Lower Fares

One thing that 190 million Americans missed this year by not belonging to the Odd Fellows of New York, the American Society of Abdominal Surgeons or the Temple of St. Louis Moolah Shriners was an extraordinarily inexpensive vacation. As "affinity" groups, under Civil Aeronautics Board rules, they and scores of similar organizations can -- and have -- chartered jets for overseas junkets at fares far below the usual. Before long, under a new plan announced last week by Pan American World Airways, just about any non-fellow may be able to do as well.

Pan Am's new deal is a special 14-to-21-day round-trip fare for groups of ten or more persons who need share no affinity other than a yen to fly to the same vacation spot at about one-half the normal rate. Under the group plan, for example, the New York-London round trip would cost $230 compared with the $399 off-season and the $484.50 summertime economy fares. Unlike Pan Am's $300 excursion fare, which does not apply on weekends or during peak summer weeks, the group fare would be good at all times on all transatlantic and many transpacific and South American flights. The only catch is that to qualify, groups must sign up for package tours costing a minimum of $70 in Europe, $90 elsewhere.

Pan Am will start selling the group fares on Jan. 1, pending approval by CAB, which is almost certain, and the foreign governments involved, which is not: some may decide that the plan will steal traffic away from their own national airlines. At week's end though, BOAC, Air-India and Scandinavian Air lines System said that they were willing to match Pan Am's deal; other airlines will try to push through an industry wide plan along the same lines, at a meeting of the rate-setting International Air Transport Association in Rome next week.

Surprisingly, the nudge for the new fares came from the U.S. nonscheduled airlines. As of last week nine of the biggest, led by World Airways of Oak land, Calif., have CAB permission to charter planes for all-expense, "inclusive tours" outside the U.S. They will be set up by travel agents and sold to all comers at a package price that could be cheaper than the Pan Am plan.

World President Edward J. Daly expects that by 1970, his tour revenues will reach $100 million a year. But partly because of Viet Nam airlift commit ments, inclusive tours will not get into full swing until late 1967.

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