Airline information on-line on the Internet FAQ
John R. Levine
Last-modified: 2001/07/01
No changes from last week.
Please look through this entire FAQ, particularly the PLEASE NOTE at the end,
before e-mailing me a question or comment, since most of the questions I get
are already answered in the FAQ.
There's an enormous amount of information available on the Web about airlines
and aviation. This FAQ concentrates on two things: schedules, fares,
reservations, and tickets for commercial airlines, and on-line travel agents.
We list both airline-sponsored and independent information.
* What's in this FAQ?
The first parts discuss on-line sources of airline schedules and fares, of
which there are several general-purpose services.
After that it lists airlines that have any of online schedules, fares,
reservations, ticket sales, and flight status.
Next comes a listing of on-line specials, sources of special fares and other
deals available over the net. Many airlines have short-notice specials which
are worth checking out.
The rest of the FAQ lists travel agents that offer service over the net and
have indicated that they'd like to be listed. I am not a travel agent (I write
computer books which you can find out about in my web site at
http://net.gurus.com, consult on computer topics, and have only one client in
the travel industry, Orbitz) and the agent listings are provided free to any
agent that asks and sends in a short description of what he or she offers.
* Where is this FAQ available?
It's on the Web at http://www.iecc.com/airline/airinfo.html, and perhaps at
mirror sites. Anyone is welcome to mirror the HTML version of this FAQ but
please let me know by e-mail <air...@iecc.com> so I can tell you when there
are updated versions.
You can also get it by e-mail every Sunday. To get on the mailing list, send a
message to majo...@lists.iecc.com containing the line "subscribe airline".
(Don't type the quotes, nor any other punctuation.)
* How do on-line reservations work?
Four giant airline computer systems in the United States handle nearly all the
airline reservations in the country. (They're known as CRSs, or computer
reservations systems.) Although each airline has a ``home'' CRS, the systems
are all interlinked so that you can, with few exceptions, buy tickets for any
airline from any CRS. The dominant systems in the U.S. are Sabre (home to
American and US Airways), Apollo/Galileo (home to United), Worldspan (home to
Delta, Northwest, and TWA), and Amadeus (Continental and many European lines.)
Many of the low-price start-up airlines don't participate in any of these
systems but have their own Web sites where you can check flights and buy
tickets. Southwest, the largest and oldest of the low-price airlines, doesn't
participate either; it has arrangements with Sabre, however, so Sabre shows
Southwest flights even though none of the other three does. (Southwest's web
site gets car and hotel info from Galileo, but the info seems not to flow the
other way.)
In theory, all the systems show the same data; in practice, however, they get
a little out of sync with each other. If you're looking for seats on a
sold-out flight, an airline's home system is most likely to have that last,
elusive seat. If you're looking for the lowest fare to somewhere, check all
four systems because a fare that's marked as sold out on one system often
mysteriously reappears on another system. Some categories of fares are visible
only to travel agents and don't appear on any of the Web sites, particularly
if you aren't staying over a weekend, so check with a good agent before
buying. On the other hand, many airlines have available some special deals
that are only on their Web sites and that agents often don't know about.
Confused? You should be. We were.
The confusion is even worse if you want to fly internationally. Official fares
to most countries are set via a treaty organization called the IATA, so most
computer systems list only IATA fares for international flights. It's easy to
find entirely legal ``consolidator'' tickets sold for considerably less than
the official price, however, so an online or offline agent is extremely useful
for getting the best price. The airlines also have some impressive online
offers, most notably from Cathay Pacific, which once or twice a year runs an
online auction for a plane full of tickets from the United States to Hong
Kong, with the lowest winning bids often less than half the normal fare. In
late 1997, Cathay Pacific had a remarkable online-only special of two
round-trip tickets from the United States to Hong Kong and a week in a hotel
for less than $1,000 (total, not per person).
Here's our distilled wisdom about buying tickets online:
* Check the online systems to see what flights are available and for an idea
of the price ranges. Check more than one CRS. For tickets within the U.S. and
Canada, the prices in the CRS are for the most part the real prices that
people are paying.
* After you have found a likely airline, check that airline's site to see
whether it has any special Web-only deals. If a low-fare airline has the
route, be sure to check that one too, since most low-fare airlines don't
appear in CRS listings.
* If your schedule is flexible, check ticket bidding sites including Hotwire
(http://www.hotwire.com) and Priceline (http://www.priceline.com) and ticket
auctions such as Sky Auction (http://www.skyauction.com/).
* Particularly if you don't qualify for the lowest fare visible on the CRS,
check with a travel agent to see whether he can beat the online price, and buy
your tickets from the agent unless the online deal is better. Some agents give
you a small discount if you make your reservations yourself, because the agent
only has to print the ticket and mail it to you.
* For international tickets, do all the steps above in this list, and then
check both online and with your agent for consolidator tickets. Again, this is
particularly important if you don't qualify for the lowest published fare. See
Edward Hasbrouck's Consolidators and Bucket Shops FAQ
(http://hasbrouck.org/faq) for much more detailed information on consolidator
tickets.
* How can I get airline schedules on the Internet?
There are many sources listed below. Many of them will also let you book and
buy tickets. Until mid-1996 there were paid services were considerably better
than the free ones, but now I find that the free services are just as good.
* What's available on the Internet?
There are now several Internet gateways to airline CRS (computer reservation
systems) described later in this section. Also check this interesting
comparison of many of them (http://www.travelterminal.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl).
* Are these the same systems that travel agents use?
The underlying data are the same, but the interface is different. Some data
are visible to agents, but not to these systems. A good way to work is to make
the best reservation you can on-line, then call a travel agent, tell him what
you've reserved, and see if he can do better.
* How do I get access to them?
Most of these systems are provided through web sites. Many of the sites use
frames and SSL secure connections so you need a relatively recent browser such
as Opera, Netscape 3.0 or later, or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or later.
A few systems provide their own software such as Air Travel Manager, which
invariably run on Windows 95/98/NT.
Travelocity: Travelocity (http://www.travelocity.com) is an online agent
backed by Sabre. Travelocity recently merged with Preview Travel in a complex
transaction in which the surviving company was Preview but was renamed to
Travelocity and is controlled by Sabre. You need to provide a credit card
number to make reservations, but they won't charge you until you tell them to.
Tickets can be issued by mail or through any Sabre travel agent. I find it
slower and less flexible than the old line at a time Easy interface, but it's
prettier. There is also a great deal of travel destination information of
variable usefulness. Unlike most other web-based systems, it lets you hold a
reservation without buying it. Also handles hotels and rental cars. A nice
fare watcher feature lets you list a few routes you're interested in, and it
sends you e-mail when an interesting fare becomes available. Note: As of March
2001, Travelocity adds a $10 to tickets on Northwest and KLM because those two
airlines won't pay commissions on on-line bookings. You can avoid the
surcharge by booking on the airlines' own web site. Travelocity recently added
a "last minute deals" feature which is a rebranded version of Site59
(http://www.site59.com).
Easy Sabre (http://www.easysabre.com) was the oldest but still the best
computer reservation system available to the public. It died in June 1999,
because its owners weren't willing to fix its Y2K problems. Phoo. Many but not
all of the things you could do with Easy are available, in various complex
ways, on Travelocity, which has a guide page
(http://www2.travelocity.com/easysabre/faq.html) for ex-Easy users.
Air Travel Manager (http://www.airtm.com/) is an interface program for
Travelocity that runs on Windows 95/98 and lets you use a relatively easy to
use point and click command system. The new third release uses Travelocity
rather than the recently departed Easy Sabre. A limited version that just does
tickets is freeware, the full version costs $59. I tried it for a simple round
trip between Ithaca and Boston, and it insisted that the lowest fare was $960
rather than the $427 that Easy found on its own, so I would treat anything it
tells you with great scepticism.
