I admit it.  I hardly travel nowadays. Oh, don’t get too excited. My comparison is from 20 and 30 years ago, when I commuted from Charlottesville (Virginia) to Long Beach (California) – 3 to 4 times a week. And, I went to Atlanta once every other week. And, New York twice a month. Taiwan once a month. Paris once a month. Milwaukee, Kansas City, Corpus Christi, and Dallas once a week. And, about 5 more trips a quarter.

So, not traveling to me is very different than for you. I do recall my COO once remarking that we need to reevaluate what we were doing. It was (then) now 3 PM, we were in our fourth city for the day, with a rental car in each venue.

Back then, while we had the “internet”, no one else did- or actually, no one really used it. (This was back when our “internet address” was something akin to 102.66.204.11.) So, when we wanted to arrange travel, we used a telephone sized book (you DO remember telephone books, right?) listing all potential airline travel called the OAG- the Official Airline Guide. There was one for North America and another for Europe and Asia. I don’t recall if they had one for South America or Africa, but there were very few flights going to those locations (in the 70s and 80s; not so true in the 90s)- and we only went there once every six months, so it was less critical to our operations.

I knew how to seek out the best (and, of course, the cheapest) flights between point A and point B. And, now that the statute of limitations has passed, I admit that I bought tickets to Long Beach leaving on Monday returning the next Wednesday. And, tickets from Long Beach to the East Coast leaving on Monday night and returning the next Wednesday morning. Ad infinitum. Each one purchased two weeks in advance, to afford us the lowest fees.

But, once the airlines went on line, we stopped dropping $300, $ 400, $ 500 a bucks a year on those biweekly issues of the OAG. And scoured the flight choices at the various airline sites to save us money and get us to our destinations.  (Back then, fares were logical- even if at the whimsy of the carrier.   And, there were no hidden fees and costs- with cancellation fees being the grand total of $ 25 or less.)

Except now, the airlines – those same companies that have been ripping us off by charging us for baggage, for food, for advance seating, for a fuel surcharge (anybody besides me noticing that the fuel surcharge can no longer be justified?), are now pissed off that we have found ways to minimize our travel costs. And, want to hide their fares, so we get sucked into ridiculous tariffs.

It’s time for our government to take control of the situation. We have an oligopoly- American, Southwest, Delta, and United Continental (the four primary carriers of the States) control 80% of the seats that cover the travel market. And, these same carriers are complaining about the Middle Eastern airlines owned by their countries (or their ruling leaders) who are “competing unfairly”- by offering the services we (the consumers) want at prices we desire. (It is true those airlines are competing unfairly, in that their governments are subsidizing our travel. But, the arrogant US airlines deserve a few kicks in their private parts.)

Delta, in particular (you better recognize that the other airlines are watching to see how this develops) has pulled its fare information from a slew of ticketing agencies like Kayak, CheapAir, BookIt, TripAdvisor and about 25 others. So, we can’t comparison shop. Claiming that these sites make business anticompetitive. Really?  (Hmm. Maybe Delta is running for President, where its’ the norm to declare patently absurd “facts”?)

Let’s not forget that Southwest NEVER let the OTA (Online Travel Agent) system obtain their fares, claiming they were low enough that consumers need to check out tariffs with Southwest directly.

So, I guess we are going back to the “bad, old days” when only a select few could discern what travel costs are.

Or, there may be worse yet to come. For example, Lufthansa announced it will hit EVERY ticket bought off-site (not  on their own web listing) with a €16 fee!

OK, I don’t care if its the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) or the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) that needs to wake up and do the job. But, it’s time for these “regulatory agencies” to stop examining their rectal temperatures, remove their heads from where they’ve been hiding them, and protect the consumer.

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