Comments on: Continental posts erroneous “test” fare to its site — but what is it testing?

By: Travel News and Stories for 10/07/2009 : Kathika Travel Website

Travel News and Stories for 10/07/2009 : Kathika Travel Website — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:29:53 +0000

[...] Continental posts erroneous “test” fare to its site — but what is it testing? Here’s a story about an airline doing the wrong thing, then the right thing, and then a confusing thing. http://www.elliott.org [...]

By: Jean

Jean — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:18:08 +0000

In the past, United always quoted a total fare on its website, so the fare you saw when you were looking at available flights was the fare you paid when you booked the ticket. However, lately they show one fare on the flight selection fare, and that fare has a notation that taxes and fees are extra. Only when you go to the booking page do you see the total you have to pay. In one instance, the fare on the selection page was $218 and the fare on the total page was $249.80.

As others have said, I DO NOT CARE what part of the fare is taxes and fees – I only want to know the total I have to pay for the ticket. I hate their change and hope they go back to showing the total page on the selection screen soon.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:35:36 +0000

I suspect they are still preparing their reservations and ticketing system for the transition from SkyTeam to Star Alliance at the end of October and this was part of that, a fare glitch that went public by accident.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:22:53 +0000

It sounds like to me that they are trying to seperate the Q tax from the ticket, for that nice bait and switch that we see most airlines doing. I agree that it seems suspicious and that they might be moving towards the “a la allegiant” pricing. Why not? Other airlines do it, and this seems strange considering Orbitz’ latest moves to have an all inclusive price from the get go. Why are travel agencies trying to provide a service that airlines themselves are “testing” which probably equals, they are looking into going in the other direction.

By: SirWired

SirWired — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:15:00 +0000

“…only interested in one price: the one I have to pay.” Amen!

Every time I see a story about movement in “fares”, it almost invariably ignores fees. I think this must be a legacy of outdated reservation systems, and lazy travel writers. Back in the day when TA’s received commissions on air travel, the amount of the fare vs. the amount of the fees mattered very much, if you were a travel agent. (It still didn’t matter to the flying public…) I really DO NOT CARE how much of the ticket the carrier wants to allocate towards “fuel” vs. “fare.” They can call it a $.01 “fare”, and a $999.99 “fuel surcharge,:” and it matters not to me or my wallet.

I’m personally of the opinion that advertised fares should include ALL non-tax amounts. I can understand not including tax in the ad, as this is similar to non including sales tax in the grocery store flyer. Yes, the taxes that apply to different itineraries vary wildly, especially with international flights, but it does not seem fair to apply a different standard to the airline industry vs. any other seller of goods or services.