Worldspan and Expedia: Microsoft Expedia (http://expedia.msn.com) is
Microsoft's flashy entrant into the web travel biz. The site is garish (like
most new web sites), but it's reasonably easy to negotiate and to find
schedules and fares. Ticketing on-line with credit card, they send you the
tickets. Underlying info is apparently from Worldspan. Unlike most other
systems, you have to provide a credit card number to make a reservation even
if you don't want to buy immediately. When I tried to reserve, it said it the
credit card link was down, no reservations possible, call a number in Florida
if it's urgent. Yeah, right. (At Microsoft, quality is job 1.1.) There's also
lots of promos and tie-ins, currently offering extra frequent flyer miles on
American, Continental, and Northwest for flights booked via Expedia. You can
sign up for weekly e-mail about best fares on routes you select. Your web
browser must accept cookies or Expedia doesn't work. This also applies to
other Expedia-based systems like Continental's COOL Travel Assistant.
Worldspan (http://www.worldspan.com) is another large international CRS owned
mostly by Delta, Northwest, TWA. They provide a Web availability and pricing
system, which underlies the web sites of participating agents as well as the
Delta, Northwest, and TWA web sites. They may still offer their old front end
(similar to Easy Sabre, but even more cryptic, I really like it) on
Compuserve. It's the system that underlies Microsoft Expedia (described
above).
Apollo systems: Internet Travel Network (http://www.itn.net) is now part of
American Express. (Their booking system now also calls itself Getthere.com)
It's a WWW-based flight booking system. You make reservations, using Apollo,
which are then ticketed by any one of a long list of participating travel
agencies, AmEx by default. Users pay nothing, agencies pay $3/ticket. It often
has trouble finding itineraries, for one I tried it found two, while Easy
found over a dozen, and it sometimes misses low fares that the other systems
find. They've been working to make it better, and it's improved somewhat over
the past year, so if the agency you use participates, it's worth trying, and
again it's hard to fault the price. Several other sites on the net including
thetrip.com have ``private label'' connections to ITN, but it's the same
system, usually just with slightly different screen backgrounds and titles.
The base ITN system uses data from Apollo, but apparently some of the private
label versions use other CRS. Now that Easy is gone, this is the only system I
know that can display available fare classes, an important feature for some
kinds of discounts and special fares. It also displays an approximate number
of seats available in each fare class, useful both for guessing whether you
need to buy a cheap ticket right away, and for seeing which flights are likely
to have seats available for upgrades to first class. Set your display
preferences to ``expert.''
United Airlines (https://www.ual.com/) has a web reservation system which is a
slightly customized interface to ITH/Getthere. Your ID is your Mileage Plus
frequent flyer number, non-members can join on-line. Rental car and hotel info
are now available. More reports from users are welcome, since it won't let me
join until I can tell it the exact address on my most recent Milage Plus
statement, which I still can't find. Sigh. Similar data to ITN, since it's the
same engine.
* Sidestep
Sidestep (http://www.sidestep.com) searches multiple airline web sites to find
the lowest fares, along with promotions like weekend fares and extra frequent
flyer miles. You download and install an add-in to Internet Explorer so it
only runs on Windows with IE. It's gotten wonderful reviews but when I've
tried to use it I haven't been very impressed with what it found, no better
than fare searches at Travelocity. It splatters your browser, desktop,
toolbar, and start menu with icons which is really annoying.
* OneTravel
OneTravel (http://www.onetravel.com) offers booking and ticketing. (They
recently absorbed FLIFO.) A "fare beater" feature searches negotiated and
"white label" fares. Similar data to Travelocity, less flashy, but less buggy,
too. Data from Amadeus. In some quick tests, Travelocity found fares that they
didn't and vice versa, with Travelocity's lower.
* Orbitz
Orbitz (http://www.orbitz.com), intended to be the "killer" airline ticket web
site, launched on June 4th. It's owned by United, Northwest, Continental,
Delta, and American, with at least 25 other airlines as affiliates. It has a
very nice lowest fare search engine. You can give it ranges of dates and tell
it how far you're willing to drive to or from an alternate airport. They
promise unbiased fare and schedule listings, and have agreements with
affiliate airlines to include all publicly available fares (a term that is
harder to define than it looks) such as web specials. They also have some
spiffy customer service, e.g., they called me to tell me that a flight I was
scheduled on later the same day would be delayed due to crew unavailability.
(Disclaimer: I am a paid member of Orbitz' Consumer Advisory Board.)
Amadeus: AmadeusLink (http://www.amadeus.net/), the successor to System One
which started a long time ago as Eastern Airlines' reservation system, has now
grown into an enormous international CRS called Amadeus, with a bunch of
attractive web pages. They offer extensive schedule and price info. For
bookings, you need to use a subscribing travel agency, either one of the agent
systems that link to Amadeus such as TripWeb and Travelweb, below, or pick one
on Amadeus' site. The AmadeusLink booking systems all link into the same site,
so other than some of the graphics, the function they provide is identical.
TripWeb (http://www.tripweb.com) is run by a Florida travel agency and offers
search and bookings through Amadeus, with free ticket delivery. Underneath
it's ITN, but it uses Amadeus for underlying data.
Travelweb (http://www.travelweb.com) has a lot of travel info, graphics that
look like they were drawn with a crayon (it's an aesthetic effect, I guess),
and airline reservations via Expedia.
Discounted international tickets: AirTreks (http://www.airtreks.com) has a
spiffy web site that helps construct and price multi-stop and round-the-world
international travel. They're a travel agency, the site estimates the price,
exact prices and tickets come from live agents at the agency. (That's what you
want, no computer can navigate the swamp of international routes and fares
very well.)
Farepoint (http://www.farepoint.co.uk/) provides a large database of fares via
UK travel agents. The site links to some of the agents who offer their
service.
TISS (http://www.tiss.com) is an online database in Germany with current
airfares provided by a group of consolidators. They offer departures from a
lot of different countries, now including the U.S. They claim the prices they
offer are the best available. For routes within the US they act as a front end
to flifo. One reader reports a bad experience with TISS' US agent, rebooking
his reservation in a way that lost the discount fare he'd reserved, although
he'd had good results with their UK agent.
Destinations Unlimited (http://www.air-fare.com) tracks lowest fares among
major U.S. cities, with daily updates of significantly lower fares.
Worldspan-based Res and ticketing also available.
* Real-time flight status and information
The extremely cool service from TheTrip (http://www.thetrip.com/flightstatus/)
also gives you a real-time position map and ETA for most domestic flights.
Choice of plain text or way beyond cool animated Java relief maps, and you can
tell it to send e-mail when the plane arrives, or an hour or two before. If
you haven't already got your ticket, they offer ITN for info and ticketing.
Microsoft Expedia (http://expedia.msn.com) now has real-time flight ops
including times and gates for major US airlines. Sites based on the Expedia
engine such as Continental's CO.O.L. Travel Assistant
(http://cooltravelassistant.com/) and Northwest (http://www.nwa.com) have it,
too.
The Track A Flight (http://www.trackaflight.com/) service (formerly Flyte
Trax) also provides real-time position map and ETA for most domestic flights.
It's as nice as TheTrip.
* Comparison services
SimplyQuick (http://travel.simplyquick.com/discount-airfares/) is an
independent guide to who's cheapest online for discount airfares, based on a
large survey of the top 8 online booking services, and providing a search
tailored city by city (US only). They also rate online travel agents and
travel service web sites. They're in New Zealand, but most of the info is for
US travellers.
* Is there information directly from the airlines?
Many airlines are on the World Wide Web. For most of them you need a browser
that supports forms, such as Opera, Netscape, or Internet Explorer. Five good
directories of them are:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/Travel_and_Transportation/Airlines/
http://www.strangeways.org
http://smilinjack.com/airlines.htm http://flyaow.com/
This list contains only airlines sites that have schedule or booking
information available; see the pages mentioned above for lots of other airline
web pages with other info.
In the discussions below, flight ops means flight operations, that is, delays,
gates, cancellations, and the like. Ticketless ticketing means that rather
than issuing a real ticket, the airline sends you a receipt with a ticket
number. You cite that number and show ID when you check in. They send the
receipt via e-mail, fax, or (if there's time) snail mail. You pay with a
credit card.
Accessair (http://www.accessair.com/), a low-fare airline in Des Moines, Iowa,
has route, schedule, and fare info. Note: They're in Chapter 11, currently not
flying, but say they'll be back.
