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On the Spot: Arthur Frommer’s tips on finding cheap airfares

Arthur Frommer

In a prior “On the Spot” column (”For a value-added travel agent, start by getting references“), Richard L. James of Marina del Rey asked about how to find a travel agent but he also asked about how to find a travel consolidator.

I’ve not used one before but Arthur Frommer, a longtime traveler whose 1957 “Europe on $5 a Day” became the bible of budget travelers and opened a new era in European travel, has. So I turned to him for advice.

Here’s how he responded in an e-mail:

“I very often make use of airfare consolidators and value their services. I have, on several occasions, bought reduced-price tickets from 1800FlyEurope.com, and I have sent friends to Hariworld Travel in New York for tickets to India. Many years ago, I bought tickets to Rio de Janeiro from BACC Travel of New York City, a consolidator of air tickets to Brazil.”

In his new book, “Ask Arthur Frommer and Travel Better, Cheaper, Smarter,” he also mentions Airfareplanet.com, Cheaptickets.com, D-FW Tours (www.dfwtours.com); Picasso Travel (www.picassotravel.net) and Economy Travel (www.economytravel.com).

But he also notes in his book and in his e-mail that using a consolidator comes with rewards and risks, the latter being that there may be lots of restrictions and penalties in using such a ticket.

He also cites the example of a friend whose trip got snarled up and the hoops he had to jump through to get rebooked. It’s a cautionary tale.

–Catharine Hamm, Los Angeles Times Travel editor

[Photo: Los Angeles Times file photo]

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 5:19 am by Mary Forgione and is filed under Airline travel, Asia, Business Travel, India, Last Minute, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

One Comment on “On the Spot: Arthur Frommer’s tips on finding cheap airfares”

Maya Golden Says:
April 11th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Using a consolidator can save money when looking for an international flight but their are none that do domestic coach seats.

I have done some reserach for domestic flights and found the following.

Airline prices are SET by the airlines and no one gets it cheaper than the airline sells it for. With this in mind I go to one of the web site check airline, flight availibilty and schedule. Then I go into the airline web site and book the flight. I have never seen any of the other web sites chaper than the airlines web site.
The most important thing i s that everything be the same, flight number, airlines, etc. A difference in 5-minutes can be a difference in cost