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<td vAlign="top" align="left"><font style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-FAMILY: verdana,arial" size="2">Power
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Trip / Christopher Elliott</font><br>
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<font style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-FAMILY: verdana,arial" size="5">5
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tactics to get lower airfares</font><br>
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<td vAlign="top" width="100%"><font style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; COLOR: #cc6600; FONT-FAMILY: verdana,arial" size="3">Take
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a good look at your airline ticket. Notice anything different?</font></td>
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<p>You should. Thanks to a crisis in the domestic airline
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industry, the "new" ticket comes with more
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restrictions than ever. The non-refundable variety really <i>is</i>
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non-refundable. You may not be able to collect the kind of
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frequent flier miles you want. It may not be offered � period
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on special low-fare deals.</p>
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<p>Have your ticket-buying strategies kept up with the changes?
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If you think of your airline ticket as nothing more than a pass
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to get on the plane, then they probably haven't. Here are five
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strategies for saving time � and money � when you buy your
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next airline flight.</p>
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<p><b>Book an e-ticket.</b> In an effort to cut costs, the
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major airlines have imposed fees on travelers who want to
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carry honest-to-goodness paper tickets. American Airlines,
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for example, now charges a $20 fee if you request a pulp
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ticket. So does Continental Airlines. United Airlines
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announced that it will stop issuing paper tickets altogether
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for domestic flights by July 2003 and for all routes where
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e-tickets are available by January 2004. That worries C.
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Scott Sheffield, who works for a plastics manufacturer in
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Fitzgerald, Ga. "I don't feel that I should have to put
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up with all the uncertainty," he says.</p>
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<p>His concerns are justified. Not so long ago, if you
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didn't travel with a printout of your itinerary instead of a
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bona fide ticket, and your flight was delayed or canceled,
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you might have been out of luck. But new so-called
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"interlining" agreements between airlines mean
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that the record of your ticket is easily transferred to
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another airline. You'll save $20 by going paperless.</p>
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<p><b><i>TIP:</i></b> Remember to bring a record of your
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trip � either an itinerary or at the very least the
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alphanumeric "record locator" from your e-ticket
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� with you to the airport. No technology is perfect.</p>
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<p><b>Go "back-to-back."</b> This is one airlines
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hate, but consumers love. Try buying two discounted
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round-trip tickets instead of one unrestricted � but more
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expensive � ticket. You could save hundreds, even
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thousands of dollars. Use only half of one itinerary and
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half of the other and then toss the remaining unused
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segments. It's called "back-to-back" ticketing,
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and although airlines insist that it's illegal, legal
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experts like Thomas Dickerson, author of the book "<a class="story" href="http://barnesandnoble.bfast.com/booklink/click?sourceid=276075&ISBN=0318214423">Travel
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Law</a>", say it is not. "A back-to-back ticket is
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not illegal. It may be a breach of contract between the
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airline and the passenger, but it doesn't violate any state
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or federal laws," he says.</p>
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<p>There is a down side to a back-to-back. United Airlines
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is cracking down on passengers and the travel agents who
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help them book these kinds of tickets. British Airways also
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has reportedly installed new software that follows ticketing
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offenders. In a letter to travel agents, the British carrier
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said it would take "appropriate action" in cases
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where it suffered a loss in revenue from these ticketing
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<p><b><i>TIP:</i></b> If you book a back-to-back, don't ask
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your travel agent to do it and don't try to collect
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frequent-flier miles. If you give an airline your
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frequent-flier number, it can track your itinerary much
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easier. In some instances, travelers have been hit with a
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penalty at the gate for using a back-to-back ticket.</p>
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<p><b>Fly like a leisure traveler.</b> Pick the type of
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ticket you book carefully. If you can afford to stay at your
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destination over a Saturday night, or can make a reservation
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two weeks in advance, you'll get a deep discount on your
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airline ticket. More business travelers are now booking
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leisure fares, while fewer road warriors are choosing
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costlier business fares, according to an American Express
