Airlines' City Ticket Offices Still Popular

Cost-cutting and the move to Web sales haven't killed the old-fashioned airline city ticket office.

American Airlines recently opened a storefront in Midtown Manhattan, two blocks away from its old office where it recently lost its lease after 35 years.

"We could easily have closed it," says American executive John Lisiewski. "But there's a very large segment of the population that still likes to be face to face with a travel agent."

Hundreds of city ticket offices once dotted the USA's major business thoroughfares. Except for offices operated by foreign airlines, they're mostly gone from U.S. cities now.

But airline consultant Craig Jenks, president of Airline/Aircraft Projects, says that offices like the new American office in Manhattan still have value to U.S. airlines. And they'll remain important to airlines, he says, as long as some people don't use computers and continue to pay for tickets with cash or checks. About a third of outbound overseas tickets -- average price: $1,400 -- are purchased that way, he says.

American once ran about 110 offices, including 14 in New York and New Jersey. After 9/11, such outlets became easy cost-cutting targets for U.S. carriers slammed by terrorism and recession.

Northwest, in 2004, closed its last 25 offices in 16 cities. United Airlines has none. Houston-based Continental maintains four offices: two in the New York area, one in Houston and one in Hawaii. Delta Air Lines has three in Atlanta, one in New York and one in Cincinnati. US Airways has one at its Tempe, Ariz., headquarters.

At American, its new midtown office near Grand Central Station -- as well as an uptown office near Columbus Circle -- primarily serve two groups: premium-fare business travelers and ethnic travelers who often pay in cash for international flights. Both groups are highly loyal to American, Lisiewski says.

The offices, staffed with multilingual agents, charge a $15 service fee. About 50% of transactions are done in cash, Lisiewski says.