Air Aruba (http://www.interknowledge.com/air-aruba/) has a rather dusty page
with limited route and contact info.
Air Canada (http://www.aircanada.ca/schedules/) has schedule info,
reservations, ticketing, and weekly Websaver special fares. Aussi disponible
en francais (http://www.aircanada.ca/francais/horaires/). You can also
download a 400K PC version of the entire schedule.
Air Europa (http://www.g-air-europa.es/), a low-cost airline based in Spain,
has routes and schedules.
Air St Pierre (http://209.205.50.254/aspweb/) flies from St Pierre (which, for
those who slept through geography class, is a French island near Newfoundland)
to nearby points. Schedule and fares, in French.
Airtran (http://www.airtran.com), a low-fare airline in the eastern U.S., has
schedules, reservations, ticketless ticketing, special offers, and an e-mail
specials newsletter.
Alaska Airlines (http://www.alaska-air.com/) has a web site with flight info,
reservations, ticketless ticketing, and special offers. On-line tickets get
250 bonus miles, more for e-tickets and automated checkin. The reservation
system finally seems to be working reliably, new design is pretty but not as
cute as the old retro design. Downloadable PDF schedule, too.
America West (http://www.americawest.com) has schedule info, reservations, and
ticketless ticketing in a site that is quite attractive now that the images
hold still. Weekly web specials for both air and air/land packages.
The revamped American Airlines (http://www.aa.com/) has schedules, fares, and
flight ops. The fares are all quoted ``one way'' even though most of them
require that you buy round trip, which is legal, but really tacky.
Reservations and ticketing available, through a system similar to Travelocity.
AA is very proud of their site, as would I if it worked. But it doesn't. I
gave up after it told me it couldn't quote fares from NYC to PAR because they
don't fly to either of those places. (Recent tests show it's getting smarter,
and has figured out that PAR is probably either Paris or Asuncion, Paraguay,
but NYC still baffles it. Sheesh.) The Advantage member services page is
chronically broken, often can't check miles, "system error" when you try to
sign up a new member. Currently offers 1000 extra Advantage miles for each
booking, plus 3000 extra miles the first time you book.
Air New Zealand (http://www.airnz.co.nz) offers schedules and booking via a
private-label version of ITN/Getthere, which assured me that you can't fly
from Auckland to New York. Also special fares and frequent flyer info.
Alitalia (http://www.alitalia.it) is the Italian flag carrier with a web site
in, not surprisingly, Italian. USA site%http://www.alitaliausa.com% has info
and reservations via a lightly customized version of ITN/Getthere. Also online
specials, e.g., a fairly impressive 25% off what appears to be any coach or
business fare through 25 Oct.
ALM (http://www.airalm.com/) flies to and from the Netherlands Antilles.
Routes, schedules, destination info, and occasional specials.
American Trans Air (http://www.ata.com) has a web site with schedules, fares,
flight ops. Reservations provided through a system which appears to be a
private label version of Travelocity.
Ansett Australia (http://www.ansett.com.au) offers schedules, and a
downloadable travel planner program with schedules built in. No longer has any
bookings that I can find.
Aerolineas Argentinas (http://www.aerolineas.com.ar) has schedules and
reservations (for Argentine residents) through a private label version of
Amadeus. In Spanish and English.
Amtrak (http://www.amtrak.com) isn't an airline, but they're competitive on
many routes in urban parts of the U.S., and have scenic long distance routes.
Schedule info and reservations available, although the reservation system can
be awfully slow.
Austrian Airlines (http://www.aua.com) offers schedule and availability info,
and a downloadable Excel spreadsheet schedule. Also special offers in a
sometimes inscrutable mix of German and English.
British Airways (http://www.british-airways.com/) has schedules and
reservations on an improved site with ticket-by-mail. Also flight ops, and,
depending on what part of the site you believe, there may be some special
offers for some flights departing from some countries, sometime.
British European (http://www.british-european.com/) is a low-fare airline with
its hub at London City, flying mostly within the UK. Schedules and
reservations.
British Midland (http://www.iflybritishmidland.com/) has a Web-based booking
and ticketing system called CyberSeat, which lets you reserve and buy tickets.
buzz (http://www.buzzaway.com) is an oddly named low-fare airline flying from
London Stansted to various places in Europe. Reservations, info, and menu
selections (extra cost) on the web site.
BWIA (http://www.bwee.com/)flies to, from, and around the Caribbean. Booking,
on-line specials.
Canada 3000 (http://www.canada3000.com/), a small low-fare Canadian carrier
offers schedules fares, and sort of offers bookings. For bookings, you put in
all the info, then an agent will call you back later to confirm and finish the
transaction. Also last-minute vacation package discounts.
Canadian Airlines (http://www.cdnair.ca) has been absorbed into Air Canada,
familiarly known as Mapleflot.
Continental (http://www.continental.com) has a spiffy new design with schedule
info, on-line booking, and flight status. CO.O.L. system offers a general
purpose reservation system with hotels and cars as well as flights, with the
same features as Microsoft's Expedia. Currently offering up to 1000 extra FF
miles for tickets bought on-line. Weekly specials via mailing list or web
site. (CO.O.L. requires cookies.)
Crossair (http://www.crossair.ch/), a Swissair partner with a hub at
Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, has schedules, fares, and on-line bookings. Don't
miss the interactive destination map where you can click on your departure and
arrival cities, see schedules (slowly, it's Java) and make bookings.
Cubana (http://www.cubana.cu/) flies from Havana to points in Europe and the
Americas. Schedules, destinations, and fleet info. I wonder where they get the
spare parts for their DC-10 and 727.
Delta (http://www.delta.com) has fares, schedules, on-line ticketing, and
flight ops. Currently offering up to 1000 extra FF miles for tickets bought
on-line.
Easyjet (http://www.easyjet.com) is a low fare airline with a hub at London
Luton. Site offers routes, reservations, and a rant against Barclays Bank
which apparently recently bought their hub airport and is raising the fees.
El Al (http://www.elal.co.il) has U.S. schedules and some US-oriented package
info. Appears to have on-line booking although I couldn't get it to work.
Finnair (http://www.us.finnair.com/) has schedule info and occasional have
seat auctions. They have a reservation system hosted by Amadeus, but for some
reason they only let you buy expensive business class tickets through it.
Travellers in Finland can apparently access the web site through their cell
phones, which is kind of cool.
Firstair (http://www.firstair.ca/), a Canadian regional airline, has schedule
info. (Finally, you can get from North America to Greenland without flying
through Iceland.)
Gabon Express (http://www.gabonexpress.com/) flies around Gabon in west Africa
from their Libreville hub, and offer the only remaining scheduled service on
the classic Caravelle jet. Schedules and nice pictures.
Go Fly (http://www.go-fly.com/go-fly.html), a low-fare subsidiary of British
Airways with a hub at London Stansted, has a very stylish web site offering
reservations and ticketless ticketing.
Iberia (http://www.iberia.es/) has schedules and fares in Spanish, English,
Danish, Swedish, Japanese, and Russian. Reservations through a private label
Amadeus site.
Icelandair (http://www.icelandair.is) offers info and reservations through a
private label Amadeus site. Lucky Fares mailing list offers trans-Atlantic
specials most weeks, occasionally at amazing prices, like $200 from NYC to
Paris.
Jet Blue (http://www.jetblue.com), an airline that may yet bring sane airfares
to upstate New York, has an elegant web site with routes, fares, and on-line
ticket sales, Don't miss the rotating 3-D Airbus A320, even though it does
make Internet Exploder crash.
KLM (http://www.klm.com) has a gateway site to national sites all over the
world, most of which offer schedules and some offer reservations. The US and
Canada sites are actually Northwest's.
Lan Chile (http://www.lanchile.cl) has an attractive multi-lingual site with
schedules, fares, and some cheap Internet-only specials.
Legend (http://www.legendairlines.com/) offered first class seats at coach
price on flights from a hub at Dallas Love field. They went bankrupt in
mid-2000, but at the end of December 2000 they got financing for a restart in
early 2001.