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airfare survey. "Airlines have slashed leisure fares so
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precipitously, while keeping business fares relatively
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stable and high, that the fares directed at road warriors
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are now six times higher than those traditionally targeted
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at consumers," says Brian Mogler, a vice president for
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American Express.</p>
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<p>Needless to say, airlines hate the fact that you're
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refusing to buy these more expensive tickets. That's one of
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the reasons why carriers such as US Airways recently clamped
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down on its discounted, non-refundable tickets. Late last
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summer, the airline shocked the industry when it announced
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that non-refundable tickets will have no value once the
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flight has departed. Most of its competitors matched the
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<p><b><i>TIP:</i></b> The discounted tickets come with all
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kinds of strings attached, such as $100 change fees for
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alterations made to your itinerary before your flight
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departs. But think about it � if a new ticket costs less
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than the change fee, what's the point of paying it? Book a
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new ticket and throw the old one away.</p>
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<p><b>Play the system.</b> Two other ticketing strategies,
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known as the "open jaw" and "hidden
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cities" are worth considering. By booking a hidden city
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ticket, you pay for a less-expensive trip between two
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airports and get off at a stopover city � which is your
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intended destination. For example, you may book a round-trip
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ticket from Baltimore to Tampa, Fla., but only go as far as
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Philadelphia, the stopover city. (Note that your return trip
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will be cancelled by the airline, so use this only for a
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one-way trip. It also means that you can only have carry-on
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luggage.) An open jaw ticket lets you fly to one city and
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return from another, often at a considerable savings. For
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instance, you might fly from New York to San Francisco but
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return from Los Angeles to New York.</p>
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<p>Note that these tactics don't <i>always</i> yield cheaper
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prices, nor do airlines appreciate passengers circumventing
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their pricing scheme. "Airlines are developing the
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means to catch people who use hidden city itineraries, since
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you're trying to get around the system," says John
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Frenaye of Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Annapolis, Md.
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"So be careful."</p>
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<p><b><i>TIP:</i></b> Don't limit yourself to one airline
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when trying to book these kinds of tickets. Experienced
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travelers check with multiple carriers to see which one fits
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a particular leg of their schedule the best.</p>
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<p><b>Don't be held hostage by frequent flier miles.</b> In
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a <a class="story" href="http://www.bcentral.com/articles/elliott/107.asp">previous
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column</a>, I examined the value � real and perceived �
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of frequent-flier points. My conclusion: oftentimes,
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collecting miles isn't worth it. But US Airways' recent
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announcement that effective next year, miles and segments
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earned on most non-refundable fares will not count toward
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its elite-status frequent-flier program, gives us another
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reason to pause. What that means, basically, is that if you
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don't pony up the cash for an expensive unrestricted ticket,
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your chances of becoming an elite frequent flier are zero.</p>
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<p>That's not to say that collecting miles is pointless. But
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frequent business travelers often book tickets based on how
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many miles they can collect with a given carrier. A few
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years ago I remember interviewing confessed mileage-addict
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Robert Backie, a Phoenix sales manager for a semiconductor
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equipment company who books extra layovers in order to rack
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up extra miles on America West Airlines. Now, with mileage
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awards becoming more restrictive, people like him are
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undoubtedly wondering if it's all worth it.</p>
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<p><b><i>TIP:</i></b> No-frills airlines like Southwest and
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JetBlue (which recently unveiled its frequent flier program)
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offer vastly simplified programs designed to give you free
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tickets faster. If you've given up on the idea of earning
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"elite" status, these carriers' frequent flier
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programs may be a good bet.</p>
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<p><i>Christopher Elliott is the editor of <a class="story" href="http://www.elliott.org/vault/newsletter/index.html">Elliott's
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E-mail</a>, a free weekly newsletter for travelers. You can <a class="story" href="mailto:chris@elliott.org">e-mail</a>
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him or visit his <a class="story" href="http://www.elliott.org/">Web
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