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| Pacific Island Travel
(Clients Area) |
| Special
Fare Categories |
| All airlines have special rate
categories, but you have to ask for them by name, since the agents are
usually not familiar with them. You may even have to talk to the agent's
supervisor. Below is a brief listing of different special fare categories,
followed by a more in depth discussion of standby fares.
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| Also, see preceding discussion of
classes of service
and fare
types. For example, on TWA, class K, V, YC, and M fares
are the cheapest.
Note: Just because you
qualify for a special fare category doesn't mean that it is the cheapest
fare possible. Shop around. By being flexible with your travel plans, you
may be able to save even more. When the special fares are discounted
against full fare coach prices, you can often do better by purchasing a
supersaver or other advance booking fare. Of course, if your special fare
discount may be combined with other offers (e.g., 5% discount for using
the official airline of a conference to travel to the conference), you win
both ways.
Children's Fares |
| Children under 2 years of
age travel free on US domestic flights. (That is, children who have not
reached their second birthday at the date of commencement of travel.) To
be more accurate, the child must not occupy a separate seat (sits on its
parent's lap), and must be accompanied by a fare paying adult passenger 12
years of age and over (the lap in which it sits). If the flight isn't
full, usually the kid can sit in the seat next to the adult, but if the
flight is full, the child will have to sit in the parent's lap for the
duration of the flight. Such children do not get a baggage allowance. Ask
for an "infant ticket" when you make your reservations.
Additional children under 2 are subject to regular children's fares. On
international flights you need a "lap child" ticket which
typically costs about $100 (10% of the regular fare).
Fares for children (age 2-12) accompanied by a
fare paying adult passenger and occupying a separate seat are cheaper than
fares for unaccompanied children. Some carriers will not accept
unaccompanied children under five years of age (some 8 years, some 12).
Fares for accompanied children range from 50% to 100% of an adult fare
(1/2 fare, 2/3 fare, 3/4 fare, 80%, 90%, full fare). Fares for
unaccompanied children range from 50% of adult fare to 125% of an adult
fare (1/2 fare, 2/3 fare, 3/4 fare, full fare, 1-1/4 fare). Nowaways, 2/3
fare seems to be the most common children's fare.
Tell your travel agent before they start
searching for discount fares that you're traveling with children. Not all
discount adult fares allow discounts for children, so it may sometimes pay
to buy a slightly more expensive adult ticket that allows for much cheaper
children fares.
Clergy Fares |
| Clergy have been entitled
to discounts by various airlines in the past, but as of May 1994, none
were participating in such programs. Qualified parties would be advised to
check with airlines at the time of their booking to see if these programs
have been reinstated.
Military Fares |
| US military personnel
traveling at their own expense on authorized leave or pass may get
signicantly cheaper fares. Discharged military personnel must complete all
travel within 7 days of discharge date. Valid active duty US green
identification card or separation orders must be presented. USAir has a
50% military discount.
Also, any military person who is on active duty
and either on TDY (temporary duty), emergency leave or regular leave, or
any retired military person may sign up for space available travel on
pre-scheduled military flights to any air force base (e.g., Hawaii,
Boston, Florida). Active duty personnel have priority over retired
personnel, and space is allocated in order of signup. Few flights,
however, are scheduled more than 24 hours in advance, and you may need to
go to your destination by a very roundabout route, since not every base
has a lot of space-available flights. The cost is free from most bases,
but some tack on a $10 or $20 charge for admin purposes. For long flights,
they will sell you a box-lunch for $2.40. The planes may not be as
comfortable as commercial flights. There are numerous books on
space-available flights that military people can pick up at their PX/BX.
They should also contact the PAX representative at their nearest base for
more specific information.
Senior Citizen Fares |
| Certain airlines provide
reduced fares for passengers 65 (sometimes 62) years of age and older.
Passengers must carry proof of age (passport, birth certificate, driver's
license or medicare card). The typical discount is 10 percent, though some
discounts may be as high as 75%. Some programs provided a booklet of
discount coupons, or sell several tickets at a sharply discounted rate.
Seats are usually limited, and off-peak travel may be required. The fares
are sometimes refundable and sometimes do not require advance purchase. In
some cases, membership in the AARP will qualify you for the reduced fares.
(The AARP's 10 percent discount deal with American Airlines ended in 1992
when the fare war broke out.) Call 1-202-872-4700 for information about
joining AARP. Airlines with special fares include: American, America West,
Continental, Delta, Northwest, Southwest Airlines, TWA, United, and
USAir.
Delta sells books of coupons for travel by
retired senior citizens (age 62 or higher). The cost is $596 for a book of
four coupons, $1,032 for eight coupons. Each coupon is good for a one-way
flight in the continental United States, with two coupons required for
travel to Alaska or Hawaii. The number of seats are limited, and
reservations must be made two weeks in advance of departure.
If buying a booklet of coupons, compare the
prices against the discounted excursion fares. Sometimes you can do better
than the coupons.
Be sure to ask if there are any special fares for
senior citizens, if you qualify. Many travel agents are reluctant to ask a
customer if they are a senior citizen, because they are afraid the
customer might be offended.
