year.
Midweek travel (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday) is usually cheaper.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. Fares often depend on
the seasons.
Since a regular 1-way ticket is so much worse than a round-trip
excursion fare, it sometimes pays to buy a round-trip ticket and throw
away the other half (if you're only going one way). If you buy a round
trip ticket and throw away the other half, make the first leg of the
trip the destination, since some airlines will cancel the return trip
if you don't show up for the first leg. If you intend to skip ONE leg
of a multi-leg flight, tell this to your reservation agent in advance,
so that they can annotated your PNR to prevent subsequent legs from
being cancelled. (Note: You can't use this technique to exploit a
"hidden city" fare. You'll have to have a very good reason for
skipping a leg for the travel agent to allow it, and you may have to
pay a different fare to do so.)
For example, a round-trip to San Francisco from Pittsburgh with a
one-night stayover is $1,333. However, the cost of a Saturday night
stayover is only $479 if you order the ticket a week or two in
advance. Purchasing two round trip tickets, one originating from Pgh
and one from SF, and then using one half of each round trip ticket
saves you $375.
Note that for many airlines the discount fares depend solely on the
date of the first leg of the trip. The price does not vary no matter
when the return flight is (so long as you stay over a Saturday night).
You could buy a flight with one leg in March and the return in
November, and it would cost the same as if the return was in March.
For some of the lowest fares, however, there is now a 30-day maximum
stay. Staying more than 30 days often increases the fare by about 25%.
If you travel on offpeak hours and low volume days, the rates are
cheaper. Thus to guarrantee a low cost flight, you have to be very
flexible about where you are going, what time and day you are leaving,
and how long you want to stay. Offpeak hours typically include before
7am, between 10am and 2pm, and after 7pm, depending on the day of the week.
Also important is when you make the reservation. If you make the
reservation for an offpeak flight during the peak season (say, make a
reservation for February just before Thanksgiving), you may be charged
the peak rates. After the holidays some airlines lower their discount
fares to attract customers. So you may be able to get a better fare by
making your reservation right after the holidays.
If you notice that the fare for your flight has been lowered after you
bought the ticket, try calling the airline. Sometimes they will refund
the difference between the price you paid and the lower fare. (You may
have to go to the airport to get the ticket rewritten at the lower
fare.) You may have to pay a $35 to $50 reticketing fee to get the
refund, but some airlines have been known to waive the fee if you get
the money back in the form of a voucher (to be applied to future
travel) instead of cash. For example, USAir will refund the
difference less a service charge, or give a travel voucher (credit)
for the difference with no service charge.
According to a Wall Street Journal article by James S. Hirsch, (July
30, 1993) many airlines now test fare increases by raising prices on
the weekend (Friday night through Sunday night). If other airlines
don't match the increases, the fares return to normal on Monday. So
you should be careful when purchasing tickets on the weekend. (This
works around the Justice Department consent decree that prevents
airlines from signalling proposed fare increases in the computer
reservation systems. When the competitors didn't match the increase, the
airlines would cancel the increase before it took effect. With the new
method, since it affects current prices, it technically isn't price-fixing.)
Hirsch also reported that many airlines have increased the $25 charge
for changing advanced purchase tickets to $30 or $35. Note that this
is often a minimum fee -- you'll probably have to pay the full
difference in price if the new ticket price is much higher. Airlines
are using these measures to discourage passengers from buying tickets
during a fare war and later changing the time of flight or
destination. If you go to one of the airline's ticket agents (not a
travel agent), some airlines will reissue a ticket at the lower fare
without fee if the difference is refunded in the form of a voucher for
future travel.
In addition to the Saturday night stay requirement, many airlines now
give additional discounts for travel midweek (usually Tuesday and
Wednesday, sometimes Thursday) when a Saturday night stay is involved.
Some also provide discounts for travel on Saturdays. Flights usually
aren't fully booked on these days. For example, Northwest discount
coupons recently had this restriction. Most leisure travelers like to
travel Sunday-Sunday, or at least not miss a large part of the week.
Business travelers, of course, don't like to stay over the weekend.
