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  The Society for Consumer Advocates and Mavens

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DISCOUNT AIRFARE BROKER CONSOLIDATOR

Only by traveling at the last minute should you have to pay "full price" anymore for airfare. Otherwise, consider looking for a sale, low-fare airlines, charter flights, discount coupons, ticket consolidators and even two-for-one fares.

However, airlines promising discount airfares may not always clearly disclose that possibly few seats may even be available at the discount rate! They may hope that when you find the discount seats are sold out you will opt for a regular fare ticket or a costlier ticket.

Look for airfare consolidators, not to be confused with ticket brokers. A consolidator may be able to sell tickets at discounts of up to 30% or more compared to buying your ticket direct from the airlines!

However, beware of low-fare airlines which may cancel your flight at the last minute if they have not managed to sell enough seats! If this happens a low-fare airline may not even offer you a seat on another airline literally leaving you out in the cold so to speak. Low-fare airlines may also experience more delays as well as overbook more of their flights compared to regular fare airlines so beware.

A ticket broker should not be confused with a ticket consolidator. A broker may not be as reliable as a consolidator. Tickets sold by brokers may even be worthless. Your only protection is to always use a credit card when purchasing tickets.

Brokers have even been known to sell you someone else's frequent flier miles which are not even meant to be re-sold! Consequently, the airline may not honor your ticket even if you have already paid the broker.

A ticket consolidator typically may be a true deep discounter who sells seats the airlines fear they cannot sell prior to a flight. The agreement the consolidator has with the airline is the consolidator promises not to go out and advertise the cheaper deals so as not to undercut the airline's advertised rates.

Consolidators or "bucket shops" deal a lot with overseas tickets on international flights but consolidators are unregulated, meaning anyone can call themselves a ticket consolidator.

There have been stories of consolidators running off with the money of unsuspecting ticket buyers and consolidators who sell tickets to other consolidators who then turn around and sell them to the flying public at a higher rate. The practice is open to fraud but legitimate consolidators may be the only way to get real cheap airfare. The trick if finding a genuine consolidator or discounter for foreign and domestic fares. Try calling toll free 1-800-AIR-FARE or 1-800-40-WORLD for lower cost flights through a consolidator.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCES: CONSUMER REPORTS MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 1995 and FT. LAUDERDALE SUN SENTINEL NEWSPAPER 5/14/05

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