6243tes@whuts.UUCP (STERKEL) (03/13/86)
> <seven good reasons to use a travel agent instead of OAG and going > directly through the airlines> > > You left out an important one, especially important in view of the > sometimes flaky behavior of airlines living in the fast lane: > > If you purchased your ticket through a travel agent, you are pretty much > covered if the airline goes under, even temporarily, and refuses to honor > the ticket. Travel agents have a trade association of some sort that > insures you will either get a seat on another airline, most often at > no additional expense, or get *all* your money back. If you bought your > ticket directly from the airline, you are quite possibly out of luck. CAREFUL, THIS IS ONLY TRUE IF THE AGENT USED "UNIVERSAL" TICKET STOCK. MANY (MOST?) AGENTS SAVE MONEY BY USING TICKET STOCK PUT OUT BY A SPECIFIC AIRLINE. I WAS BURNT WHEN BRANIFF WENT UNDER, (COULD NOT RETURN HOME), DESPITE THE FACT THAT A TRAVEL AGENT ISSUED THE TICKET BECAUSE OF THIS FACT. THOSE PEOPLE AT THE EASTERN COUNTER WITH "UNIVERSAL" STOCK WERE ACCEPTED BY EASTERN, THOSE 70% OF US WITH BRANIFF STOCK GOT STUCK. .
doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (03/17/86)
> > If you purchased your ticket through a travel agent, you are pretty much > > covered if the airline goes under, even temporarily, and refuses to honor > > the ticket. > > CAREFUL, > THIS IS ONLY TRUE IF THE AGENT USED "UNIVERSAL" TICKET STOCK. MANY > (MOST?) AGENTS SAVE MONEY BY USING TICKET STOCK PUT OUT BY A SPECIFIC > AIRLINE. I WAS BURNT WHEN BRANIFF WENT UNDER, (COULD NOT RETURN HOME), > DESPITE THE FACT THAT A TRAVEL AGENT ISSUED THE TICKET BECAUSE OF THIS > FACT. THOSE PEOPLE AT THE EASTERN COUNTER WITH "UNIVERSAL" STOCK > WERE ACCEPTED BY EASTERN, THOSE 70% OF US WITH BRANIFF STOCK GOT STUCK. Somebody is confused here, and I hope it isn't me. As far as I know *all* ticket stock is obtained through ARC. I would guess that what is being described has to do with which airline the ticket was "plated" on. If you buy a ticket from airline X, they will always plate on their own airline. Travel agents have the option of plating on any airline used for any leg in the ticket. If the ticket was not plated on the bankrupt airline, then you should have no problems using it. If it *was* plated on the bankrupt airline, then *if* it was issued by a travel agency and not the airline, then you can get a refund through that agency. Repeat: through that agency. The insurance program is a travel agency program, not an airline program. The airlines (such as Eastern mentioned above) are NOT part of this program. You have to return the ticket to a travel agency (and probably to the agency that actually issued the ticket). -- Doug Pardee -- CalComp -- {elrond,savax,seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!terak!doug
shaprkg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Bob Shapiro) (03/17/86)
In article <583@whuts.UUCP> 6243tes@whuts.UUCP (STERKEL) writes: >> <seven good reasons to use a travel agent instead of OAG and going >> directly through the airlines> >> >> You left out an important one, especially important in view of the >> sometimes flaky behavior of airlines living in the fast lane: >> >> If you purchased your ticket through a travel agent, you are pretty much >> covered if the airline goes under, even temporarily, and refuses to honor >> the ticket. Travel agents have a trade association of some sort that >> insures you will either get a seat on another airline, most often at >> no additional expense, or get *all* your money back. If you bought your >> ticket directly from the airline, you are quite possibly out of luck. >CAREFUL, >THIS IS ONLY TRUE IF THE AGENT USED "UNIVERSAL" TICKET STOCK. MANY >(MOST?) AGENTS SAVE MONEY BY USING TICKET STOCK PUT OUT BY A SPECIFIC >AIRLINE. I WAS BURNT WHEN BRANIFF WENT UNDER, (COULD NOT RETURN HOME), >DESPITE THE FACT THAT A TRAVEL AGENT ISSUED THE TICKET BECAUSE OF THIS >FACT. THOSE PEOPLE AT THE EASTERN COUNTER WITH "UNIVERSAL" STOCK >WERE ACCEPTED BY EASTERN, THOSE 70% OF US WITH BRANIFF STOCK GOT STUCK. >. WHOA!!!! Careful what you say. I have owned a travel agency for 8 years and have never have ticket stock of a particular airline with the exception of PSA 8 years ago which had its own stock at that time. I have never been offered stock from a particular airline and I see no advantage in using different stock from each airline as the payment method would become very complex. Right now I pay one bill for all of my universal stock. I would have to pay a separate bill to each of the airlines and the check, postage, and labor costs could be overbearing. I suspect that a few agencies may use airline stock (especially in the ethnic market to the Far East. These may not even be accredited travel agencies and may be limited to selling only particular airlines) However, it is extremely rare to see a travel agency use airline stock for a domestic ticket. Now a bit of clarification for what happens when an airline goes under. There is no guarantee that other airlines will take a ticket merely because it was written by an agent rather than by the defaulting airline. At one time there was an agreement to this effect but it is no longer in existence. The airlines do lean toward protecting the passenger to a greater degree if the ticket was written by an agent but THERE IS NO GUARANTEE. There are some things, however, that an agent can do to protect you against an airline going under which are not available at the airline. 1. You can purchase trip cancellation insurance. 2. If you are travelling on more than 1 airline on the same itinerary you can have the agent "plate" the ticket on the airline of strongest financial condition. Normally a domestic ticket is plated on the airline on the first leg but the rule is not that iron-clad. As long as you plate on an airline which is involved in the itinerary than that is usually accepatable. This is important because the plating airline is responsible for the refund of the entire ticket. If you have a ticket which is plated on a financially stable airline but has a coupon on a bankrupt airline, other airlines will be glad to accept that coupon since the financially stable airline is the one who is responsible for paying them. 3. In the case of Continental, they offered agents incentives for tickets which were made unusable by their bankruptcy. Thus passengers were able to recover their money by using the "bad" tickets on the "new" Continental airline. I believe this was also true for Braniff but I don't remember. Once again there are no guarantees and there are people walking around with useless pieces of paper for transportation on airlines such as Hawaiian Express, Laker, Pacific East, etc.