Airfare consolidators are yet another way to stretch your travel dollar.
Consolidators are airfare wholesalers that have negotiated high-volume discounts with airlines. They sell discounted fares to consumers through travel agents. Some also sell the discounted fares directly to the public.Gary E. Schmidt is the author of "Fly For Less," which lists highly rated airfare consolidators and offers general advice about how to get the best fares.
Schmidt owns a travel agency in Woodbury, Minn., and he has been publishing books for 30 years.
He started with golf resort and ski resort directories. "One of the problems we had was finding a good consolidator. There was no information available," he said during a telephone interview with the Deseret News.
So he gave birth to a $50 tome called "The Index to Air Travel Consolidators," a reference book for travel agents. "We had so much interest in it that we decided to publish one for the general public."
The latest edition of "Fly For Less" is hot off the press.
The book (ISBN 0-9649733-3-2) is available at bookstores for $19.95. Or order one by calling Travel Publishing Inc., at 1-800-241-9299.
Although some of the consolidators listed in Schmidt's book do business with the general public as well as with travel agencies, he advises consumers to book a consolidator fare through a travel agency, when possible, rather than directly through the consolidator.
In his book, he writes " . . . have a good travel agent check the consolidator fare when possible. . . . Consolidators are not travel agents. Their job is to book airline tickets only. . . . Because of heavy phone traffic, they will not be able to offer you the level of customer service you are accustomed to from a travel agent."
If you use a consolidator directly, pay with a credit card, he advised.
Consolidator fares will probably save you money on international travel, particularly to Asia or Australia, he said. As far as Europe goes, "You can get cheap fares from airlines on sale."
In addition to listing the 25 air consolidators that received the highest ratings (on a scale of 1 to 10) from the 250 travel agencies surveyed by Schmidt, the book lists travel agencies across the United States that sell consolidator fares.
There are more than 180 air-fare consolidators.
Utahns won't necessarily need to use the travel agency section. Many Salt Lake travel agencies sell consolidator fares. When you call a local agency, just ask the agent to check consolidator fares.
These are among the highest-rated consolidators that sell to the general public, according to Schmidt's survey:
- AirConsolidator.Com, West Orange, N.J., 1-800-679-2160 (www.airconsolidator.com).
- British Network, Ltd. Upper Montclair, N.J., 1-800-274-8583.
- Chisholm Travel, Inc., Chicago, 800-631-2824, (www.
chisholmair.net).
- D-FW Tours, Dallas, 800-527-2589.
- GTI Travel Consolidators, 1-800-829-8234.
The book's consolidator listings include a lot of details. They give examples of the fares, tell you what percent of the bookings are on scheduled flights, whether you'll get frequent flier miles, etc.
For example, the average discount fare from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, low season, offered by Chisholm Travel is $657 round trip.
The average discount fare offered by British Network from Washington, D.C., to London is $648.
The average discount fare offered by GTI Travel Consolidators from Chicago to Tel Aviv was $771 (this fare was good through the end of March).
The book also indexes consolidators according to destinations.
For example, it lists 22 with fares to Frankfurt, 22 for Paris and 21 for London.
On the slimmer side of the spectrum, seven offer discounted prices to Cochabamba, Bolivia.
It also indexes consolidators according to the airlines they use. Eighteen are listed under United Airlines, eight under Air France and eight under Delta. Some airline names don't ring a bell. They include Viasa, which has two consolidators listed under its heading, and Taesa, which has one consolidator.
Think of just about any place you'd want to go, or someplace you don't want to go, for that matter. A consolidator can probably get you there. Destinations served by consolidators, according to the book, include:
Europe: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonian Republic, Malta, Moldova, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine.
Middle East: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Laos, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga and Vietnam.
Latin and South America: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
South Pacific: Australia, Fiji, Guam, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Tahiti.
Consolidators sell airfares to virtually all the countries in Africa, too.