The Other Y2K Problem: Scoring a Plane Ticket

Maybe you sighed with relief in early February when all the major U.S. airlines announced that their Y2K software was working just fine and that they were taking reservations for January 2000.

But if you’ve tried since then to book a flight to a resort area around New Year’s Day, you may not be so calm. Thousands of travelers, calling early to book those January flights, were startled to hear at least two major airlines (American and United) tell them that no, the flight’s not sold out, but customers can’t secure a firm reservation and can’t lock in at any price, except perhaps a first-class seat or a sky-high undiscounted fare that’s double the usual rate.

To some customers, this smells like rank millennial opportunism. But at American and United, they insist that it’s really a case of coping with rampant demand and protecting themselves and their regular customers from the opportunism of ticket brokers and other speculators who have been trying to buy up big blocks of tickets on high-demand dates to resell at a massive markup.

Either way, many travelers who wanted to book early were left in limbo. This situation will likely settle down in coming weeks as the true level of millennial demand becomes clearer. But prices, and consumer irritability, are high.

One passenger, Michael Dykes, learned of the airlines’ practice when he called American to book a flight to Puerto Vallarta over the New Year’s holiday. When told that those seeking restricted coach-class tickets could only make requests, he wrote me: “I told them I thought they were measuring the demand and were then going to jack up the rates on real popular ‘requests.’ . . . I think there is something very unusual going on.�

Airline industry veterans say variations of these waiting-list practices have been around for years, especially to resort areas during the winter holidays. But the click-over gives this holiday season a higher profile.

At American Airlines, the initial millennial ticket stall was known as “space-banking.�

“They put you on a space bank, like a wait list,� one American reservations operator told me. Later the airline would “let you know if you got it or not. It could be weeks. It’s new. It’s because of the millennium.�

American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said the carrier did this for “a couple of weeks� in February, but has stopped because “we have now worked our way through all the requests for seats, filled them, and opened up the remaining inventory for sale through traditional airline/travel agent/Internet channels.� The affected flights involved the Caribbean, Florida, Mexico and some parts of Latin America--�basically warm-weather destinations with high demand,� Smith said.

In some cases, American’s reservation agents said they gave customers fare “estimates� that might be as wide as $700 to $1,200. Passengers then were expected to give their limit. They might be willing to spend $800, for instance, but not $900. Smith said that was not an attempt to test the limits of the market, but rather a stopgap measure employed when travelers tried to book trips with return journeys that extended beyond the 331-day horizon of the computer reservation system.

The delays seem to have allowed carriers an extra chance to measure market demand and adjust prices. But Smith asserted that it really amounts to American “trying to avoid letting all the inventory fall into the hands of a few. We were getting very large requests from large groups, tour operators and cruises--far beyond what we normally get.�

United Airlines has taken similar steps, under the broad term “capacity control.� When I called United on Feb. 18 and tried to book the lowest-cost coach-class seats for any LAX-Mexico City flight from Jan. 1 to 6, the reservations agent found that all those seats were blocked--not sold out but blocked. At least, they were when it came to the most affordable type of coach ticket (known as Q class to airline insiders). However, the agent noted, the costlier first-class tickets were selling as usual.

“We may not be releasing as many of the lowest-fare seats at this time� because of unusually high demand, said United spokesman Matthew Triaca.

Triaca also said ticket brokers and tour operators had been booking enormous blocks of seats. United’s solution, he said, has been to block sales of discounted coach tickets so that the only seats available on many flights carry the heftiest possible coach-class price tag. On those LAX-Mexico City flights I called about, for instance, the full coach fare of $812 round trip was available, but restricted coach fares (typically about $460) were not.

This issue varies by airline. A Delta spokeswoman said the carrier has taken no comparable steps, although millennial fares there too are likely to be higher than usual. At Southwest Airlines, where reservations are taken no more than six months in advance, New Year’s Eve bookings won’t go into play until late June.

At Van Nuys-based Brendan Tours, owner James Murphy reported that his staff has found a different air fare situation for virtually every destination--from simple arrangements (with no millennial price boost) in Australia and New Zealand to discount-seat “blackouts� in the Caribbean that may force travelers to buy full-fare coach tickets. “This is uniquely millennium. . . . I don’t think we’ve ever seen it before.�

So what should consumers do? Expect to pay more--but still comparison shop. Weigh the advantages of using a tour or cruise company that has space set aside on key flights. And given the unusually high penalties for cancellation, consider buying trip cancellation/interruption insurance, which usually costs about $6 per $100 of coverage.

Christopher Reynolds travels anonymously at the newspaper’s expense, accepting no special discounts or subsidized trips. He welcomes comments and suggestions, but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053 or e-mail [email protected].