Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 26, 1990 TAG: 9006260116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Eastern's announced resumption of service to Roanoke came with a printed press release that said, the airline said it would offer a "$99 introductory one-way fare to travel in September to all Eastern destinations east of the Mississippi."
"What the airline forgot to tell you was that you have to buy two one-ways, out and back," said Ted Moomaw of World Travel Service in Roanoke.
Moomaw said the introductory fare appears in reservations computers "only as a round-trip fare priced at $198."
All introductory fares are round-trip, said Connie Campisi, Eastern's area sales manager for Richmond and Roanoke.
But that was not the word from the company last week.
The fare from Roanoke to Los Angeles and San Francisco "is $129 each way," Eastern announced.
This fare appears only as "roundtrip for $258" in the travel agent's and Eastern's computers, Moomaw said.
The round-trip introductory fares are lower than competing airlines' prices. ASA, a Delta commuter line, sells round-trip tickets from Roanoke to Atlanta for $208, or $10 more than Eastern's introductory rate. USAir's lowest round trip to the West Coast is $408, or $150 more than Eastern's first-month offer.
Moomaw reported moderate interest in Eastern's new flights. "This has got 'em stirred up; it's got people thinking" about travel, said Gene Swartz of Travelmasters in Roanoke.
Meanwhile, USAir still is deciding whether to match Eastern's lower rates for Sept. 6-30, said Dave Shipley of USAir.
by CNB