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USA Today story triggers battle of the airfare gurus

June 6, 2008

Can’t we all just get along?

Earlier this week, USA Today declared that some summer airfares had doubled, tripled — even quadrupled — with a sensationalistic headline that was worthy of this blog.

The nation’s newspaper called on “travel price guru” Tom Parsons of BestFares.com, who said the cheapest tickets available on many routes in July are “100 percent to 300 percent higher” than a year ago.

Then the competition pounced.

“I was so confused by the statements,” wrote the other travel price guru, Rick Seaney, on his blog. Then he proceeded to dismantle Parson’s numbers.

Article states, non-stop Detroit-Providence roundtrip travel in July is $595 — up 365% — not true — Northwest Airlines has the only non-stops (no competition) and Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, non-stop roundtrip 4-night trips in July are priced at $309 – $351 out-the-door (including the $21 in fees not mentioned on the noted fare). Departures Sun, Mon, Tue (non-stop 4 nights in July) are from $309-485 out-the-door.

Then the other travel price guru, Terry Trippler, joined in. This afternoon, he released a video that questioned Parson’s numbers. “The fares and facts just weren’t right,” he says, referring to Parsons only as “the source.”

“Just trying to keep them honest,” he adds.

What’s got their feathers all ruffled?

It could have something to do with the fact that USA Today remains the most credible source of airline news in the mainstream media. Being featured as the “travel price guru” means you’re the alpha wolf of air travel.

But I think it’s also true that there’s room for all three airfare experts, and probably a few more.

As an observer of the airline industry — but by no means an expert — I can’t believe USA Today (or any newspaper) would bother quoting airfares in an article when everyone knows prices change by the minute.

What they really need is a ticker to display the fare fluctuations in real time. And you can only do that online.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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9 comments

  • http://www.eurocheapo.com Pete

    It seems as though USA Today could have quoted someone from Farecast / Farechase / Kayak who auto-archives rate info and specializes in (primarily) transparent fare forecasting. While a soundbite is always nice, hard data is even better, no?

  • http://beatofhawaii.com beatofhawaii.com

    I find that USA Today’s Travel reports are getting less credible by the day. They take the notion of sensationalism to the max.

    We researched Hawaii airfares for the summer season and find them to be 10-15% higher than last summer, on average.

    Aloha, http://beatofhawaii.com

  • Joe Farrell

    But what if you want to reserve seats, check luggage, get a drink, breathe air, etc? Then its $595 . . . .

    Fares from BDL-SAV are $443 RT leaving on a summer saturday coming home the next Saturday with full advance purchase. We will be doing this in about 3 weeks. Total for that trip of 800 miles is $1329 for our family of 3. Plus $125 for a car rental in SAV and another $60 to park our car at the airport @ BDL. Total cost around $1510. Total time is 7 hours 45 min door to door ASSUMING on time flights.

    It costs me $1301 to operate my own airplane 9.5 hours round trip over the same route. No cost to park on the front end, and no need for a car rental on the back end since we are 5 miles from our vacation home by going into a General Aviation airport.

    Total time enroute is 6 hours 15 minutes door to door flying my airplane. Now, if there was an airliner nonstop from BDL to SAV [closest ones to us are BOS/JFK/LGA/EWR which are a 2 hour drive] ] it would take less time [about 2 hours less] – but not that much less [say 30 minutes overall].

    Yes, the air transportation system is out of whack when I can fly myself for $200 less than on a more efficient airliner and have it take less time.

  • Joe Farrell

    One comment I forgot was that the ‘usual’ fare on this route is about $300 – so its 50% more than it was last year. If you want a holiday weekend, its even more, about double what it used to be – so fares HAVE gone up 100% on certain routes and more than that if there is not a Saturday night stay . . .

  • Jasper

    @ All travel gurus:

    1) Please stop beating each other up. Join each other and pound on the travel industry please.

    2) Please stop just copying the ticket prices. They don’t have any relation to the actual cost of flight. *Please* start including all fees and surcharges that will be charged to an average customer.

    Quite frankly, if you don’t do that, you are just being an misguided advertisement window for the airline industry, and not worth my time.

  • allen murray

    The problem is that you are assuming that USA today is a real newspaper. It is not – it is simply something that most folks get free in thier hotel. It is worth the price, but nt worth a penny more.

  • http://www.BnBFinder.com Michael

    Whether a reporter is quoting or not, fact checking is an essential part of responsible journalism. Chris I couldn’t agree with you more about going online to find the most up to date information. The reality is that print newspapers are an unsustainable model economically, and also in the example you pointed out above. Other than for aesthetics, who wants to read a paper that’s out of date before it gets to your hands when more up to date information can be had on the web?

  • BriCo

    Well, I saw an ad in the 6/8 Sunday travel section advertising for the sate of Hawaii so I went to their web site to see the “special deals”. I found August airfare (only) for $900+ on all but 1 airline; USAir was about $875. Today I visited AA and chose: LAX-OGG (Maui), Restricted fares, 1-stop, travel Tues out/Tues back, stay over a Sat: $1025 Jul 22; $909 Aug 11; $793 Sept. 16; $759 Oct. 21, and these for either returning early afternoon OR on a red-eye. Non-stops were $35-$115 higher. In March 2006 I have paid ~ $350 – - High Season! I’d say fares have risen dramatically.

  • G Olsen

    I travel from S.D. to Philadelphia6 non stop 7 times a year. My tickets were always $300 to $375 roundtrip. Tickets for April , June, $538, Aug $538 and Nov. and Dec. $655 which I’ve already purchased were almost double following a $200 price drop.
    I too read USA today for airline news and find it most informative. also get First Class Flyer even though I don’t travel overseas. I find it also informative as well as your newsletter. Keep up the good work, Love your column.

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