Low Air Tickets

Locating Low Air Fare Tickets

The purpose of system, the real essential purpose, was to make it easy for people to buy low air tickets. In the short term -- in the short term that may be correct. They have that option. When the anti-trust immunity is gone they will not have the option. There's going to have to be found another way. I think it's highly likely that other way is going to be more costly, and it's going to result in a lot of confusion for consumers.

If you end up in a situation, for example, where there are agents -- people who call themselves agents -- selling low air tickets which are not universally acceptable -- your ticket today is interchangeable among any of the airlines that a travel agent represents. And you know that. You ought to know it; it is a fact. And in the system, or this non-system that the decision is likely to inspire, that won't be the case. Every piece of confusion that you add to an already confusing situation is going to raise everyone's costs. It's going to confuse consumers, and they're going to have to pay, we think, a fairly heavy price for it with no corresponding benefit that has yet been identified.

One of the first new airline ticket sellers is likely to be Ticketron, a nationwide outlet at present for tickets for theater, sporting events, lotteries, rock concerts and the like. The president of Ticketron is William Schmitt.

They have not been in a position to promise us tickets yet. As a result of this order we will start talking to each of them in the next couple of weeks. You've just heard about the possibility of confusion, non-compatible tickets, and all sorts of other things. What do you see as the advantage to consumers of being able to buy their tickets through you?

The market we would serve would be the New York to Miami traveler, the New York to Puerto Rico traveler, the New York to L.A.; the Chicago to these markets, the L.A. to other markets like that -- the high density markets. Its ease of purchase -- we're located in 800 outlets throughout the country where people come to buy their tickets every day. They know us. We have a very loyal young group, audience, clientele, and they have come to Ticketrom simply because we've had tickets. I think we can do it for somewhat less money than the travel agent now charges.