=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2004/04/28/f= inancial0904EDT0039.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, April 28, 2004 (AP) How to fly business class for half the price SCOTT MCCARTNEY, The Wall Street Journal (04-28) 06:04 PDT (AP) -- It's one of the bigger inconsistencies in the incongruous world of airli= ne pricing. Buy a Los Angeles-Beijing round-trip ticket in business class on United Airlines, and pay $6,419. But buy the exact same seat -- on the exact same flight -- from Air China International, and pay only $2,992. For years, airlines have been trying to expand their services by teaming up with other airlines in what are known as code-share arrangements. They're billed as a big plus for travelers, since passengers get access to a wider network of flights and expanded frequent-flier programs. But just because airlines are partners doesn't mean they're charging the same fares. It turns that on some routes, U.S. airlines are charging huge mark-ups on seats on partner airlines. Code-share differences have largely smoothed out in coach cabins, particularly on domestic flights. But on international flights, some of the best seats on the plane are going for radically different prices depending on whether you book through one airline or another. The most striking disparities are on trans-Pacific flights. Between Los Angeles and Seoul, Korean Air Flights 12 and 17 cost $3,285 in business class. Korean's partner, Delta Air Lines, sells the same seats on the same Korean flights for 19 percent more, or $3,904. Deals can be found to Europe as well. Between Chicago and Madrid, for example, you can buy a business-class ticket on Iberia for $3,486. Code-share partner AMR's American Airlines will sell you the same Iberia seats for $5,602, a 61 percent markup. You can easily find these differences with a search on Orbitz or another online booking site. The airlines will appear to be offering competing service, but check the flight information carefully to see whose airplane you'll really be riding. Consider, for example, the L.A.-Beijing round-trip itinerary: Air China International calls it Flights 984 and 983, and UAL's United calls it Flights 9440 and 9439. But United notes that the flights are actually operated by Air China. Booking a ticket on an airline's partner carrier, whether it's Air China or British Airways, is no different from booking any other ticket online. Matthew Bennett, publisher of firstclassflyer.com, says he finds differences like these most often when a top-tier airline has a relationship with a much smaller foreign partner. The top-tier carrier prices the flight in line with its existing fare structure. The smaller carrier prices according to what it can typically get in the marketplace. The savings can sometimes outweigh even hefty corporate discounts available to business travelers. Corporate-travel managers also say it's often better, especially in remo= te parts of the world, to fly on the local airline's ticket anyway. If there's a problem when you're in Beijing, you may have more clout with local staff if you're waving an Air China reservation instead of a United ticket. The size of some markups suggests that airlines are taking advantage of loyal customers -- a bad habit this industry cannot seem to break. Sell someone else's product at twice the price, and sooner or later travelers will realize they've been gouged. Airlines say differences result from a host of complexities in pricing, from supply-and-demand to delays in communications between computer systems used by different airlines. "There are strange vagaries because it's such a highly competitive industry," said Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American Airlines. American and Iberia don't have antitrust immunity to coordinate pricing, he noted, so the two airlines price their seats differently. Of course, that has never stopped airlines from matching each other's prices. But in this case, American matches Iberia's lower price only if travelers fly on American (which would require them to make a connection in Miami to get from Chicago to Madrid). In cases where airlines compete with different service, different prices are easy to understand. Between New York and Athens, Delta's business-class round trip is $4,315 while Olympic Airways (a carrier that has struggled mightily) charges $2,155. Olympic flies a larger plane than Delta, so it has more seats to sell, and yet it has a smaller home market. Delta can command a premium price for its seats. But code-sharing is different because the two airlines are selling essentially the same service, just under different names. You'd expect some markup from the U.S. airline since its customers likely get corporate discounts, and there can be slight differences in service. For frequent fliers, for example, special mileage bonuses or elite-level qualifying points may be available only if traveling on that airline's ticket, not a ticket from the code-share partner. When code-sharing first came onto the scene a decade ago or so, travelers often found disparities between tickets priced by partner airlines. Several alliances have gained antitrust immunity to coordinate their pricing, which has eliminated some of the variation. And domestically, airlines -- under pressure from customers miffed at the inconsistency -- have largely smoothed out their pricing differences. Still, even in coach, disparities remain on some routes. On those same L= os Angeles-Beijing flights on Air China, leaving May 1 and returning May 8, United offered seats Tuesday at more than twice its partner's price. United charged $1,504 versus Air China's coach fare of $701. United says the market determines the price -- and apparently it can command a premium even when selling Air China's product. "Each carrier pursues its own pricing strategy independently," United spokesman Jason Schechter said. It's worth noting that sometimes the pricing disconnect goes the other way, though that is rare. Between New York and Tel Aviv, El Al Israel Airlines offered business-class seats Tuesday at $6,729 for a May 2 departure and return a week later, while its code-sharing partner Delta offered the same flights at substantial discount: $4,344. Delta, it appears, feels greater pressure than El Al from Continental Airlines prices from Newark, N.J., to Tel Aviv. Continental has a sale under way on its front-cabin seats, offering Newark-Tel Aviv at $3,076. El Al matches that price with limited availability; Delta appears to be more willing to sell cheaper. What drives travelers to hate airlines is inconsistency, especially in pricing. Travelers want to pay a fair price, one that they can predict. But buying a ticket can be like filing your taxes -- some years you pay less than you thought, some years you pay more, and all years you hate the system. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 AP