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I'm Sorry - Sort Of
Ask Chris · April 13, 2000

Q: Are you still planning on apologizing to travel agents about your column on back-to-back tickets? I seem to recall that you said you would publicly apologize if any agent could produce a traveler whom the airlines attempted to stop for using a back-to-back itinerary. By the way, I do think you have been fair to travel agents lately. I appreciate that and I think the traveling public will benefit from your efforts.

-- Greg Stewart

A: I did indeed promise to make a public correction if it turned out that airlines weren't just pursuing travel agents, but also travelers, for using back-to-back tickets.

Here's a blow-by-blow account of how it happened:

Last November I wrote a series of columns for this site about back-to-back tickets in which a lot of travel agents, including most of the readers of the PS Inform service, participated. It turned into one of the most emotional debates that this column has ever sponsored.

We agreed to disagree on one point. Many travel agents said they weren't the only ones being hunted down by the airlines for using the "b-to-b" ticketing loophole. However, I could find no evidence that travelers were being tracked in the same way retailers were.

In one of my subsequent columns, I wrote: "By saying 'Oh, we're not the only ones who will get in trouble for a back-to-back itinerary,' travel agents are trying to vilify airlines more than they deserve to be. I mean, it's bad enough that carriers cut their commissions down to their current substandard rates, but leveling charges against the airlines that are improvable in order to make them look even worse? I'd say the airline industry looks bad enough already."

Then I added: "If I'm wrong, then of course I would be willing to make a public correction."

Well, I guess that's what it took to get a couple of wiseguy travel agents to send me the names of some of their clients who'd been pursued by the airlines for flying on back-to-back itineraries. I called the travelers and found out that their stories were for real.

My findings were published last week on this site. I wish I could say that these agents alone made it a compelling report, but it was really a team effort. A day before my report posted, fellow travel commentator Christopher McGinnis published a story about Delta Air Lines' new yield management initiatives. His report suggested that carriers are now more willing to go after their best customers in order to boost their bottom line. A day after the commentary appeared, my colleague Joe Brancatelli followed up with a story on Biztravel.com containing more cases of airlines cracking down on frequent fliers.

I also owe a lot to Randy Petersen's InsideFlyer magazine. Back in January, while I was researching this story, I compared notes with editor Pam Lewis. She assured me that I was on the right track with this report. And she ought to know - no trend involving frequent travelers gets past her publication.

So you want a public correction? OK.

Travel agents aren't the only ones being hunted down like criminals by commercial carriers. The airline industry has added an unlikely new category of enemy to its list: frequent fliers.

The airlines have now not only alienated their distributors by slashing commissions and socking them with ridiculous debit memos, but they're also pursuing their best customers with the same irrational zeal. Whatever do they hope to accomplish?

I can tell you what will probably happen. When the airline business takes a nosedive - and it will, since it's a cyclical industry - the avaricious executives who declared war on travel agents and frequent fliers will find that they have no friends. In due time, their distributors and best customers will repay them by taking their business elsewhere.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator and author of A Bridge to Nowhere: A Year in the Florida Keys. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion. Ask Chris appears weekly on this site.