William Harvey, a manager at Eastman Kodak, flew from Rochester, New York, to Chicago last October. Had he followed the standard business itinerary, leaving on Sunday and returning the following day, he would have paid US$798 for the round trip. Instead, he flew to Seattle on Saturday, saw a Mariners game, spent the night, flew back to Chicago, attended his meeting, and flew home. Total fare: US$212.
"The airline's own rules and fares encourage you to do that," Harvey said, even though he took up space on several flights.
After years of rising complaints, business travelers' frustration over the inequities of airline pricing has reached a point of near revolt. Fare sales introduced after Sept. 11 to woo back nervous Americans have widened the already yawning gap between the cost of buying a ticket in advance and showing up at the gate at the last minute. Special deals available on the Internet have only added to business fliers' anger.
They are fighting back by any means they can. Some, like Harvey, are working the system. Others are driving. In perhaps the most common form of retaliation, many are simply staying home. Business travel fell sharply last March as the economy slowed, and then dropped off a ledge following Sept. 11.
And it can be little comfort to airlines that the road warriors who kept flying through the fall now feel betrayed -- repaid for their loyalty with higher costs, greater restrictions and fewer amenities. The latest slap was a decision by the largest carriers to cut most commissions for travel agents, prompting many to raise their service fees and thereby increase the cost to customers.
"I would like to see the airlines act like they want our business," said Steve Kaye, a software company manager in Atlanta. "Between security and no meals on long flights, it ends up being a pretty long day."
Some airlines have responded with lower-cost business fares that do not require a Saturday night stay. But these are Band-Aids on a system that even many industry executives admit is broken. "There is an overriding need to move to a simpler fare structure," said Rono Dutta, the president of UAL, the parent of United Airlines. "People have a hard time making the purchase and feeling good about it."
Even so, airlines have trouble seeing beyond their buckets of red ink. The domestic industry lost a record US$7 billion last year and is forecast to lose between US$3 billion and US$4 billion this year. Any experimentation with fares risks widening those losses.
Though business fares haven not actually risen since Sept. 11, they have not come down, either, as leisure fares have. The airlines say lowering last-minute fares only costs them money because it does not stimulate more last-minute purchases, while reducing leisure fares fills more seats.
That may make financial sense, but it makes business travelers see red. "They keep telling me fares are coming down, but I don't see it," said Dean Burri, owner of a South Carolina insurance company who logs 300 flights a year.
Many business people are protesting the stubbornly high rates by spending extra time on the road or booking in advance to cut their travel costs. Research by United showed that the proportion of business travelers flying on business fares has declined to 55 percent from 61 percent two years ago.
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