LIAT (http://www.flyliat.com), who island-hop in the Caribbean, had a web site
with a route map, promises of schedule and fare info, and an impressive range
of other stuff, from company history to downloadable Flight Simulator modules,
except now their domain appears to be inactive.. It also warned about a pirate
site (http://www.liat.com) which purports to be LIAT but in fact appears to be
a travel agency squatting on a similar domain name.
Lufthansa Info Flyway (http://www.lufthansa.com) offers schedule info (for
most airlines, not just LH) and also reservations. Also has a US site
(http://www.lufthansa-usa.com/) with info tailored to US customers, including
occasional Web Specials live seat auctions.
Malaysia Airlines (http://www.malaysiaairlines.com) has limited route and
schedule information. I hear they have some great packages, but you wouldn't
know it from their web site.
Malev (http://www.malev.hu) Hungarian airlines has an attractive site with
schedule info. There's supposed to be fare info but it pops up a box saying
it's out of order.
Manx Airlines (http://www.manx-airlines.com) has schedule info.
Midway Airlines (http://www.midwayair.com/), a low-fare carrier which, despite
its name, doesn't fly to Chicago, offers schedules but no fares or
reservations.
Midwest Express (http://www.midwestexpress.com/) has routes, schedules, and
fares. Also reservations through what appears to be a private label version of
Travelocity.
National Airlines (http://www.nationalairlines.com), a new low-fare startup
with a hub in Las Vegas has route and schedule info, has on-line booking via a
private-label version of ITN.
New England Airlines (http://www.block-island.com/flybi/sumsched.html) flies
between Block Island RI and Westerly RI. Schedule and fare info, reservations
via an e-mail form.
Northwest Airlines (http://www.nwa.com) has schedule, fares, reservations, and
flight ops via a private label version of Expedia. (They tell me it's not
really a private label version of Expedia, it's their front end on the same
back end Expedia uses, although from the user's point of view that's a pretty
fine distinction.) Weekly Cybersaver specials offered, book through the web
site for the lowest price. On-line store offers a $12.99 plush moose and a
$279 1/100 scale 747-400. That's only $10/inch!
Polynesian Airlines (http://www.polynesianairlines.co.nz/) has basic routes
and schedules.
Qantas (http://www.qantas.com.au) has an attractive site with online booking,
schedule info and flight ops and a downloadable off-line Windows itinerary
manager. Bookings are oriented toward but not limited to Australian residents.
Also a mirror site (http://www.qantas.com) in the U.S which appears to be
unreachable due to mistakes at the Internic.
Royal Jordanian (http://www.rja.com.jo) has a stylish but slow web site with
routes and schedules to and from their Amman hub.
Ryanair (http://www.ryanair.ie) is a low-fare airline with a hub at London
Stansted and minor hubs in Dublin, Shannon, Glasgow, and Brussels. Web site
offers routes, fares, and booking.
Sabena (http://www.sabena.com/) has well-hidden timetable info decorated with
large slow to load graphics, timetable info via links to the OAG. No
reservation or fare information, but you can learn what cartoons are playing
in-flight today. I have never seen a site, airline or otherwise, that combines
such attractive graphics with such chaotic organization and a paucity of
useful information. (Favorite page: the "subscribe" form that asks for lots of
personal info but gives no hint of what you'd be subscribing to.) Their U.S.
site (http://www.sabena-usa.com) has limited schedule info.
SAS (http://www.sas.se) has schedule info on-line, and in large downloadable
text file. Windows interface program (2MB download) lets you search through
the schedule file, but it's far faster to search with a text editor. Also
limited reservations for pass holders and frequent flyer redemptions.
Singapore Airlines (http://www.singaporeair.com) has schedule info, best
viewed via a proxy server that will filter out anything that's unwholesome.
South African Airways (http://www.saa.co.za/saa) has schedules and a little
destination info, but they've toned down the eye-straining graphics.
Occasional seat auctions.
Southwest Airlines (http://www.iflyswa.com) has schedules and fares, and now
reservations and ticketless ticketing. The graphics are still too big, but the
site loads faster than it used to. Mailing list for weekly specials.
Spirit (http://www.spiritair.com) is a low-cost airline that flies between
Florida and the northeast and midwest, and also from Detroit and Chicago to
California. Has schedules, reservations, and weekly "syber" specials. You can
change the name on any ticket for $25. Wow!
Sun Country (http://www.suncountry.com/), a regional airline headquartered in
Minneapolis, has an expanded national and Caribbean schedule since the
Northwest strike. Fares, schedules, reservations, ``Cy-Fly'' online specials.
Swissair (http://www.swissair.ch) has schedule info and on-line booking.
Tahoe Air (http://www.tahoeair.com/), which flies a 737 between Lake Tahoe on
the California/Nevada border and cities in California, has schedule info and
promises on-line reservations soon.
TWA (http://www.twa.com), which is now a subidiary of American, has schedule
info, reservations, and weekly web specials. Extra frequent flyer miles for
tickets purchased online.
United (http://www.ual.com) has resdesigned their site so that instead of
being intriguingly bizarre, now it's just plain ugly. Reservations and booking
via ITN. The web system shares data with their Windows 95 United Connection
package, so reservations you make on one appear on the other. Given a choice,
I'd use the web, since it's faster and doesn't hang and crash. Web site
requires cookies, although ITN itself doesn't. Direct link
(https://wunited.itn.net/unitedair) to United's reservation sub-site on ITN is
a lot faster than navigating through the main pages.
US Airways (http://www.usair.com) has schedules and reservations via a very
lightly customized version of Travelocity. (Your Easy Sabre or Travelocity
login works, no need for a new one.) 1000 frequent flyer miles for tix bought
online. Also weekly weekend travel specials from (and occasionally to) USAair
hub cities. Their Metrojet (http://www.flymetrojet.com/) low-fare subsidiary
has its own web site with a little more info. Don't miss the company store
(http://www.usairwayscompanystore.com/) featuring a wide variety of cult
objects, including some nice-looking model planes, although the've run out of
the DC-3's in Allegheny, Mohawk, or Lake Central trim.
Vanguard (http://www.flyvanguard.com/), a low-fare airline with its hub in
Kansas City, has schedules and fare info.
Varig (http://www.varig.com.br) has schedule info and reservations via
Amadeus.
Via Rail Canada (http://www.viarail.ca) isn't an airline but is competitive in
the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor. Schedule and fare info, on-line
reservations. Aussi disponible en francais. (Was developed in French and
translated into English, I know the guy who did it.)
Virgin Atlantic (http://www.fly.virgin.com/) has a spiffy looking site with
reservations, fares, and ticketing. Also tours and occasional specials.
Virgin Blue (http://www.virginblue.com.au) is a low-fare domestic airline in
Australia with its hub in sunny Brisbane. Schedules and on-line booking. Lunch
costs extra.
Westjet (http://www.westjet.com) is a low-fare Canadian airline. Schedules,
reservations, weekly web specials. Pas disponsible en francais, mais ils n'ont
pas les vols au Quebec, hein?
Airlines often offer special fares or promotions to Internet users, and there
are some other specialist outfits selling tickets on-line.
* Special fare newsletters
The Air Travel Update mailing lists sponsored by Prodigy reports on specials
they find on the web, and send a detailed weekly compendium of special deals.
Highly recommended. Send "subscribe airtravel" to
majo...@listserv.prodigy.com <majo...@listserv.prodigy.com.>
Smarter Living (http://www.smarterliving.com/) collects weekly specials from
selected major cities and both puts them on their web site and e-mails them to
mailing lists. You can sign up for the cities you're interested in flying
from, as well as general newsletters about travel deals. (If you sign up,
there's a "referrer" box to tell where you found out about it, please put my
address air...@iecc.com so I qualify for some some Fabulous Prize.)
The Wednesday Airfares webring (http://www.bomis.com/rings/airline) has links
to many sites with. on-line specials
* Ticket auctions and the like
Priceline (http://www.priceline.com) sells tickets over the web using a
peculiar system that is often mischaracterized as an auction. You tell them
where and when you want to go and how much you're willing to pay. You have to
accept their conditions, such as going at any time of day, on any major
domestic airline or one of a list of international ones, and to accept a stop
or change of plane. You tell them what you're willing to pay, along with
credit card info. If they find a ticket at that price, you've bought it and
can't change or refund it (like most any low-price ticket.) Flights must
originate in the U.S., or via an affiliate, in the U.K.