Student/Youth Fares |
| Some airlines give
discounted fares to full-time students of an accredited school, college or
university who are at least 12 years of age. Student ID card must be
carried and displayed at the request of the carrier. Some restrict the age
of the student to under some age (e.g., 22, 24, 26 years of age).
Stopovers are not permitted, and some require reservations at least 7 days
before departure.
The status of such discounts varies considerably.
For example, the USAir student discount was cancelled on May 30, 1992, as
a consequence of the American fare restructuring. As of June 1993, the
program was reinstated on a limited scale, primarily on short-haul
east-coast flights, with an age limit of 24. On June 1, 1994, they
cancelled the program, and replaced it with a more restrictive youth fare.
The details of this program are as follows:
- Maximum age 22.
- Reservations must be made 7 days in
advance.
- Saturday night stay required.
- Round trips only, must be a non-stop
flight.
- Not offered in all markets, and the amount of
the discount varies. The best discount seems to be 30% off.
- The discount seems to not be combinable with
supersaver fares.
- You must show proof of age when making a
reservation.
- The discount is limited to US domestic
travel.
Students may purchase discount books of 10
tickets on the Trump (now USAir) shuttle for $499. Delta has a similar
program for their shuttle. Age restrictions can be as low as 18-22 on
these tickets (Continental 18-22, USAir 18-24 some routes, 18-22 others,
Delta is 18-24). Times are restricted from 10am to 2:30 pm and after 7
pm.
TWA has established a student discount program.
Membership costs $15 for one year, $25 for two years, and gets you 10% off
most TWA round-trip fares. You must be a full-time student, aged 16-26.
The fares must include a Saturday night stay-over and 14-day advance
purchase.
TWA has also offered a "Youth Travel
Pak" which provides coupons for four one-way trips in the continental
US for $548 (coupons may be doubled for travel to Hawaii). The Pak is
restricted to students aged 14-24. This can be a good deal if you're
traveling cross-country.
A variety of discounts are available if you have
an International Student Identity Card (or International Teacher Identity
Card). Besides offering proof of student status, the ID provides discounts
on museums and events, air fare, 24-hour traveler's assistance, and health
insurance. Ask your travel agent for details on how to get such a card and
what discounts are available. All Council Travel travel agencies sell the
International Student ID Cards. They are rather cheap -- $17 for students
aged 12 to 25 -- and well worth the price. However, some people have found
that their regular university ID or American Youth Hostel Card works just
as well for most of the discounts. For an application and a free magazine,
call the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) at
800-438-2643.
Youth fares: Passenger must be between 12 and 22
(25 for international travel) years of age. Seats may be limited. Tickets
must be purchased from the point of origin. Some require picture
identification such as Youth Fare identification Card, birth certificate,
government ID card or drivers license. Southwest gives the offpeak rate
for *all* flights for youth (21 & under), although this is still more
expensive than their supersaver fares.
In short, when purchasing tickets ask if there is
any youth/student discount.
Family Fares |
| Some carriers offer
discounts on family travel. For the purposes of the discounts, a family is
defined as a husband and wife with or without accompanying children age
2-17, or one parent with one or more accompanying children age 2-17. Age
restrictions on children differ from airline to airline (some set the
maximum age at 20 or 21 years; and some break children into two classes,
12 & under and 12-21). Some include legal guardian and grandparents
within the definition of parent. It is usually not necessary for the
family to travel under a common surname. Proof of family relationship must
be established to the satisfaction of the carrier and all family members
must travel together for the entire trip. Fares are typically 100% for
first family member, 50% each additional. Some have further discounts.
Conference Fares |
| If you're flying to a
meeting or conference, airlines will often offer a conference discount.
This must be arranged ahead of time by the conference organizers and only
holds for one particular airline. This airline is designated as the
"official" airline of the conference, and is advertised in the
registration brochure. Discounts are generally 40% off of full coach or 5%
off of the best supersaver fare, with travel within 3 days of the meeting.
The conference organizers receive one free round trip ticket for every 20
conference attendees who use the airline.
Sympathy Fares, Emergency Fares |
| If you have to go to a
funeral, most airlines will give you 50% off of the discounted rate, at
very short notice. They call this the sympathy fare. Similarly for a
medical emergency (e.g., a close relative is in intensive care, or is
likely to die). For example, Continental will waive advance purchase
requirements for cheap fares for an emergency. This is their bereavement
rate for people who have to attend funerals. Other airlines that do this
are United and USAir ("compassionate fare"). American gives 50%
off of the non-discounted rate, and will ask you for the name, address and
phone number of the funeral home. (Some airlines will require a copy of
the death certificate or an obituary instead.) This is a tradition carried
over from the "funeral fare" of the railroad days. Airlines do
this because it is simply good PR, and doesn't cost them all that much.
Some airlines will only allow immediate relatives to get a sympathy fare.
[As of 4/30/93, American and United offered 17%
discount on unrestricted coach, USAir 50%.]
In any case you have to ask and sometimes be
persistent as these are nonstandard and not widely publicized policies.
Many low level airline workers are not aware of them or do not have the
authority to allow them.
United "Rule 120" describes the rules
governing sympathy fares. |
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