Flying in Confusion

By Otto Friedrich

Yes, sir, you want to go to Europe? First class? Economy? Standby? Leave Friday? Return Sunday? Less than three weeks? Round trip to and from the same city? Stopovers? Do you want a hotel as part of the deal? Or a car?

These are not frills; they are some of the variables in the main expense of a trip abroad, and variable is a mild word for all the complicated deals being offered in the deregulated air-travel marketplace. To fly from New York City to just one specific city, Athens, by just one specific airline, TWA, the 18 different possibilities range in price from $719 to $999. Meanwhile, twelve competing airlines offer their own cornucopias of deals for the same route.

The negotiations involved in long-distance trips can be of a delicacy worthy of a Geneva disarmament conference. A round-the-world trip from Miami, for example, theoretically costs $2,099, but a ticket for the same route can be bought in London for (pounds)998 ($1,254). "The trick," says Serge d'Adesky of Getaway Travel in Coral Gables, Fla., "is to maximize the effect of the strong dollar by purchasing a London-originated round-the-world fare and buying a Miami-London ticket on a carrier like People Express for $258. You will then have a saving of more than $500 and still have the unused Miami- London portion of your ticket left. You can't cash it in, but you can use it any time within a year."

The People Express rate from Newark to London, uncomplicated by discounts and variations, is the cheapest transatlantic fare and seems to be regarded as a basic unit of measurement, like the prime meridian in Greenwich: $169, one way. But that is only as of today. The price is going up to $189 on April 28 and to $199 on June 5. In July, it may increase again. At these rates, the airline is booked nearly solid for May and is already taking reservations for June.

The other carriers, which are also raising prices about 10% on their regular fares at the end of April, maintain much higher basic rates. Sample round-trip fares from New York: London, $639; Paris, $679; Rome, $799; Frankfurt, $734; Tel Aviv, $799; Tokyo, $1,305; Peking, $1,544. But then come all the different kinds of discounting: midweek flights are cheaper; so is APEX (Advance- Purchase Excursion rate, a round-trip ticket bought at least two to three weeks in advance). And then come discounts on discounts: if, for example, you cannot buy an APEX ticket 21 days in advance, but the airline happens to have an empty seat, perhaps an arrangement can be made.

The pressure of competition has an effect. British Airways and TWA are fighting People Express by selling $199 standby fares to London. Pan American last week offered special discounts just to mollify travel agents and passengers inconvenienced by its recent strike. It granted $25 discounts on all round-trip tickets bought through any agency for travel on or before May 31, plus $100 coupons for any flight after Oct. 1.

These various deals have narrowed the price gap between scheduled airlines and charter carriers. Last year five major charters went into default, but the five survivors expect a 20% increase in business this year over 1984. Sample round-trip charter rates from New York: London, $512; Paris, $507; Rome, $607. Standby fares are $100 less.

The American hunger for travel has inspired the major airlines to expand the number of transatlantic flights even beyond the usual summer increase. One expert puts the total at 97 more than last year. Pan Am alone is flying this summer to six additional cities: Amsterdam, Nice, Belgrade, Bucharest, Athens and Warsaw.

Just one word of advice: anyone determined to go to Europe around the superpeak period of July 1 or to return around Sept. 1 should go into training, perhaps by jamming into a Saturday afternoon train to Wrigley Field or Coney Island.

With reporting by Marcia Gauger/New York