Comments on: Why do online travel agencies restrict their sites?

By: David

David — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:48:18 +0000

In some cases, it has to do with the taxes paid by the airline and which country it is based in. I fly regularly to a certain country in Asia. With any U.S. airline, the taxes amount to $220 but using the flag carrier of the Asian country, the taxes are only $80.

By: Mekhong Kurt

Mekhong Kurt — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:57:26 +0000

This practice is a crock. I planned to fly from Bangkok to Dalas and back earlier this year, and wasn’t all that happy with the far my Bangkok [where I live] travel agent quoted me of about US$1,600 return on my preferred carrier at my preferred class. So I went to some of the big-name online companies.

The *cheapest* I found was over US$2,200. And even an economy ticket went all the way up to more than a stunning US$7,600.

Called my travel agent, widened my travel windows, and said any airline, economy class.

She came back with a return fare of about US$970.

I’ve “never* found a decent fare from those sites, which I won’t name because I don’t want to face the possibility of getting dragged into court. But I will never give any of them any business so long as they advertise, falsely, best fares — and I happen to be in a situation where I *often* have the opportunity to encourage others not to do so.

The airline’s explanation in your story is largely poppycock. While I don’t have anywhere near your contacts, I do have close friends in the airline industry, and they privately agree with me.

By: Michael Anisfeld

Michael Anisfeld — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:04:03 +0000

It’s not just the airlines. It is the car rental agencies too. Go the Hertz (or Avis, or any other car rental company) website, and your selection of your country of residence directly (and often highly significantly, sometimes to the tune of over 70%) impacts the pricing you will get for the same car, rented from the same location, for the same dates and the same rental period.

By: Skip

Skip — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 12:35:26 +0000

John,

I would not disagree that there are capitalist forces at work here, However, I respectfully disagree with your analogy… I would say in the example above, the American consumer is not allowed to go to Macy’s to buy their jeans, but is being forced to go to Nordstrom’s.

There is something wrong with that.
-Skip

By: John

John — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 14:36:03 +0000

This is capitalism at its best. You charge what the market will bear. Why does one person pay $200 for a flight and his seatmate pays $1200?

There are no laws requiring you to sell a product at the same price to different customers. If you buy a pair of jeans, you likely can get the same pair in Macy’s and also at Nordstrom’s. I guarantee that Macy’s will be less expensive. Similarly, buying them in NEw York will likely be more expensive than buying them in Minot, ND.

By: Short hops — September 20, 2007 — Southwest’s revised seating policy, Virgin’s expanding premium cabin, international booking mysteries solved, and US Airways’ new upgrade policy » Upgrade: Travel Better

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:30:45 +0000

[...] Why can’t you use a foreign credit card on US booking sites? Chris Elliott tackles this common complaint: You might get a better fare on a particular itinerary by booking via a website or agency outside your home country, but you can’t buy it, because the seller won’t accept your home country’s credit card. Why not? The travel companies are trying to slice and dice the market, so they can have greater control of fares, while minimizing the chance of fraud. Not every country has this problem. (I’ve used a Singaporean website or two to book US travel with my US card.) If you’ve ever been flummoxed by this, go read the whole post. [...]

By: Skip

Skip — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:43:22 +0000

I noticed the same thing about 5 years ago, I think this is one of the Airlines dirty secrets, When I was traveling back and forth between Austin and Stockholm in 2001, my tickets were initally purchased thru our company corp. travel dept. and charged to our travel budget, but as soon as this was passed on to the customer, The customer insisted on arranging and purchasing the tickets from Stockholm because they were roughly 1000$ cheaper per round trip. Making about 10 trips in 18 months, this was a significant savings.

So when I asked my swedish colleagues about this, it was clear to me, that they knew that it was cheaper for them to buy the tickets thru a local travel agent, then it was for me or our corp travel dept… So, maybe Americans are just willing to pay more, so the Airlines price tickets purchased Domestically accordingly.

I certainly don’t buy the argument from Expedia rep, about the variances, I can understand some variances, but this is out and out gouging in my anecdotal experience.

-Skip

By: Phil Carta

Phil Carta — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:14:56 +0000

Chris, airlines have had different prices based on country of origination for as long as I’ve seen (since the early 90s at least). Way before credit card fraud, so that’s a straw man. Other factors, such as exchange rates, are of minimal effect.

When I questioned it with an airline rep (yes, they used to exist!) I was told it was simple pricing based on market forces. Americans are typically thought of as having more cash so that NYC-LON-NYC ticket will cost more in the US than when purchased in, say, Romania. Analogous to the dual economies of Jamaica and other countries.

When online selling became popular, the GDS systems were simply adapted with a front end, but the pricing games continued and that’s where we are today.

Plain and simple it’s simply another airline practice akin to hidden cities and other “rules” which they have imposed. Unilaterally, of course, but that’s their perogative.

…Phil
…Anthony, FL