You don't know if you're getting the best price, since they'll charge what you
offered even if the carrier would have accepted less, and they make it
difficult to offer increasing bids. Originally, only TWA and America West
directly considered the bids from Priceline. Since then, they've added all the
major US airlines except Southwest, as well as Singapore, Lufthansa, and
perhaps other airlines. If they have a ticket, perhaps using a zone fare or
other unpublished fare, at or below your bid, they'll sell it to you, but
again you don't know if you're getting the best price. A lot of reports,
including articles in the Consumer Reports Travel Letter, and the Wall Street
Journal, say that in practice bids for lower than published prices are rarely
accepted, and they admit that they accept less than 10% of the bids people
make, although they do sell 15,000 tickets a day. Early on, Priceline sold
tickets below cost to build up their volume, but I don't know if they still do
so.
I haven't ever bought a ticket through Priceline, but would welcome more
reports from people who have. (I tried to get a NYC hotel room one time, they
turned down all my offers, but I've heard from at least one person who got a
room at a nice Boston hotel for about half the normal price.) The idea of
auctioning left-over tickets is a good one, and it's a shame if it can't be
put into practice. If you're planning to travel on a route well-served by one
of the airlines listed above, and can fly at any time of day, try bidding
slightly less than the best fare you can find on one of the regular
reservation sites or Hotwire and see if they take it. Otherwise, you're better
off with a agent who knows about unpublished fares, many of whom are listed in
subsequent sections of this FAQ. For another sceptical view of Priceline, see
Joe Harkins' Travel The Net ( http://travelthe.net/columns/auction.htm).
Hotwire (http://www.hotwire.com) and is a sort of competitor to Priceline
being put together by United, American Northwest, Continental, US Airways, and
America West. You tell them where you want to go, what dates, and a few
conditions such as no red-eye, and they offer you a price. Unlike Priceline
you'll get to see what they offer before you pay and have an hour to decide
before you buy it. Like Priceline, you don't get to know the times and airline
until you buy the tickets. Hotwire is another good place to check for last
minute tickets. It hasn't yet ever offered me a ticket I wanted to buy, but
considering that I fly from Ithaca NY, not exactly a hotbed of airline
competition, I can't say I'm surprised. Flights must originate in the U.S.,
but you can fly internationally.
Sky Auction (http://www.skyauction.com/), in contrast to Priceline and
Hotwire, auctions off tickets and travel packages using a "second bid" scheme
similar to what eBay and other online auctioneers use. (The best strategy is
to bid the maximum you're willing to pay, since if you win you'll pay just
enough to beat the runner up regardless of what your maximum was.) The
descriptions of what they're selling are quite concrete, and you can see what
the competing bids are. Tickets are offered in small lots, you can end up with
fewer tickets than you asked for unless you make a bid "all or nothing". Be
sure to add in the often large service charge for each ticket, and be sure you
know what normal fares are since tickets are often bid up above published
fares. I've bought tickets to London through them, their service was prompt
and efficient, but I've seen reports that it is very difficult to get a refund
if there's a problem with the flights.
General auction sites often have airline tickets available. You can find them
in "Miscellaneous:Travel" at eBay
(http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/list/category1310/index.html) or Travel
Tickets:Airline at Yahoo Auctions
(http://auctions.yahoo.com/26180-category-leaf.html). Many of the tickets
offered appear either to be frequent flyer tickets, which the airline will
confiscate if they can tell that you bought them, or dubious deals where the
air tickets are "free" if you buy an expensive vacation package. There do seem
to be a few transferrable bump certificates, and quite a few ancillary items
like drink coupons.
Site59 (http://www.site59.com/) offers last minute weekend travel packages.
They all include air and hotel, but the price is often lower than what you'd
otherwise pay for air only (Travelocity's "last minute deals" are really
Site59.)
* FairAir
FairAir (http://www.fairair.com) sells transferrable tickets. You buy a ticket
through their web site in the usual way, but after you've bought it, you can
change the name on the ticket for a fee or offer the ticket for resale on
their site if you don't want it. The currently offer tickets on America West,
Midway, National, and Northwest, all tickets sold are "non-opaque", that is,
you know the airline, flights, and times before you pay. The actual tickets
available are kind of sparse and the fares range from quite cheap,
particularly for one way, to laughably overpriced. I asked for a Buffalo to
Miami itinerary, FairAir offered flights on Midway for $492 each way, while
Orbitz offered the exact same flights for $255 round trip. On the other hand,
it offered me a $160 one-way from JFK to LAX, which is a very good deal for
one-way. It's worth a look you're looking for reasonable fares on short notice
or odd-ball routes or want the ability to send someone else. (If you just want
to change the name on a ticket, check out Spirit Airlines which permits name
changes for $25.)
* Individual airlines
Air Canada (http://www.aircanada.ca/schedules/) has weekly Websaver special
fares.
Airtran (http://www.airtran.com) has weekend specials. Double frequent flyer
credit for specials purchased on-line. (Actually worth something, since six
round trips earn a free ticket.) Also an e-mail newsletter you can sign up for
on the site that announces weekly specials.
Alaska Airlines (http://www.alaskaair.com/Webspecials/start.asp) has web
special fares.
American Airlines has weekly mailing lists for ``Net SAAver fares'', otherwise
unadvertised specials from Chicago or Dallas, as well as some hotel packages.
Visit their web page (http://www.aa.com) and click on specials on the toolbar
at the top.
American Trans Air (http://www.ata.com) has ``net fares'', special fares
available only on their web site.
America West (http://www.americawest.com) has Surf'n'Go weekly specials and
Quick Trips air/land package specials.
Austrian Airlines (http://www.aua.com) has weekly lists of specials, with
occasional web-only last minute specials.
Canadian Airlines (http://www.cdnair.ca) has weekly web special weekend fares,
posted every Wednesday.
Cathay Pacific Airlines (http://www.cathay-usa.com) has a contest (first prize
a fancy trip from the U.S. to Hong Kong), seat auctions, and other inducements
to buy. You have to register in their free ``Cybertraveller'' at the web site.
Continental (http://www.coticket.com/) has a mailing list and web site for
net-only specials. You buy tickets on-line, but you have to subscribe to the
mailing list to get access. (Site requires cookies.)
Finnair (http://www.us.finnair.com/) has occasional seat auctions.
Lufthansa's US site (http://www.lufthansa-usa.com/) has occasional Web
specials and live seat auctions. Sign up for mailing list to find out when
they are.
Northwest (http://www.nwa.com/nwa/flight/promos/index.shtml) has promotions
including a few web-only fares which they put on their site on Wednesdays.
Reno Air (http://www.renoair.com/) has web specials. If you answer some nosy
questions, you can get weekly e-mail about current specials.
Royal Airlines (http://www.royalairlines.com) has a mailing list for
announcements of specials, also some info on their web site.
South African Airways (http://www.saa.co.za/saa has) occasional seat auctions.
Southwest (http://www.iflyswa.com/email has a mailing list) with weekly
specials. Also there's a package specials list
(http://www.swavacations.com/guest/guest.htm) with special deals if you sign
their guest book and answer a bunch of nosy questions.
Sun Country (http://www.suncountry.com/) has weekly on-line ``Cy-Fly''
specials.
TWA (http://www.twa.com) has weekly web specials.
United (http://www.ual.com) has E-Fares specials for members of their Milage
Plus program posted every Wednesday, also by e-mail. (Signup info on their web
site.) Choose E-Fares from the menu on the home page. You have to sign in but
it's free.
US Airways (http://www.usair.com/travel/fares/esavers.htm) has an "e-savers"
mailing list with weekly special fares from (and occasionally to) their hub
cities. Web site also has Internet-only special fares to and from Baltimore
and Washington, with extra frequent flyer miles.
* What travel clubs are available?
A few agents have clubs that charge an annual fee but offer rebates on
tickets. They can be a good deal if you travel frequently.
