Ticket price hike not likely to affect summer travel

David Armstrong

Tuesday, June 8, 1999 | 10:52 a.m.

Airline fares are up 11 percent since the first of the year for leisure travel, but travel and tourism industry representatives say that's not steep enough to keep people from traveling this summer.

Indeed, they say, the season promises to be lively for travelers and prosperous for places that rely on tourist dollars.

As of June 1, Continental, American, Northwest, Delta, United and TWA had increased their seven-, 14- and 21-day advance fares.

Sarah Anthony, a spokeswoman for Atlanta-based Delta Airlines, said the increases were only for leisure fares, although business fares have seen industrywide increases of 3 percent so far this year.

"It's based on supply and demand, and the market dictates fares," she said.

Continental spokesman Ned Walker agreed that demand is driving up ticket prices: "We continue to carry record loads in many of our markets."

Yet the latest increases leave some people in the travel industry exasperated.

James Ashurst, a spokesman for the American Society of Travel Agents, which has feuded with the airline industry over lower commissions for agents, said: "It just illustrates how desperately we need competition in this industry. In most industries, if consumers are squeezed, they can look for alternatives. In this industry, the carriers move in lockstep."

Might rising airfares drive people to drive to their summer destinations? That depends, said Ashurst, whose organization representing 28,600 travel agents is based in Arlington, Va.

"Internationally, top destinations are London, Paris, Rome. Domestically, you're looking at Orlando, Las Vegas, New York. People in San Francisco could probably drive to Las Vegas. But you can't drive to Hawaii, and there isn't a train. Consumers are stuck. Who has four weeks to take off to drive to Orlando?"

Ashurst said there had not been a wave of cancellations because of higher ticket prices. "But when is enough enough?" he said.

David S. Stempler, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Air Travelers Association, noted that the increases are not significant.

"The latest fare increase is 4 percent," he said. "A person flying from San Francisco to Boston on a $600 leisure fare is going to see the price go up $25. I don't think it will make a difference. The economy is strong, and people have money jingling in their pockets."

While he doesn't think travel will be down this summer, Stempler said more competition would be good for travelers. He said the government can play a role by encouraging more runways, terminals and gates to give new carriers access to airports.

He said such improvements would prove more useful than federal legislation calling for a "bills of rights" for passengers. The bills typically call for more information for passengers.

"We can certainly support that," Stempler said. But some of the bills advocate providing financial incentives to airlines to improve on-time records.

"The primary reasons for delays are weather, air traffic control or mechanical problems," Stempler said. "We think it's a very bad idea in terms of safety to invoke financial penalties for delays."

Referring to the crash last week of an American Airlines jet that landed during a storm at the Little Rock airport in Arkansas, killing 9 people, he said: "We don't want a pilot saying, 'I think I can get out of here before that thunderstorm hits,' because it might save money."

Delays and prices increases won't keep from people from traveling this summer, said Mike Pina, manager of media relations for the Travel Industry Association of America. He said the Washington, D.C.-based trade group projects a 4 percent increase in the number of domestic leisure travelers this summer.

"It went up 7 percent last year and went up 11 percent the year before that," he said.