Written by travel industry veteran Steffan Ileman, who has sold 100,000 airline tickets, ‘What The Airlines Don't Tell You: Trade Secrets Of The Travel Industry For Best Airfares, Cheaper Travel Or Profit And Avoiding Travel Scams’ is the book almost every airline wishes could be destroyed. In a climate where travel agents and executives are too scared to speak out about what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ in their industry, Ileman is on a mission to help the lay person understand airlines’ pricing and ticketing strategies, so they can exploit them for cut-price globetrotting.
Vancouver, BC -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/11/2014 -- It almost sounds like something out of George Orwell’s ‘1984’; online software that tracks how much air travelers are willing to pay, disguising portions of airfares as Government taxes and forcing travel agents to charge hefty booking fees that drive business directly back to the airlines. It’s all 100% true, and a new book exposing these airline tactics proves how almost every traveler falls for them with each booking they make.
‘What The Airlines Don't Tell You: Trade Secrets Of The Travel Industry For Best Airfares, Cheaper Travel Or Profit And Avoiding Travel Scams’ is the work of Steffan Ileman, who has spent three decades marketing air passenger services resulting in 100,000 ticket sales. The book has one simple goal – to help consumers make informed decisions and find the cheapest deals by better understanding how the travel industry really works.
Official synopsis:
How do the airlines price and sell their seats? Tired of endless Internet searches for the best travel deal? How safe is the personal information you give out online?
Is there an easier and faster way than hopping from one website to another? How do you find the best airfare? Could you be scammed? How can you best use a travel agent? Can you get some travel freebies and even make some money from travel?
This is a candid guide to how the travel industry generally works based on a travel professional’s experience selling airline tickets. It was written to simplify a complex industry for the lay reader, to help you find the best possible airfares, better travel deals and avoid being scammed. Some might also call this book Travel Business 101 since it could help get your foot in through the travel industry.
“Within the past decade the travel industry, and especially the airlines, have thrown all of their ethics out of the window,” admits Ileman. “It has become so confusing from the consumers’ end that most now spend hundreds of dollars of their time scraping through various booking sources just to save $40 on their airfare.”
Continuing, “This book explains what the airlines are their partners are doing, so travelers can avoid the scams. It is true; many airlines are now using classified sources and historical data to discover how much an individual is willing to pay. They’re then continually massaging their prices subjectively, which makes true comparison near impossible. Most people don’t realize that only 50% of airline tickets are booked online, and a wealth of somewhat-fair offline sources exist. By moving off their computer a consumer can also mitigate the risk of their sensitive personal information being stolen. You wouldn’t believe it, but airline websites are some of the most hacker-prone in the world.”
Ileman feels the need to speak up in an industry where most are too afraid to expose the truth. “Travel agents and executives know what goes on, and they know just how bad things are about to get, but they stay silent. I’m exposing the truth so consumers can work towards avoiding the traps and eventually turn the industry around. As a side note, I urge all travel professionals to also pick up the book – it provides an abundance of opportunities that will allow them to increase their client base and bottom-line with integrity.”
Reviews for the book have been extremely positive. David Rowell of ‘The Travel Insider’ comments, “The most important take-away from his book is to realize that nothing the airlines do is ever for our benefit. No matter how they might wrap their actions in a veneer of ‘for the benefit of our valued passengers’ everything they do is utterly and totally venal and for their benefit only.”
Akin Kosetorunu, formerly a trade commissioner of Canada, adds, “A very candid and informative study of travel industry. Whether for business or leisure travel, it tells the reader how to get most value for the money spent for travel and avoid those traps and complications which may result undue cost and disappointment. This book is equally essential as tourist guides and should definitely be used as a guideline.”
‘What The Airlines Don't Tell You: Trade Secrets Of The Travel Industry For Best Airfares, Cheaper Travel Or Profit And Avoiding Travel Scams’ is available now: http://amzn.to/1wf3Rej
About Steffan Ileman
The author spent about 30 years in the travel industry mostly in the very competitive business of marketing air passenger services for international airlines. He has managed award-winning travel agencies and operated a successful airline consolidation business with a reputation for professional excellence, having sold in his estimation close to 100,000 airline tickets. He has trained several men and women who went on to work for the airlines, hospitality and tourism industry or in their own businesses. He is an independent, unaffiliated travel industry analyst consulted by lawyers, entrepreneurs and governments and a part-time journalist writing on government and consumer issues. He has a BA in Political Science& Public Administration from an American university. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.