海角大神

础听CBS 蝉迟补迟颈辞苍听颈苍 Minnesota recently reported that Delta Airlines was charging higher airfares to frequent fliers when they logged into their account 鈥� and lower fares when they were not logged in. According to MSNBC, Delta claimed that this was 鈥渁 computer glitch鈥� that had been fixed after three weeks.

But as far back as February 2010, fliers were complaining online to Delta that they were being quoted higher fares when they logged in. Their official Company Representative even addressed the issue and promised to look into it.

Some of those complaining theorized that Delta was slow to fix the problem because it benefited them 鈥撀爄t鈥檚 easier to sell tickets at a higher price to frequent fliers already loyal to the brand. Or as The Washington Post wrote, 鈥淎irlines have long internally discussed charging more to frequent fliers with a willingness to pay.鈥�

This 鈥済litch鈥� wasn鈥檛 the first that Delta suffered 鈥� and that benefited its bottom line at the expense of its most loyal customers. I uncovered a problem聽with Delta鈥檚 SkyMiles聽back in March聽that didn鈥檛 receive any attention until Money Talks News was about to report it. (See聽)

So what should you do to avoid these glitches that never seem to favor the flier?

1. Perform multiple searches

Don鈥檛 log into your airline when you start ticket-shopping. Stay logged out and compare prices on different carriers. You can always add your frequent flier number when you make your purchase.

2. Search for one seat at a time

Airlines offer many different prices for the same seats. They group these seats into what they call聽price buckets.聽Each time one bucket sells out, the airlines quote customers a price from the next 鈥� and it will usually have higher prices.

But what if you need two tickets, and there鈥檚 only one seat available at the lowest price? Most airlines鈥� computers will actually offer you both tickets at the higher price.

To save money, always specify one traveler until you find the lowest price. Then, search again with the actual number of travelers and see if the price changes. If it does, you can always book one seat at the lower price and make a separate reservation for the others at the higher price.

Note that this trick also works for booking award seats at the lowest mileage levels.

3. Call to book awards

If you鈥檙e using your miles to travel outside of the country, there鈥檚 another online glitch that can hurt you: Airlines love to boast of their partnerships with other carriers, but the vast majority have neglected to include these flights in their online award searches.

As a result, you can pay more miles for fewer options if you just look online for award seats. The next time you want to use your miles to visit a destination served by an airline partner, don鈥檛 trust their online search engines 鈥� just pick up the phone and call for help. If they try to charge you a 鈥渢elephone booking fee鈥� for a partner reservation that can鈥檛 be booked online, ask them to waive it. I鈥檝e found they will.

4. Get a refund

If you made a reservation or purchased a ticket, only to find out soon afterwards that a lower fare was available, try to get your money back.

The Department of Transportation issued new rules earlier this year requiring that airlines be able to 鈥渉old a reservation without payment, or cancel a booking without penalty, for 24 hours after the reservation is made, if they make the reservation one week or more prior to a flight鈥檚 departure date.鈥�

Bottom line鈥�

Realize that airlines operate their websites not as a public service but as a profit center. Sure, those sites make booking travel much easier, but you need to be just as skeptical about them as you would about a 鈥淕oing Out of Business Sale鈥� at a local store. You don鈥檛 stroll in there and just assume those are low prices, right? In both cases, you need to be skeptical.

Jason Steele reviews dozens of聽credit card聽offers each week聽 on the at ,聽 a consumer/personal finance TV news feature that airs in about 80 cities as well as around the Web. This column first appeared in Money Talks News.