When making your reservation through an airline ticket agent or
through a travel agent, always ask for the lowest possible fare. Don't
just give them specific dates/times and ask them for a low fare --
tell them that your plans are flexible, and you'd like to know what
the low fare is. If you're too specific on the flight details, and
don't say that you're looking for the cheapest possible fare, you
might not get the best price. Sometimes by departing on a different
day, you can get a much cheaper fare.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-1b] Advance Purchase Fares
[Note: This section to be merged into preceding section.]
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-2] Nested/Overlapping Tickets Strategy
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.
--- ------
| A ----1----->>---MON---- B |
| --- |
| A ----2-----<<---FRI---- B | |
--- | |
| A ----3----->>---MON---- B | |
| --- |
| A ----4-----<<---FRI---- B |
--- ------
The two round trip flights consist of two outgoing flights (1, 3) and
two returning flights (2, 4). Normally these are grouped as on the
left, with flight #1 from A to B being paired with flight #2 from B to
A, and similarly for flights #3 and #4. The result is two midweek
flights, neither of which is over a Saturday night. But we could also
pair flight #1 with flight #4, and flight #2 with flight #3, as shown
on the right. Then the middle pair of flights (#2 and #3) becomes a
round trip with its origin at your destination, and both sets of round
trip tickets are over a Saturday night.
The 30-day maximum stay on discount fares prevents you from using this
overlapping round trip tickets trick if you travel to a destination
infrequently (say, every six months). If your trips are more than 30
days apart, here's a new trick to use. Buy two round trip discount
tickets (weekend stay) per trip, using one for the outgoing trip and
one for the return, and then turn in the return portion of each ticket
for credit towards your next trip. Even with the $25 or so processing
charge per ticket for crediting and reissuing the ticket, it is still
cheaper to do this than to buy a single round-trip ticket without a
weekend stay.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-x] Stopovers and Circle Trips
If you're flying to two destinations, ask your travel agent about the
rates for stopovers and circle trips. A stopover is useful when you
want to stay for one or two days at a connecting city, and costs only an
extra $20-50. A circle trip applies when your intermediate
destination isn't a connecting city, and costs less than a pair of
round trip tickets, even when your point of origin is a connecting
city for the middle leg of the circle trip. This is especially true
when one of the stays isn't over a Saturday night.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-3] Fare Classes
When airlines set their fares, they divide their seating into
"classes", which are based on an analysis of past passenger purchases.
Suppose you have a 100 seat airliner going from DC to SF. The rates
might break down on a particular day as follows:
30 seats at $315 round trip, 30 days in advance
20 seats at $350 RT, 21 days in advance
20 seats at $375 RT, 14 days in advance
20 seats at $400 RT, 7 days in advance
10 seats at $450 RT, full fare, available until the last minute.
Now if the time has elapsed within a given price group, then the fare
will go up to the rate of the next price group. If they sell the quota
of tickets for a price group, even if the time has not elapsed, then
they can only sell you tickets at the next rate group price (which is
naturally higher). So it can pay to make your reservations way in
advance. (The number of seats available at each fare varies from day
to day, depending on the airline's yield management algorithm.)
Actually, it would be more accurate to say that airlines distinguish
between classes of service and types of fares. A discount ticket
(fare) for first class travel (service) could, in theory, be cheaper
than an advance purchase ticket (fare) for thrift travel in the first
class compartment (service). The best way to describe it is as a
series of overlapping tiers of fares.
There are five regular classes of service: First, Business, Standard,
Coach and Thrift. Standard is practically nonexistent these days.
Fares usually drop with lower class service. For each class except
Standard there are six main types of reduced-fare tickets: discounted,
night, offpeak, weekend, advance purchase, and excursion fare.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-4] Classes of Service
The following chart gives some of the letters used to designate each
class of service. Note that Fn means Night/Offpeak Coach in the First
Class compartment, and Yn means Night/Offpeak Coach in other than the
First Class compartment.
Regular Premium Discounted Night/Offpeak
First Class F P A Fn (Coach in FC seat)
Business Class C J D Cn
Standard S W Bn
Coach Economy Y B, H, M, Q, T Qn, Yn
Thrift K L, V Vn, Kn
Supersonic R
Shuttle Service U (No reservation needed, Seat guaranteed)
Shuttle Service E (No reservation allowed)
In reality there is no difference between classes F and P, nor between
classes C and J. The Q class is usually used for discounted student fares.
If you want the cheapest fares, look at the Thrift and Coach Economy
classes.