A Trip-by-Modem <tra...@atbm.com> is run by a small company in Cambridge,
Mass., access via web or e-mail. Costs $35/yr (one month trial for $3),
sliding rebate on tickets depending on price and how delivered. Rebates mailed
automatically quarterly. Lots of useful discounts. That's the agency I usually
use. Although they have a national clientele, they're 1/2 mile from where I
used to live, which may bias me somewhat. They have a new web site
(http://www.atbm.com) which is also worth a look, and an e-mail newsletter.
* Are there other on-line agents?
There's lots of them, grouped below by location of the agent and type of
service.
NOTE: All of the descriptions below are edited from info provided by the
agencies themselves. There are many resources other than travel agents
available on the net, as well, but they're not listed here. Most agencies
offer a broad range of services, so the groupings by type of service below are
pretty arbitrary.
NOTE: If you're a travel agent and would like to be listed, drop me a note and
I'll add you. Please make my life easier by e-mailing me a three-line or so
description in the style above. Thanks.
* Generalist agents located in the U.S.
J. S. Pujji <fa...@pujji.com> advertise their online "consolidator" fare
search with online comparative list of the lowest fares on many airlines at
once. Web site (http://www.abfcorp.com).
Enid Cohen <enid....@worldtravel.com> affiliated with WorldTravel Partners
in Dallas, has over 30 years of experience both arranging travel and
travelling herself, specializes in meticulous, old-fashioned service to
business and leisure/personal travellers.
JetStar Travel Service (http://jetstartravel.vacation.com) is a full service
agency Specializing in Cruises, Family Vacations, Honeymoons, European Travel,
Las Vegas, and much more.
Compass Point Travel <tra...@cptravel.com> is a full service agency that
welcomes Internet customers. Specialties include custom planning of major
trips, Club Med, discount cruises, adventure travel, and US-originating
international travel. Web page (http://www.cptravel.com/).
Edward Hasbrouck (http://www.airtreks.com), now at High Adventure Travel, San
Francisco, around-the-world specialist; also other discounted international
tickets; NOT a general-purpose, corporate, or domestic travel agency. Also see
his Airline Ticket Consolidators and Bucket Shops FAQ
(http://hasbrouck.org/faq) for info on getting the lowest international air
fares.
Germantown Travel <air...@airtravel.com> in Germantown Md is a full service
airline ticket agency suppling information and discounted tickets for domestic
and international travel. Web site (http://airtravel.com) with special fares
and Caribbean tour info.
CTM Travel <ctm-...@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us> in Coral Springs FL welcomes
business from the Internet.
Genie Travel Services Inc. <in...@genietravel.com> specializes in discounted
international and domestic airline tickets for Internet customers. For prices,
see their web page (http://www.genietravel.com).
Endeavour Travel <Ende...@Anzac.com> is a travel agency specialising in NZ
and Australian travel, staffed in large part by Aussies and Kiwis. Web pages
(http://www.anzac.com/endvr/endvr.htm). I got Circle Pacific tickets from
them, service was decent.
Marla Baer-Peckham <ma...@iquest.com> of Cornucopia First Class Travel is a
full-service travel agency. Web page (http://iquest.com/~marla).
Uniglobe GEM Travel <ga...@uniglobe-gem.com> or Full service agency, WWW site
(http://www.uniglobe-gem.com/) with leisure info and travel request forms. Our
goal is not to find the cheapest product, but the best value for money.
Jerry Johnson <je...@cucruising.com> at AEA Credit Union travel department has
info on smaller carriers (http://www.cucruising.com/cu) and can offer 20% to
25% off almost all TWA tickets.
Park'N Ticket Travel <so...@photobooks.atdc.gatech.edu> located in Atlanta GA,
specializes in Business Travel. We have a 24 hour travel agency as well as a
1,250 car parking facility with a 24 hour shuttle service.
Paul Foley <pfo...@his.com>, at Passport Executive Travel of Alexandria, VA, a
full-service agency, CLIA, and IGTA, specializes in Corporate Travel, personal
preference is Gay and Lesbian travel. Web page
(http://www.prairienet.org/business/travex/homepage.html).
The Travel Experts <tra...@prairienet.org> in Champaign, Illinois is a full
service agency with a special emphasis in Caribbean destinations and the UK,
and have expertise in Israel and the Middle East. Web page
(http://www.prairienet.org/business/travex/homepage.html).
Newlywed Susan Mitchell Skinner <YourT...@aol.com> at Online Travelservices
near Atlanta specializes in honeymoons and family vacations -- but also work
with consolidators and offer fast turnaround on quotes to international
destinations.
Priority Travel <ffr...@tiac.net> is a small agency in Waltham, Mass
specializing in corporate travel for small companies and start-ups who need to
minimize their travel costs. Also have specialist in European business or
vacation travel.
World Travel <worl...@sprynet.com> located in Stockton, CA, specializes in
travel to Southeast Asia. A Traveler's Choice Associate.
Super Saver Travel <amde...@usa.pipeline.com>, Aurora, CO, offer personalized
service in getting you the lowest available airfares out of Denver and
Colorado Springs area. Domestic & International.
Adventure Travel Service (http://www.greencis.net/~ats) provides domestic and
international consolidator tickets. Book online for domestic tickets using
ITN, and Spring Break '97 packages now available. Email <a...@greencis.net>.
QuinWell Travel Service (http://www.quinwell.com) is a full-service travel
agency offering SABRE online reservations & ticketing, discounted cruises &
tours, free newsletter, and an extensive web site.
Metropolitan Travel (http://www.mettravel.com), specializes in corporate
travel, res/tickets through ITN, offers reports online, tracking for companies
and employees, tracks trips, FF miles, etc., including pre-trip reports. Also
vacation specials through "Club Met".
Heather Trofholz <j...@prtcl.com>, Aliso Veijo CA, corporate/business executive
specialist. Knowledgeable, personalized service, delivery, maps, vacation
planning to the traveling individual. Available for new So. Orange County
clients. Web site (http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/3005).
Certified Travel Services (http://www.certravel.com) is building a network of
independent travel agents who operate from their homes or places of business.
Complete training, software, reservations system, manuals and continuing
support is offered. Listings of travel specials and on-line air travel booking
is provided through their Internet site.
RMS InHouse Travel (http://www.rmssys.com) is a full service agency offering
on-line reservation system.
Travel Service, Inc. <kiml...@usa.net> has three offices in the Tulsa area,
in the business since 1973, are a full service agency, specializing in groups.
Rosemarie Hughey at Go Vegas First Class <gov...@aol.com> located in Las
Vegas NV provides a service to travelers to Las Vegas and surroundings as well
as airfares to Europe. German spoken.
Lovely Planet Discount Travel Service <pre...@micron.net> in Hailey, ID
specializes in researching international discounted airfares.
Biztravel.com (http://www.biztravel.com) offers services for frequent business
travellers including frequent flyer milage tracking, travel planning, and
business-oriented destiniation info.
B. Charles and Co. (www.airreservations.com) has lists of discounted fares and
travel agent contacts. No on-line schedules or booking, call their toll-free
number.
Kayron and Don Lance <jla...@sprynet.com>, independent agents for Carroll
Cruises and Tours, specialize in cruises, tours and packages. Especially
knowledgable about the Caribbean. Online reservations
(http://www.travelopinion.com) and Caribbean hotel information
(<http://www.caribbeanopinion.com).
Terminal One Travel (http://www.terminal-one-travel.com) offers direct
bookings via Worldspan. Also packages, custom tours. E-mail mailing list.
Only Travel <ONLYT...@aol.com> welcomes Internet customers. They rebate on
all (commissionable) travel. Domestic and International. No club to join, no
annual dues, no gimmicks!
MtRoyalTravel (http://www.MtRoyalTravel.com), full service "personalized"
travel agency for leisure and corporate travel arrangements, many packages,
all experienced agents and many price ranges (economy to first class). Over 25
years of experience.
* Tours, cruises, and special interest agents located in the U.S.
Bonjour USA tours (http://www.bonjourusa.com) specializes in providing ground
services for leisure and business group travel to all major cities,
attractions, sights and National Parks of the USA.
Travel Tek (http://travtek.net) specializes in discounted business and first
class airfares to international destinations.
