If you want to travel at a discount, you can often save hundreds of dollars by buying a consolidator airline ticket, with no sacrifice in speed, comfort, or service on the flight you finally take. You will need to do some comparison shopping to be sure you re saving money, though, and you should know something about consolidators and other kinds of travel services. An air ticket consolidator is a travel agency that has contracted with one or more airlines to distribute discount tickets. Or they rebate their commissions from the airlines. You can find their ads for reduced prices in the travel sections of big-city papers around the country.
Many top airlines sell tickets through discounters.
Discount agencies are travel agencies that sell consolidator tickets or other discounted travel services to the public. Some don t sell consolidator tickets at all, but instead rebate a part of their commission on travel services they sell at list price. Full-service travel agencies , whether small independents or worldwide chains, sell a broad range of travel services to the public. Beyond that, they counsel their clients and provide other customer services. Then they add their own markup.