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Take Advantage of 'Fatigue' Deals
The Travel Tightwad · January 8, 2002

It's only a few minutes into the 10-hour flight from Vienna to Washington and already I'm thinking, "Please just send me to the cargo hold."

At least the freight doesn't have to put up with a middle seat, with surly flight attendants, with screaming infants (one on each side), or a headset and video screen that are short-circuiting. At least the payload on Air Murphy has 10 hours of peace and quiet, and probably more legroom than my bulkhead seat offers.

My nightmare flight from hell isn't so much the exception as it is the rule these days, particularly in the U.S. and Canada. It's gotten so bad that people refuse to travel.

A quick look at a few numbers would reveal why. Airlines spent the latter part of the 1990s raising fares and cutting service. From January 1996 to January 2001, the average one-way airfare increased 33 percent, from $230 to $305, according to American Express.

Meanwhile, airlines cut corners wherever possible to maximize profits. The major U.S. carriers moved economy class seats closer together in order to wedge in more passengers, they reduced or eliminated meals on flights, and they lessened the amount of fresh air pumped into the cabin. Service levels deteriorated in tandem, as airlines lost more luggage and chalked up more delays than any other time in recent memory.

Now people are refusing to fly.

"I'm tired of travel," says Keith Klarin, a former frequent flier based in Palm City, FL. "I use to love it. But that was when I had no problem using mileage to upgrade to business class and there were fewer hassles at the airport."

Agrees Leslie Butts, who is a sales manager for a percussion company: "I'm tired of poor service. The home office is looking better and better."

The airline industry is starting to realize that it made some mistakes. Quite a few, actually. It knows that the economic downturn and the September 11 terrorist attacks had very little to do with our national sense of travel fatigue, and although it won't publicly admit it, we know that it knows. We also know that it's doing something about it: lowering fares and maybe even acting nice to us for a change.

For example:

• Ailing US Airways recently cut fares to Florida and 16 Caribbean destinations at a time when it usually raises them. Prices started as low as $138 round-trip in some markets. Although this particular sale will be over by the time this column appears, it's a safe bet that rates to warm-weather destinations will remain low during the cold months.
  
  
• ATA's recent "Way to go Sale" offered obscenely low prices (starting at just $150) plus savings of an additional $10 if you booked online. ATA is locked in a fierce battle for customers with United Airlines, so look for it to match most ATA sales. Also, even though "Way to go" may be long gone by the time you read this, keep a close eye on the ATA site for more similar offers.
  
  
• Northwest Airlines is being extra nice to its customers by offering them the good seats at a good price. It cut fares on its World Business Class seats from the U.S. to select European destinations to the point where just about anyone could afford them. I did a double take when I read about some of the rates (just $610 round-trip from New York to Zurich, for example). That's almost the same amount I paid for my flight to Vienna on Air Murphy.
  

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.