New Travel Book: ‘The Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel’
Travel Blog • Rob Verger • 05.22.09 | 10:09 AM ET
Most of us who fly are curious: we want to know how the system that is transporting us from our homes to a new destination works, and there may be no system more opaque than air travel. For those of us who want to not only understand the system, but also figure out how to get the best deals, I highly recommend Scott McCartney’s latest book, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel. (You can read my interview with McCartney, the Journal’s Middle Seat columnist, here.)
At first glance, a book advertising “power travel” may seem not to appeal to someone who, in the spirit of World Hum, is probably less interested in “powering” through a travel experience than trying to enjoy every moment of the journey. But we all have a desire to get through the air travel segment as efficiently and cheaply as possible, and I love the way this book explains the complicated world of air travel.
For example: buying tickets. “Airlines advertise prices but make it difficult to find that price,” McCartney writes. “What’s more, airline prices change several times a day—sometimes as much as seven times a day.” This system, he notes, “makes travelers crazy.” I agree.
And while there’s no secret way to game the system, this book is full of tips and websites you might not have heard of to help you score those deals. It does a fantastic job of walking the reader through “yield management”—the method airlines use to decide how many seats to sell at what prices. The system, for those unfamiliar with it, involves “buckets.” “Typically,” as McCartney explains it, “airlines have twenty or so different fare categories—or fare ‘buckets’—and they allocate seats into those different categories.” The number of seats in each bucket can be changed by the airline as they see how quickly the plane is filling up. The airline wants to keep just enough seats available for those high-paying business travelers to scoop up just before the flight at top dollar, while making sure it offers enough restriction-heavy budget seats for travelers like me. While most people have some intuitive knowledge of this system already, the book does a great job breaking it down.
Another tidbit: Did you know that if your flight is canceled for mechanical reasons, those mechanical difficulties might not be on the plane you were supposed to fly on? Say a full flight has a mechanical problem. “[I]f a spare isn’t an option, airline operations planners often look for lightly booked trips where the flight could be canceled and the aircraft could be used for the more heavily booked trip—the one with the mechanical problem.” This way, the airline has disrupted as few passengers as possible, but, as McCartney points out, “Some travelers find it devious ...”
And what about lost luggage? If you’re traveling internationally, what the airline is liable for depends on where you’re coming from and where you’re arriving. “Most trips overseas are governed by a treaty known as the ‘Montreal Convention,’ which caps airline liability at about $1,500 ...” McCartney writes. But some countries, like Australia and Bolivia for example, haven’t ratified that convention, and then the liability is different. Seriously.
This kind of great information goes on and on. There are a few sections that, I’m guessing, probably don’t apply to the average World Hum reader—for example, there’s a brief bit on private jets, and a chapter on cruises that, understandably, I found less interesting than the rest of the book.
As McCartney points out, “If you adjust for inflation, the average airline ticket costs half of what it did in 1978.” More people can afford to fly now, and that’s good. At the same time, as McCartney notes, “the travel business has gone the way of the scan-it-yourself grocery store.” Air travel is both more affordable and more difficult today. It’s safe, but at the same time it can be terrible. This book can help you survive it, or at the very least, understand it better. But it still can’t hurt to cross your fingers and hope that your bags arrive when you do.
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Rob Verger is a frequent contributor to World Hum and the site's former air travel blogger. His articles and photographs have appeared in the Boston Globe and other publications, and he's a former undergraduate writing instructor at Columbia University. If you like, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or follow him on Twitter.
Travel-Writers-Exchange.com 05.25.09 | 1:00 PM ET
Wow! Who knew that travel was supposed to be so complicated? Now wonder the airlines are in trouble. They play these silly games instead of giving people what they want: good service, low costs, and great customer service. Just get people from one place to another without any drama. I don’t know. The airlines could probably complicate a Turkey Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread. For those who are not savvy travelers, it’s probably a good idea to pickup the book . In fact, if you’re a savvy traveler, it’s probably a good idea to purchase the book.
JN 05.25.09 | 10:18 PM ET
I loved this post, Rob. Interesting and useful. I am actually one of those travelers who goes craaaaazy with the change of prices. Thanks for the tips! I will definitely make use of them next time I book a ticket.
Grizzly Bear Mom 05.26.09 | 10:58 AM ET
The systems used by the airlines just make sense to me. If I were the airline I would want to sell as many tickets at full prices as I can, and inconvenience the least number of passengers possible so swaping a heavily booked broken plane for a less lightly booked one would be in my best interst. They are in business to make a profit.
Todd D. 07.16.09 | 1:08 PM ET
Good site!
Thanks for the useful information!
Todd D.
http://www.kansascitypost.com