Walter Ward (wwa...@bellsouth.net) at Jacquin Travel in Miami, a full service
agency including Gay/Lesbian travel.
Air Overseas (http://www.airoverseas.com) in Miami specializes in travel to
Europe. Air fares, car rental rates, and European Rail programs.
Travel Network (http://www.tvllink.com/travel.network) of Walnut Creek, CA is
a full service agency. Cruises, Jamaican All Inclusive Resorts and Hawaiian
Vacations are among our specialties. Try our "Rock Bottom Fare Finder" E-mail
<trav...@ix.netcom.com.>
Superior Travel Service <aki...@aol.com> specializing in Singles Groups, age
45 to 60's. Accredited CLIA member specializing in cruises, Have cruised
Europe, Panama Canal,Bermuda, Alaska, etc.
Mike Espinosa <mal...@malkilu.com> at Maluku Adventures is a tour operator
specializing in SE Asia, and Nepal. We offer kayaking, diving, and treks.
Manny Segall at Vacation Partners <ma...@vacationpartners.com> runs a service
that finds compatible travel mates for single travelers, for companionship and
to avoid the dreaded single supplement. Web page
(http://www.vacationpartners.com).
Bill Byrnes <Willi...@aol.com> author of "Airfare Secrets" specializes in
high value Round the World, long haul and missionary travel. Offshore
ticketing from Euro and Asian consolidators.
Torcaza Trails <rdr...@ing.ula.ve> offer a mountain treking and a tropical
forest option in western Venezuela. Web page of Venezuela info
(http://venezuela.mit.edu).
Maryann Novajosky <WTR...@prodigy.com> publishes a free bi-weekly e-mail
newsletter of discounted cruise vacation specials and cruise-related news.
Travel Incorporated <ffb...@prodigy.com> publishes a weekly newsletter
listing midwest departures of discounted charter programs to the Caribbean &
Mexico. The free listing can be obtained by e-mail
<midwest.d...@reply.net>.
High Adventure Travel <airt...@highadv.com> has a WWW site (
http://www.highadv.com) focused on Around-the-World airfares and adventures.
They have considerable personal experience in Africa and the Himalayas. Handy
RTW fare builder on web site.
European Traveler,Inc. <usdi...@wizard.com> specializes in individual
vacations to Europe. Full colour brochure "EURO CITY TRIPS" available on
request offers 2-3-5 and 7 days packages in up to 40 cities all over Europe.
Association of Business Travellers <ab...@attmail.com> offers the international
traveller a hotel reservation service, specials at top class hotels,
restaurants, service office facilities, lost lugage tracing, etc. Web page
(http://www.abt-travel.com).
Stephen P. Aleksza <trav...@pobox.com> with Travelink on the shores of
beautiful Bamber Lake in Whiting NJ specializes in cruises and vacation
packages. Web page (http://www.eclipse.net/~vacation/travlk.htm).
Cruisin <long...@tiac.net> The first exclusively on line cruise only agency.
Web page (http://www.crocker.com/cruisin).
Island Dreams Tours & Travel <in...@islandream.com> specializes in scuba
diving, snorkeling, and world-wide adventure travel. Web page
(http://www.islandream.com/island/index.htm) with a broad range of information
of interest to scuba divers and international travelers.
Bill Welk <Bi...@Lodging1.com> of Vacation Connection operate a lodging
reservation service in Oshkosh, Wi. and serve many special events organizers
by providing free use of our toll free phone numbers for information and
lodging connections. Web page (http://www.atw.fullfeed.com/~dadvanc/).
OnlineTravel <onl...@eurorail.com> offers European railpasses, Eurail travel,
and the Chunnel channel tunnel, with planning maps, car rental and discount
air fares. Web page (http://www.eurorail.com).
Travel Agents International (http://www.traveltai.com) specialize in corporate
travel and cruises. Located in Florida, offering special insight into Florida
vacation destinations. Reservations via ITN, and a custom designed form for
cruise quotations.
First Class Travel <trav...@ix.netcom.com> specializes in sports and leisure
travel, welcome Internet customers, E-mail for info.
Classic Travel <d...@internetmci.com>, full service agency specializing in
cruises, caribbean dream vacations, european discoveries, mexican getaways,
las vegas sprees, etc. Travelfax newsletter loaded with specials, send your
fax number for our latest copy.
Barbara & Earl Seppala (http://www.selective-travel.com/) of Selective Travel,
Scottsdale AZ, outside agents, specializing in cruises and international
tours. Email <sel...@selective-travel.com>.
Marcel Demas <tra...@infowest.com> is an independent agent with TravelMax
International, offers online do-it-yourself travel services, and an excellent
travel agent training tutorial. Autoresponder <travel...@domaindesign.com>
and web site (http://www.tmaxx.com/netmax/mdemas.html).
ModTravel (http://www.modtravel.com) are Leisure Travel Consultants
specializing in Hawaii and Mexico destinations.
The Travel Connection (http://www.travelcnct.com) is a large travel agency
specializing in only Corporate & Leisure Travel, offering Cruises, Tours and
Air.
Mexico Online (http://www.mexonline.com/travel) is a complete reservation
service dedicated to Mexico. We offer vacation packages to 100 of the most
popular resort and specialty properties, archeological tours and the Copper
Canyon, and can include discounted airfare, car rental, and fishing
expeditions.
Marvelous Tickets (http://www.marveloustickets.com) specializes in worldwide
sports tours & tickets, offering tickets and travel for major events in
football, baseball, tennis, boxing, racing, etc. for individuals & groups.
Event information is available at web site.
Barbara Kwiatek <Bk...@aol.com>, CTC, MCC, Aussie Specialist, Holland
Specialist, Disney Specialist, Unique Travel.
Phil Carta's NEW ADVENTURES (http://www.newadventures.com) specialize in
vacations to exotic, sunny, tropical destinations and do 75% of our business
through the internet. E-mail newsletter.
Lighthouse Travel (http://www.lighthousetravel.com) is a travel agent that
specializes in cruises, members of the Cruise Lines International Association
(CLIA) and experienced cruise counselor. No fee for our services and discount
all cruises.
Global Express Travel <Glob...@ultranet.com> specializes in discount leisure
and discount midweek business travel.
* Agents located in Canada
African Wings Travel & Tours (http://africanwings.com) in Toronto specializes
in travel to Africa and other international destinations.
Debby Lampron-Lynch at Voyage Absolue (http://www.voyageabsolue.com) of
St-Hyacinthe, Quebec, offers travel service to individuals and groups. Will
serve you in Engish as in French. Email <abs...@ntic.qc.ca>.
Future Travel/Voyages L'Avenir <ttif...@total.net> of Montreal offers
complete leisure and corporate travel services, they accept reservation and
information requests via e-mail, in business since 1974.
Marc-Andre Lalande <lala...@nash.pubnix.net> at Voyages Vacances Tourisme in
Montreal specializes in incoming and outgoing tourism, leisure and corporate
travel from all over the world. Affiliated with wholesaler Groupe Voyages
Quebec.
Jimmy Georgiadis <rex...@generation.net>, Montreal, Que., has 45 years of
experience with travel to the land of the Gods - GREECE. "If it's Greece, we
have it". Can arrange, hotels, car rentals, yacht rentals, tours. Web page
(http://www.generation.net/~rextrvl).
Robert Zuzek at Kompas Express Travel (http://home.istar.ca/~kompex) is a
specialist on Spain and Italy has contacts with many local suppliers does "a
la carte" itineraries and has best Airfares with 6 European carriers ex
Toronto.
B & P Travel Services (http://imf.nb.ca/bptravel) operates from Fredericton,
N,B.,Canada. Dealing in Quality Travel Products, Insurance and Discounted
International Air Fares. Departing from Halifax, Montreal and Ottawa.
* Agents located in Europe
Sky Tours (www.sky-tours.com) is a German agency offering a combined database
of published and discounted airfares. They note that European fares are
occasionally lower than US fares for the same flights.
DriveEurope (http://www.driveeurope.com/) offers the European Driving Tours as
well as car and motorhome rentals and more then 5000 hotels.
Zak Travel <z...@dircon.co.uk> is an on-line British discount flight agency
specialising in flights from the UK to Europe and worldwide. We offer the
cheapest scheduled and charter flights and offer a no-obligation flight
reservation service.
