During this low season from January 2010 to May 23, 2010, it seems that all the airlines have implemented certain “Seat Sales” with varying rates and dates of fare validity. The prices are good, if your plans are final.

For some background however, let us remember that once upon a time the “Scheduled Airlines” sold rather expensive tickets on what is called a full “Y” Fare Basis for economy seats. This was the official full fare price and almost everyone in the economy section paid the same price. The advantages were that you could cancel anytime with a full refund, change your dates as often as you needed to, request assistance, and order special meals. You could also bring as much baggage as you could carry. The higher fare represented the costs of all the extra services available, whether you used them or not.

Then, along came the “Charter Airlines” approved by the government on certain routes, in order to put some competition into the marketplace. The Charter Carriers were protected however by a different set of rules & laws.

A “Scheduled Airline” obtains permission from the government to provide service under certain rules and conditions, including for example, that a “scheduled” flight must operate even if the amount of passengers is not sufficient to make that flight profitable. “Charter Airlines” operate under different rules. They also have policies that includes no cancellations, no changes, and again for example, if the amount of passengers would not be sufficient to make the flight profitable, they can simply delay the departure until the next day without compensation to the passengers, all within the law, as those clauses are included in the terms & conditions of the air transportation document.

To remain competitive, the “Scheduled Carriers” initiated new classes of fares. While travel agents remained the distribution system for the full fare market and sold inventory on a commission basis, in my mind this is when “wholesalers” first became a factor for the airlines to distribute these new and lower alternative fares particularly in markets not served by Charter Carriers – but of course also on the basis of the lower fare provides less service, less privileges. Travel agents soon found it more profitable to sell wholesaler allocations and fares as an alternative to the scheduled carriers full fare tickets. One in particular of these new classes of fares which has become popular for quite a few years now is the “Seat Sale” fare.

As soon as a Seat Sale is announced, these seats sell out rather quickly, and do not believe for a moment that all seats on a flight are available at the seat sale price. There are only a limited amount of seats at this particular fare available per flight. The reason for the “Seat Sale” is to improve the load factor of the flights for the benefit of the airline. They will fill what would otherwise be empty seats with reduced fare passengers. Therefore, when coming across an opportunity to purchase a “Seat Sale” fare, you must move quickly and be sure you will be able to travel on the dates selected, to avoid any nasty surprises later on. We affectionately call them “Use it or Lose it Airfares”.

Lets quickly jump back to the beginning. When you call an agent stating your full and proper name as in your passport and intended date of travel – we go into an inventory system and determine if your dates do have seats available, and what classes of fares are available. We will confirm your dates, and offer you a price, which should be considered an “indication” not a “quotation”. The offer is made subject to immediate acceptance and payment. The availability and price indicated is only valid as long as the inventory system allows it, and the seats remain available.  Of course you may wish to shop around, but be ready to do that promptly, not the following week, and then wait until the week after that to confirm your booking. Often, you will find the seats are no longer available, or the fare has changed due to increased “taxes”, which includes the currency adjustment factor, fuel surcharge factor, etc. You should be ready to confirm your purchase within 2, maximum 3 days after your initial enquiry. Upon confirming, remember to determine the fare basis of the fare offered, and if it is a “Seat Sale” fare, because:

“Seat Sale Tickets” require full payment upon booking and are Not Refundable.  Once purchased, use it, or lose it. For changes of date of departure and/or return, it might be possible with a change penalty charged, but more often you will find that if your new date has moved outside of the Seat Sale dates you must now pay the regular full fare, or even inside the dates there might be no Seat Sale seats available for the new flight date. Again, change penalty plus additional costs to regular full fare, it can make quite a difference from your original purchase.

Remember that there is nothing really given or free in this world including discounts. There are always conditions attached. If you contemplate the purchase of a Seat Sale Ticket, be sure you will be able to travel on those dates as those tickets have conditions. If you cannot travel, you will loose your money. If you need to make changes, penalty charges and a higher fare may apply – your discount may be lost. Finally, you should consider including cancellation insurance with your purchase – just in case.

When you have a plan to go to the Philippines or just about anywhere else during the Holiday season such as December, it is advisable to book early so that you will have a choice of the dates you wish to travel, both outgoing and returning. A lot of people will make reservations during January & February 2010 for next years holiday season, and even if the fares are somewhat high during this peak season of travel, by the end of March you will find seats are scarce on the dates you wish to travel.  Another peak season is June, July, and August – which is the time that families can travel, as children are on their summer vacation from school. The impossible can usually be done right away, but miracles may take a little while longer. Try not to get caught in the situation where you are asking your travel agent on December 1^st to find seats for Dec 19^th or 20^th – which this year will be the busiest dates of the year for the airline carriers.