Airlines have started eliminating First Class, because many companies
now have policies that won't let their employees claim a first class
ticket on their travel expenses. Instead, the airlines have started
upgrading their Business Class as a marketing ploy (and, of course,
company policies are now requiring employees to travel coach).
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-5] Fare Types
The following lists some of the letters used to designate different
types of fares. This is distinct from class of service. A number
(e.g., 7 or 14) usually means how many days in advance the ticket must
be bought.
Miscellaneous
AP Advance Purchase
EX Excursion Fare
B Capacity-controlled Excursion Fares
SW Offpeak; Saturday or Sunday
W Weekend
X Midweek
US 48 contiguous states (not including alaska/hawaii)
Economy
KH Weekend
KL Midweek/Offpeak
MH Weekend (Discount Fare)
ML Midweek/Offpeak (Discount Fare)
L Capacity-controlled Inventory
Standard
SH Peak
SL Offpeak
V Offpeak
Coach
B Capacity-controlled Inventory
BN Night Coach
H Capacity-controlled Inventory, Coach/Night Coach
V Offpeak
YH Weekend
YL Midweek/Offpeak
Super Coach
QH Weekend; applies Fri-Sun
QL Midweek; applies Mon-Thur
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-6] Special Fare Categories
All airlines have special rate categories, but you have to ask for
them by name, since the agents are usually not familiar with them.
You may even have to talk to the agent's supervisor. Below is a brief
listing of different special fare categories, followed by a more in
depth discussion of standby fares.
Also, see preceding discussion of classes of service and fare types.
For example, on TWA, class K, V, YC, and M fares are the cheapest.
Note: Just because you qualify for a special fare category doesn't
mean that it is the cheapest fare possible. Shop around. By being
flexible with your travel plans, you may be able to save even more.
When the special fares are discounted against full fare coach prices,
you can often do better by purchasing a supersaver or other advance
booking fare. Of course, if your special fare discount may be
combined with other offers (e.g., 5% discount for using the official
airline of a conference to travel to the conference), you win both
ways.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-7] Children's Fares
Children under 2 years of age travel free on US domestic flights.
(That is, children who have not reached their second birthday at the
date of commencement of travel.) To be more accurate, the child must
not occupy a separate seat (sits on its parent's lap), and must be
accompanied by a fare paying adult passenger 12 years of age and over
(the lap in which it sits). If the flight isn't full, usually the kid
can sit in the seat next to the adult, but if the flight is full, the
child will have to sit in the parent's lap for the duration of the
flight. Such children do not get a baggage allowance. Ask for an
"infant ticket" when you make your reservations. Additional children
under 2 are subject to regular children's fares. On international
flights you need a "lap child" ticket which typically costs about $100
(10% of the regular fare).
Fares for children (age 2-12) accompanied by a fare paying adult
passenger and occupying a separate seat are cheaper than fares for
unaccompanied children. Some carriers will not accept unaccompanied
children under five years of age (some 8 years, some 12). Fares for
accompanied children range from 50% to 100% of an adult fare
(1/2 fare, 2/3 fare, 3/4 fare, 80%, 90%, full fare). Fares for
unaccompanied children range from 50% of adult fare to 125% of an
adult fare (1/2 fare, 2/3 fare, 3/4 fare, full fare, 1-1/4 fare).
Nowaways, 2/3 fare seems to be the most common children's fare.
Tell your travel agent before they start searching for discount fares
that you're traveling with children. Not all discount adult fares
allow discounts for children, so it may sometimes pay to buy a
slightly more expensive adult ticket that allows for much cheaper
children fares.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-8] Clergy Fares
Clergy have been entitled to discounts by various airlines in the
past, but as of May 1994, none were participating in such programs.
Qualified parties would be advised to check with airlines at the time
of their booking to see if these programs have been reinstated.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: [1-9] Military Fares
US military personnel traveling at their own expense on
authorized leave or pass may get signicantly cheaper fares. Discharged
military personnel must complete all travel within 7 days of discharge
date. Valid active duty US green identification card or separation
orders must be presented. USAir has a 50% military discount.
Also, any military person who is on active duty and either on TDY
(temporary duty), emergency leave or regular leave, or any retired
military person may sign up for space available travel on
pre-scheduled military flights to any air force base (e.g., Hawaii,
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