Jan Hutchings <j...@caribean.its.net> of Concord World Travel, London, arranges
tailor-made travel worldwide at sensible prices: tours, flights,
accommodation, car hire, cruises. For departures from Britain.
Global Adventures <mi...@globaladventures.com> specializes in custom travel
for the active and adventurous traveler to Australia, the South Pacific, and
Southern Africa. Web page:http://www.globaladventures.com (.)
Andean Trails <andean...@belmont.abel.co.uk> specializes in small group,
off beat trekking and mountain biking adventures in the Andes. Web site
(http://www.abel.co.uk/~belmont/andean-trails.htm).
Shelley at Goel Travel International
<goel-travel-...@ukbusiness.com> offers business flights, hotels,
conferences, and limousines for discerning individuals who appreciate
hassle-free service and privacy. Web site
(http://www.ukbusiness.com/goel-travel-international).
European Travel Network (http://www.etn.nl/) has an extremely cluttered web
site which lets you get discounted fare quotes from a variety of travel
agents. Also a link to ITN for regular booking. In March 2001 they sent mail
to me which looked to me to be spam, they swear that I'd left the address they
spammed with a fare info request on their site a year earlier. I find that
very hard to believe, both because I don't recall visiting their site at all
in 2000, and because the address they spammed isn't one that I'd have used
there.
Airline Network (http://www.airnet.co.uk/) has on-line discount fares and
booking for flights from the UK.
Flightbookers (http://www.flighbookers.co.uk)p offers flight booking and info.
They appear to be affiliated with TISS, described earlier.
Imp Travel (us...@imptravel.itsnet.co.uk) of Lincoln UK offer discounted
schedule and charter flights ex Uk,plus discounted package holidays. We also
arrange incoming ground arrangements within the UK and Germany on an
individual basis or groups.
* Agents located in other parts of the world
Traveller Services (HK) Ltd (http://www.traveller.com.hk)is a travel agent and
local hotel consolidator in Hong Kong. Online ticketing and consolidator
fares, also online hotel booking.
Stellenbosch Travel (http://www.stellenbosch-travel.co.za) in South Africa,
provide flights, tours and car hire in South Africa at subsidised tourist
rates, also all accommodation in Cape Town and our Winelands Area.
Shannon Services (http://www.marflam.com) of the Marina Flamingo, Costa Rica
provides free personal on-line information on fishing, sailing, and diving
charters centered around the Marina Flamingo on the Gold Coast of Costa Rica
(northwest Pacific coast).
Meet the People provides small-group and private-charter day tours for
international visitors to Sydney, Australia. Their web page
(http://www.meetoz.com.au/g_day) has links and other visitor info.
Bagwis Travel & Tours Inc. <bagw...@dv.weblinq.com> in Davao, Philippines.
specializes in international travel & local tours of the beautiful white sand
beaches in Mindanao. especially Pearl farm, a must for all tourists
Cyber Air Broker <ph...@world.net>, Sydney, Australia, offers discounted
airfares worldwide. Free internet access for travelers in Sydney. Web page
(http://www.airdiscounter.com), also separate web pages for offices in Manila
(http://www.airdiscounter.com/ph) and Auckland
(http://www.airdiscounter.com/nz).
Lucky Travel <lu...@batelco.com.bh> in Bahrain offers best rates from the
Arabian Gulf to all over the world, also arranges tours to US and far east.
Re'em Greiver <pa...@netvision.net.il>, Patra Travel Agency in Israel,
specializes in business travel, as well as groups & FIT to Israel on the upper
class standards.
Costa Rica Express <cric...@sol.racsa.co.cr>, the oldest travel agency in
Costa Rica, offers tours and packages on their web page
(http://www.icr.co.cr/crexpress) with a 20% discount to Internet users.
Alex Poplavskiy at Transit Travel and Tours <tra...@gem.co.za> in Cape Town,
South Africa, offers domestic and worldwide ticketing with response and
confirmation within 24 hours. Also tour operator in Southern Africa.
Bob Tierney (http://vader.nw.com.au/~harley), owner of Australian Harley
Holidays and Hawg Custom Harley Tours, in Western Australia, offer motorcycle
tour packages, a unique holiday experience and cater to individuals through to
corporate groups.
Cyber Air Broker (http://www.airdiscounter.com) is an Australian based travel
agency. Fare discounts offered, higher discounts if you book your own ticket
via Travelocity.
Gateway Travel (http://www.magna.com.au/~gatrav) is a full service agent with
expertise in to travel to Russia and other CIS countries.
NELL Tour & Travel Services Ltd. <nell...@upg.mega.net.id>, tour operator in
Sulawesi (Celebes) UjungPandang. Indonesia. Specializing in daily Bugis-Toraja
package tour, off the beaten track tours, special interest tours ,cruises ,
etc.
* Not recommended
A few agents are not recommended, mostly due to spamming, sending out bulk
e-mail advertisements to people who haven't asked to get them.
"Connie George Travel Associates" claims to arrange Christian travel to the
Holy Land, but I can't see anything very holy about spamming (copy on the web
site) out ads to people who haven't asked for them.
I've gotten spam (copy on the web site) from someone in Canada called
itravel2000.com with what look like ads for vacation packages, but if they
can't even figure out that people in the US aren't likely to buy travel
packages from Canada, I wouldn't suggest doing business from them. They used
to call themselves "Virgin Holidays" but they were spamming (copy on the web
site) then, too.
An outfit calling itself Cruiseawards claims to be a travel agency selling
crusises, but since they seem to be chronic spammers (copy on the web site),
who knows what the real story is.
A company calling itself CheapAirlines has a web site that appears to be
selling air tickets and the like. But since they send out spam (copy on the
web site) to addresses harvested from spamware CD-ROMs that falsely claim that
the spam recipients are "registered users", who can tell whether anything else
they say is true.
A company called something like AMT Travel purports to be somehow affiliated
with American Express. But since they spam (copy on the web site) random
usenet addresses, I'm not inclined to give much credence to their claims.
A company doing business under the name travelnow.com claims to offer air and
hotel travel bargains, but since they advertise by sending spam (copy on the
web site) to addresses scraped at random from the Web, I wouldn't count on
other aspects of their operation being any more ethical.
A website called go4less.com purports to sell discounted travel of some sort,
but since they spam (see web site for a copy) I wouldn't do business with
them.
A Malaysian company calling itself ATN Interactive or asiatravelnet claims to
offer travel booking software, but I wouldn't consider using it since they
advertise it by postage-due spam.
A Washington DC outfit called bargain-airfares.com claims to offer
international travel discounts. But since they advertise by spam (see web site
for a copy) I wouldn't count on anything else they do being honest or ethical,
either.
An outfit calling itself "German Tourist Center of Florida" with an address at
naplesinfo.com advertises various packages and tours, but since they spam out
their ads, I can't have any confidence that they're for real.
Update: In May 1998 they sent me e-mail denying that they spam and threatening
to sue me. If anyone cares, a copy of their spam is on my web site at
http://www.iecc.com/airline/germanspam.txt.
Airtravel.net purports to be a travel agent of some sort, but since they
advertise via junk e-mail, I presume they're a scam.
TravelUSA which has a web site name containing "travusa" claims to be an
on-line travel agent, but since they have advertised using junk e-mail, I
remain sceptical. The president of the company has confirmed that they used to
spam, but says they don't any more. Glad to hear it.
WorldWide Family Travel appears to offer cruises from Florida, but since they
advertise using junk e-mail, I would recommend not doing business with them.
supertour.com has a nice looking web site, but since they're spammers (copy of
spam on our web site) I would exercise great caution should you consider doing
business with them.
NOTE: If you're a travel agent and would like to be listed, drop me a note and
I'll add you. Please make my life easier by e-mailing me a three-line or so
description in the style above. Thanks. PLEASE NOTE: I am not a travel agent,
just an interested traveller. Everything I know about on-line travel info is
in this FAQ. Don't write or call me asking for fare quotes, packages, or any
other travel agent info, because I don't have it.
John R. Levine
Last-modified: 2001/07/08