Reserving in advance has its good points and bad points, as with most things in life. Booking in advance can get you the dates and flights of your choice, with as little as a 25% down payment of the airline fare. The balance can be paid either within 30 days at no additional charge, or over the next months on a payment plan, and with a reducing balance and interest rate that is only approx half of the usual credit card rates, the finance therefore does not become a major factor in your purchase.  Should you find it necessary to cancel your plans however, you will loose the 25% deposit that you have paid towards your ticket. If you do not need to cancel entirely, but wish to change the travel dates at a later time, there will be a change penalty – so while it is wise on the one hand to book in advance and secure your reservations, do not do this unless you are certain that you will be able to make your trip on the dates chosen, or regretfully, penalties will apply.

At any time during the year that you have purchased a ticket, you can make changes by paying the applicable penalty. In most cases, this is a relatively minor but annoying administration fee charged for the cancellation and re-issue of new tickets, and the work involved arranging and obtaining them. However, there are times that these change fees can be a little more costly.  If you have purchased a “Seat Sale” ticket, for example, and now you wish to change your date to a time outside of the designated seat sale dates of travel – you will be faced with not only the change fee, but in addition the increase in the fare between the seat sale price versus the regular price. This can start to be a significant difference.  The same applies on regular fare price tickets, where the “season” changes as a result of your new travel date.  In this case again, there will be change penalties, plus the amount of the fare increase relative to the season change. Again, it is always advisable to be quite certain you will be able to accomplish your original travel plans when making an airline ticket purchase – but should you require changes either on the departure or return, they can be arranged either through your agent, or through the airline directly, but always be aware that change penalties will apply and can be a simple administration fee, or up to a significant change in the airfare.

Another way to proceed, especially if you are not sure of or not fixed on your dates, is to make your trip plan with a more flexible date range for travel – and start making regular monthly payments in advance of the travel.  Your money is safe because as we have advised you in previous columns, a licensed travel agent must keep your money in a bonded Trust Account, where legally it remains your property until such time as you have received your airline or other travel documents. Then, you can keep your eye on the number of seats available on the dates you wish to travel, and then make your purchase when the seats available becomes a little too close to you’re your comfort zone. In the meantime, your payments are accumulating, and before you know it you will have at least the 25% deposit required when you decide to purchase, and maybe even 50% or 75% towards the total amount leaving only a reasonable balance to clear.  We can tell you that this procedure of “Pay Now – Fly Later” is considerably less expensive than “Fly Now – Pay Later” – which is available, but an expensive procedure which should only be used in the case of an absolute emergency.
Happy Holidays

Once you have decided to make your trip, you may want to shop around to ensure you will have the most economical fare. I encourage shopping as we find our clients are more comfortable with their purchase knowing all the options available. Be careful what you wish for however, sometimes there are airlines who will offer a more economical fare, but the routing or stop over time may not be so friendly, which is why they have offered that route at a lower price. For just one “case in point” on the Montreal/Manila route, there is one airline who offers a certainly more economical fare, and on the trip outbound to Manila, transit time is reasonable. However on the return, there is an 8 or 9 hour waiting time for one of the connections en-route. You are certainly capable of deciding what is more important to you, i.e. a faster transit and less overall travel time – or perhaps up to a couple of hundred dollars less on the overall air fare. But always remember this was a choice, and if you choose to save the money, you have to bear the inconvenience of the slower service on the return flight. Sometimes it is worth it, sometimes not.

Most travel agents are using one of the various “GDS” systems (Global Distribution System) to obtain seat availability and basic fare information.  When you call your travel agent to obtain information, you must give your proper name, and preferably as it is written in your passport. Alternatively, you are getting an approximate fare as with no name, your enquiry cannot be entered in the system, and/or if your enquiry is under a nickname or even a false name, there could be a problem later when the ticket needs to be issued.  Usually, when giving your proper name, your agent will make a “temporary” booking. However if you are still shopping, ask your agent not to make a temporary booking, otherwise at your next enquiry the system will simply respond that there is a duplicate booking and a fare will not be calculated.

It is also important to specify the date of your departure, and the date of your return.  There are three “seasons” for travel – and your season will affect your price.  Currently Sept 4^th to Nov 30^th is “Low Season,” Dec 1^st to Dec 10^th is “Shoulder Season,” and Dec 11 to Dec 24 is “High Season” – followed by the Dec 25^th to May 24^th “Low Season” once again. For those of you who wish to plan ahead, May 25^th to June 18^th will again be “Shoulder” and June 19^th to Aug 3^rd “High”, finally Aug 4^th to Sept 3^rd “Shoulder.” If you are planning to fly during high season, especially for Christmas, an early booking is advisable, only in order to ensure that you can get a seat – not because the price would be better, there is no such thing as booking early for Christmas to get a better fare. Let’s put an end to that myth. Christmas is held each year at the same time, the airlines know this, and they know it will be busy, and therefore the fare is higher. You have to be a little more careful with the 2^nd summer high season however, as depending on how the economy is going, airlines are known to suddenly implement “Seat Sales” more likely in low or shoulder season, but at any time they have any indication that their passenger loads are declining for any reason.

