FROM BIG D TO NYC: WHICH FARE IS FAIR?

We made a discovery this month: The airline business is almost as unpredictable as the magazine business. We stumbled upon this revelation accidentally but decided to pass our findings on to our readers. It all started when a D staff member decided to make reservations for a Dallas/New York flight. The total price for a round-trip coach seat was $592. Coinci-dentally, another person in the office made reservations for a round-trip Dallas/New York coach flight. Price? $225.

After some investigating into airline ticket fares, we ended up more confused than we were when we started. But we did draw a few pearls of wisdom from our research: (1) shop around when buying airplane tickets; (2) nag your travel agent; (3) be persistent. We discovered that several variables affect ticket prices. For example, there are three major airports in the New York City area: John F. Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark. Most flights that land at La Guardia are in the $500 range. The least-expensive flights (in the $200 range) land at either Kennedy or Newark. We estimated that cab fare from Newark or Kennedy into Manhattan is approximately $30. Still, that’s a substantial savings.

A great way to get inexpensive fares is to simply ask for it. When we called the following airlines and asked for their rock-bottom-very-cheapest fares, their prices were close. TWA was $236; American, $225; Delta, $211; Eastern, $225; Midway, $290; Piedmont, $225.

Several other ways to take advantage of cheap airline fares are to stay more than seven days but less than 14, book in advance, pay in advance and never take nonstop flights. When we called travel agents at random for ticket prices, we even found a fare as low as $198 round-trip; there was no apparent reason for the bargain. And that brings us to the most important rule to remember when airline shopping: If you get a bargain, don’t ask why; just take the ticket and fly.