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Protect Yourself from Repricing
Kiplinger's Personal Finance · January 31, 2001

Before you take your next cruise, take a close look at your ticket. Notice anything peculiar? A blacked-out section here, a sticker there? If you do, then you may be a victim of one of the fastest-growing scams in the travel business - something known in the trade as repricing.

It starts when you book a cruise vacation months in advance, at a time when rates are relatively high. The agent takes your deposit and then waits. Over time, the price may sink as the cruise line scrambles to fill empty staterooms. When the balance is due (usually 75 days before sailing), the agent cancels your full-priced ticket, and buys a cheaper ticket.

The agent doesn't tell you that the actual price of your cruise dropped far below what you originally agreed to pay. Nor does the agent mention that he's pocketed the difference and doctored your ticket - by obscuring the actual price paid with a sticker - to conceal the profit.

It's difficult to say how widespread repricing is. None of the agents interviewed for this story would admit to it, although nearly all of them agreed that the practice is becoming common in the industry. Alex Aliksanyan, the president and chief executive officer of Icruise.com, a New York-based online cruise agency, says he believes agencies across the board play this kind of pricing game with clients.

People who buy high-end, four-figure cruise vacations are the most vulnerable to repricing, says Peter Ulbrich, the owner of Ocean Adventures Travel, a Cincinnati cruise agency. "If you're a regular customer at a cruise agency and money is no object, then you could easily become a victim," he says. That's because dollar for dollar, luxury cruises are often discounted the most heavily, although the sheer volume of discounted mainstream cruises also presents agents with the temptation to make some extra money at your expense.

Repricing used to be rare. But recent volatility in rates, which was set off by an unprecedented increase in the number of cruise ships, has changed that. "Cabins are going for a song," says Anne Campbell, the editor of CruiseMates.com, a Web site that reviews cruise ships.

One travel agent says she witnessed stickers being put on tickets en masse at her previous agency. She even kept ledgers showing the repriced cruises. "It's like a factory. The tickets go in, and they come out with stickers on them," the agent says.

For example, the ledgers on a recent group cruise booked on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas showed repricing of between $157 and $343 for cruises that cost anywhere from $1,748 and $2,096.

"It's theft, plain and simple," says Marc Mancini, a Los Angeles consultant to the cruise industry. "The actual price of a ticket is being hidden from a customer. I think most travel agents find that abhorrent and unethical."

But not all of them do. Uf Tukel, who is the vice-president of Internet marketing at Mytravelco.com, a division of cruise agency Travel Services International, in Delray Beach, Fla., says agents rationalize the charges in several ways. For example, when travel agents bundle a cruise vacation with shore excursions that include hotel stays and tours, they may feel they're adding value and should be compensated beyond the typical 10%-to-15% commission paid by the cruise line. "There are other agents who see the agreement between them and the customer as a contract and believe that what they negotiate with the cruise line isn't the customer's business," he says.

Repricing may be illegal. Says Mitch Katz, a spokesman for the Federal Trade Commission: "If consumers have been misled and have overpaid for their cruises, then the cruise agents could be in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act." It all comes down to the contract between the retailer and customer, he adds. If travel agents are being up front about the pricing, then there's little that the government can do. But if there's widespread deception and enough consumers complain, he says, it could trigger a federal investigation.

So how do you protect yourself from repricing? You can start by asking a few simple questions when you shop for a cruise. Will the agent handle your credit card, or will the cruise line? You should insist on having the cruise line charge your card to prevent the travel agent from tinkering with your ticket.

If you've already booked a cruise and there's a sticker on your ticket, it's not too late to contest it. Call your travel agent and ask him or her why your ticket appears to have been tampered with. If you're not happy with the answer, phone the cruise line and ask the cabin's price. If a cruise line catches wind of repricing, it will usually take swift action to punish the agency. In most cases, you can expect a rebate.

Finally, do your homework. Visit a travel agent, but don't be afraid to run a price check online in advance. It may be the best way to prevent you from getting that sinking feeling that you overpaid for a cruise.

Christopher Elliott is a journalist and commentator based in Annapolis, Md. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.