You must also specify your correct phone number, and this is for security reasons. The GDS system will require a phone number, and if you offer an incorrect number because you do not want the travel agent to call you after your enquiry, you might run into a problem when finally attempting to book a flight.  A lot of things have changed with security procedures since 9-11, and as much as you wish to give as little information as possible because you are “just looking” – You can no longer be a ghost when contemplating a booking with an air carrier.

Other important items to be considered are that if you are on a working permit, you should call Immigration Canada concerning the most current procedure for the processing of your Re-Entry Visa. This may affect your plans and dates. At the same time, do check your personal documents, to make sure that passport, permanent resident card, and any Visa is in good order and valid. While on the subject of Visa – advise your travel agent if you are not a Canadian citizen, and whether you have a U.S. Visa in addition to your Canadian documents, and ensure that the “Seat Sale” ticket you wish to purchase is not via a U.S. Airport. If you do not have a valid U.S. Visa, you must be certain that any airline you choose will not have a transit in the U.S.A.

If the above have all been verified and negotiated, you will be offered a fare quotation.  This will include a base fare, plus “taxes” which in addition to being an evil word, can be confusing.  The “taxes” includes various Government charges & levies at all places used by the carrier during your trip, plus provision for fuel, currency, and other surcharges. As these assorted charges change frequently, especially fuel surcharges, the fare quotation offered by your agent is “subject to immediate acceptance”. The offer can change by the next day, it may be more, it may be less, it may be the same. Keep in mind however that the rule is “Same Day Acceptance”, and once you get a fare quotation offer, you may be disappointed if you call again 3 weeks later and insist the same price should apply – even if it is in writing.

After the shopping expedition, be open and straightforward with the agent of your choice, and discuss all the season & cost issues, payment options, documentation requirements, and any other concerns you may have. You’ll both feel better about it and there is less chance of any surprises. That accomplished, your mind at ease, proceed to make your reservation – and get ready to look forward to your trip.

In Quebec, a Travel Agency, must have a Permit to Sell Travel.  This permit is issued by the “Office de la protection du consommateur” (Consumer Protection Office) and imposes rules & regulations on Travel Agents, in order that there is the least financial risk possible when purchasing an airline ticket or vacation package. The owner of the agency and all agents who are employed by the Agency are governed by that Permit. Most Important and Rule No. 1 is that any payments received by a Travel Agency must be deposited in a “Trust Account” wherein the money deposited legally remains the property of the customer until such time as they have received the Travel Documents purchased and paid for. The Travel Agency is forbidden to pay any operating or other expenses from that account, or remove any commissions earned until such time as the customer has received their Valid Travel Documents. Accordingly, when you pay your hard earned money to a Travel Agency, always ensure that they have an “OPC Permit”, and don’t be shy to ask to see the permit. It is your right, and your protection.

Another Important Rule administered by the “OPC” via Permitted Travel Agents is the collection and registration of the “Fonds d’indemnisation des clients des agents de voyages” which in short, due to space limitations, is the mandatory collection and registration of your Travel purchase in a Government Fund amounting to 0.35% ($3.50 per $1000.00 Value) of all Travel Services sold in Quebec, which then is held by the Government to use for various travel related reasons, but for one example, – in the case of a failure to be able to provide the service purchased, i.e. bankruptcy by an Airline which would result in Quebec Residents abroad having to purchase a return ticket, you would be compensated for your additional expenses.

In many cases this mandatory contribution is already included in the price quoted for your Airline Ticket – But make sure it is illustrated on a separate line item on your Travel Invoice – In order that it is perfectly clear should you run into a problem, that the premium has been paid.  Only a Travel Agency with a valid permit can register your Travel Purchase and ensure you are fully protected. You can see more information on this program at www.partezprotege.gouv.qc.ca. In addition to regular or part time employees, a Travel Agency sometimes has arrangements with independent sales agents, often referred to as “Outside Agents”. An outside agent can sell Travel on behalf of an Agency with whom they have made an arrangement, but then can only sell on behalf of that particular Agency. All the Trust Account and OPC rules are taken care of by the host agency on behalf of the outside agent. However, an outside agent working and selling on behalf of more than one Travel Agency would in fact make them technically a Travel Agency themselves – and this is not permitted.

Once again, always make sure your independent agent has a valid agreement with an Agency who holds a permit, that all money paid is deposited to that Agencies Trust Account, and that your purchase is reported and premium paid on the Gross Amount of the purchase to the OPC Indemnity Fund in order to avoid any difficulties should you need to file a claim. Airline Tickets to the Philippines are an expensive proposition. Always protect yourself by making sure the Agent of your Choice has a permit, and registers your purchase for the indemnity funds.