Discounted air fares spreading rapidly

Press, 16 February 1984, Page 1

Discounted air fares spreading rapidly

By

LES BLOXHAM,

, travel editor

New Zealanders “in the know” are saving hundreds of dollars on international air fares through unofficial discounts from an increasing number of travel agents.

The Travel Agents’ Association of New Zealand, which has always urged its members to conform with Government legislation aimed at controlling fare levels, yesterday conceded that the availability of cheap discounted fares was spreading rapidly through New Zealand. The Ministry of Transport hopes to control the situation under* the Civil Aviation Amendment Act which became law last July, but to date has been unable to get all its legislative machinery into gear. The industry has been waiting for months for the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Gair, to issue Gazette notices required by the act for “approved” fares. This huge undertaking is expected to run to many hundreds of pages. Critics of the legislation are convinced that it is unworkable. A number of agents, frustrated by the non-appear-ance of the Gazette notices, have returned their special binders to the Ministry and asked for a refund of the $229 they paid to receive the notices last year. One Christchurch agent threw down the gauntlet in an advertisement in “The Press” last week with this challenge to the Ministry: “Until such time as the Ministry of Transport produces its air fares Gazette, is there no such thing as a legal air fare for sale in New Zealand? Does this mean that all fares are

illegal? We don’t know, but we’ve got them all.” Discounts of up to $486 were available from some agents in Christchurch yesterday. One quoted an Auck-land-Los Angeles return fare (available all year) of $1459. The comparative official fare is $2145 for high-season travel and $l5OO for the low season. Another agent quoted $739 for a one-way fare from Auckland to Los Angeles, $3Bl cheaper than the “regular” rate. • Many other discounts are available, some of them on fares through Australia. The president of the Travel Agents’ Association, Mr R. J. Conway, of Ashburton, agreed yesterday that the industry faced a problem that might not be solved. He said that his association had always felt that low-cost fares should be available to all travel agents and not just those in big cities with the “right connections.” Under the present system, some agents were being denied access to those cheaper fares, and their clients were at a disadvantage, said Mr Conway. Last week Mr Conway and the association’s executive director, Mr Peter Lowry, sought an urgent meeting with Mr Gair to acquaint him with the “realities of the marketplace.” “It is almost open slather — at present anything seems to be going,” said Mr

Conway. A spokesman for the Ministry said last month that it was investigating the posibility of using a computer to simplify and speed up the preparation of the Gazette notices. If the Government fails in this, its sixth year of trying to regulate the international air-fares scene, New Zealand will almost certainly follow the unrestricted fare policies adopted by most other countries. New Zealand travellers would then benefit from cheaper fares. For instance, a London travel agent recently advertised in the “Guardian,” a London-Auckland roundtrip fare of £691 (SNZISO3). The agency confirmed to this reporter by letter yesterday that the fare was available for travel during May and June. The airline? Air New Zealand. The cheapest round-trip fare available to New Zealanders wanting to fly on Air New Zealand from Auckland to London during the same period is more than $llOO more expensive - $2650. Even allowing for the difference in the northern and southern seasons the cheapest low-season fare for New Zealanders in November, for example, is $1960, still a good deal more than the $1503 equivalent fare being offered by the same airline for the same journey to travellers in Britain. Editorial, page 16