Major developments for airline industry

A well-respected agency has answered the often disputed question of when to get the cheapest airline ticket.

The best time to book the cheapest airline tickets is six weeks out, according to ARC, which processes ticket sales for the world’s airlines. It analyzed its data and found consumers who booked at that point paid 5.8 percent below the year’s average fare of $358.30.

"Many people have long thought that the further out from your flight that you buy an airline ticket, the less expensive it will be. Our data indicates that this isn’t necessarily true," said Chuck Thackston, managing director of data and analytics at ARC.

He stressed that there’s no guarantee that that’s the best time but that has been the pattern over the last four years. ARC analyzed nearly $80 billion worth of ticket sales, spread across almost 144 million transactions, for flights wi4th a US origin and destination.

This point is underscored by the fact that airlines are cutting back on capacity and flying fuller than in the past, so paying close attention to fares and understanding the dynamics of specific city pairs is more critical than ever.

The fact of so much airline news this month may also be somewhat surprising since January is what "Road Warrior" commentator Joe Brancatelli calls the slowest time of the year.

"Business flyers are mostly stuck behind their desks. Leisure travelers, strapped for cash after an orgy of holiday spending, aren’t parting with vacation funds. Kids are in school, so families can’t fly," he writes.

This January should be a good time for airline users because a truth-in-ticketing rule comes into effect  that will help passengers know the real price of their passage.

New rules from the US Transportation Department set to come into effect later this month will require that advertised air prices include taxes and mandatory fees. Currently, airlines just have to note that other charges apply, and provide a link or footnote to the details.

The new rules should make fares easier to understand. Government and airport charges can add 20 percent or more to the price of an airline ticket, according to the Associated Press.

Southwest, Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air are fighting the government in court, hoping to roll back the rule, but a decision in that case isn’t expected until after the rule takes effect.

Airlines protest that other industries don’t have to include taxes in advertised prices. And they worry about the effect on ticket sales, says the AP.

"We’re not raising our fares, but it will look to the consumer like we’ve had a big price increase," said Robert Kneisley, Southwest’s associate general counsel.

US Transportation Department officials have been cracking down on airlines that, in their view, failed to make it clear enough that extra taxes and fees would be added to the advertised price.

In 2011, airlines and travel agencies admitted violating price-advertising rules in more than 20 cases and agreed to fines totaling more than $1 million.

The new rules will only require disclosure of government levies for things such as security and airport improvements. They won’t include the proliferating airline fees for checking bags and getting an assigned seat, among other items. Those must be listed somewhere on an airline’s website, but the Transportation Department delayed whether to require more prominent disclosure.

Still, the inclusion of taxes in advertised fares "eliminates a lot of the skulduggery from airline pricing," said Charlie Leocha of the Consumer Travel Alliance. "We’re moving forward."

Brancatelli also comments on the widely spread media rumor that Delta and American would merge. He dismisses it as part of the slow January time period for airlines, which he says encourages the media to participate in the "silly season."

"A Delta-American combination would control fully 50 percent of the full-size jet service in the nation. Even assuming the Department of Transportation would permit that kind of concentration (it wouldn’t), the Justice Department would logically go berserk," he writes.

"You should ignore with confidence any business story that suggests such a proposal could logically occur," he concluded.

By David Wilkening