Cutting costs before takeoff

Nation's Business, Nov, 1997 by Peter Weaver

With air fares and lodging prices expected to continue edging up in the months ahead, business travelers may have to do some specially targeted planning to minimize the costs of going on the road.

Businesstravel experts are suggesting a number of money-saving tactics that range from being selective about the days you travel and where you stay to choosing a cost-effective way to pay for the trip.

Airline expenses, for example, can be cut as much as 50 percent by carefully timing out-of-town meeting dates, experts say. "Talk to your travel agent to check what days and times give you the best air fares," says Dina Palek, an agent with Chicago-based Quille Travel.

Certain days, such as Tuesday and Wednesday, are often the best for obtaining discount fares, Palek says, and Monday is next-best. The time of day also can be important. "A deeply discounted seat might be available mid-day or in the evening," she says, "but not in the earlier morning hours or late afternoon."

Work out the best travel days and times, Palek advises, and then plan your business meetings accordingly

Ed Perkins, editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, recommends discounted seven-day. 14-day, or 21-day advance-purchase airline tickets. "You always pay top dollar to the airlines by making your plans, or changing them, at the last minute," he says. But such tickets issued by major airlines usually require the passenger to stay oven-tight Saturday at the destination.

If your destination is served by major airlines as well as lower-cost carriers, there may be deep discounts on fares, particularly at certain times. "When a major airline faces direct competition from a low-cost company," says David Perelman, president of New York City-based DMS Travel Group, "you'll find that they offer competitive if not identical fares." Such fares may be available only for competing flights departing at about the same time of day, however.

Sometimes, though, it pays to pick the major airline's discounted fare over a low-cost airline's offering. You might want to build frequent-flyer points with the major airline rather than with a smaller carrier that you seldom use. Or you might prefer a major airline's amenities -- such as a full meal instead of a bag of peanuts.

Another tactic for cutting air-travel costs, Perelman says, is to choose flights that involve a stop in one of an airline's hub cities. For example, if you want a round trip between Chicago and New York, you can save almost half the price of nonstop flights by taking US Airways flights requiring a stop in Pittsburgh. "When they don't have a competitive, direct flight," Perelman explains, airlines "entice you with a lower fare that requires changing planes in one of their hub cities."

Another suggestion centers on airports. David Stempler, president of the Washington-based Air Travelers Association, which offers members travel discounts, says, "You should also look for alternative airports at both ends of your trip because you might find low-cost airline competition in one location and not the other." Look for airports that are no farther from each other than an hour's chive, Stempler says. He cites the New York City-Newark, N.J., region, the Washington-Baltimore area, and Louisville, Ky.-Cincinnati.

Overseas Strategies

Methods of lining up low-cost air fares for trips abroad are different from those for domestic travel. "Domestically, our deregulated airlines can offer any fare they want," says travel agent Edward Hasbrouck, author of The Practical Nomad (Moon Travel Handbooks, $17.95), "while international carriers, regulated by the International Air Transport Association [IATA], have published fares they have to adhere to."

But because "there's no limit on how much commission the airlines can pay travel agents and other travel-related companies to encourage them to sell seats," Hasbrouck says, a travel agency that got a commission of, say, 30 percent could give much of it to a customer as a discount.

"This means you have to deal with specialized brokers, called consolidators or wholesalers, instead of the airlines," Hasbrouck says. Travel agents, especially those who specialize in business travel, often have specific wholesalers or consolidators they deal with for discounting international air fares.

Travel editor Perkins says that "you can save hundreds of dollars on fares to Asia and Latin America almost any time and to Europe during the peak [higher-cost] summer season" by using a consolidator.

Bear in mind that your savings on international air fares will depend on your destination and travel dates. There are times when the airlines' own economy or excursion fares are lower than those you could get from a consolidator.

Tickets purchased through a consolidator generally don't earn frequent-flyer mileage points.

Hotel And Motel Bargains

You can sometimes cut one-half off quoted room rates by getting your reservations through a hotel broker.

Hotels often designate 10 to 15 percent of their rooms to be sold by brokers at deeply discounted rates because these specialized travel companies can guarantee the hotels business in the low season and can bring in new customers all year.