Originally Posted by
PAXboy
Also, a very large number of people now book through search engines - these ONLY look at the headline price. Sometimes the pax do not realise there is a tech stop or full transit until after they have booked.
It's not as if this didn't happen in the "old days". Travel agents got extra bonus from carriers for exceeding sales targets, and would just tell the customers that this was "the flight".
I'm afraid to say that TWA were particularly well to the fore in the UK with this, as those in the travel trade at the time may confirm. Group of colleagues on a business trip London to an Orlando convention, way off any TWA route, were routed by the agency via Chicago AND St Louis on TWA, as if it was the only option (which is what they were told when I, being aware of TWA practices and indeed their current incentive as detailed in Travel Trade Gazette, pointed out the dogleg and the existence of cheaper direct flights). They were then told they "had" to go through Chicago to clear customs. Guess what, they missed the connection and overnighted in St Louis, grossly disrupting the trip.