Charter Flights May Soon Be Grounded as the Lines of Distinction Blur : Airlines: It’s getting harder and harder to separate charters from regular airlines as the charter business slowly fades in the United States. But it’s still booming overseas.

Charter flights were the original gray market of the travel industry. In the 1960s and ‘70s, when air fares and routes were highly regulated, charter flights to Europe began to surface as perhaps the only alternative to high air fares.

They were otherwise known as “nonscheduled airlines,” and generally conjured up a frightening notion of unreliability, long and uncomfortable flights and outrageous delays.

And it wasn’t always easy to book a charter. The scheduled, regulated airlines lobbied successfully to make it difficult for prospective charter customers.

For starters, an individual couldn’t simply book a seat on a charter. Charter customers had to be members of special interest or affinity groups--then the groups themselves would charter specific flights. This rule allowed for student charter flights during Easter, Christmas and summer vacation periods.

But it also resulted in some pretty interesting “groups,” essentially fictitious organizations formed solely for the purpose of getting around the charter rules.

If you were willing to leave at outrageous hours, fly on aging equipment, make unscheduled stops for fuel (anyone remember Bangor, Me.?) and sit in seats with absolutely no leg room, you qualified for cheaper air fares.

And, with luck, you were a charter survivor. As air rules were liberalized, charters began to grow in popularity, especially during summer months, when charter flights provided additional discount seats to popular European destinations. For airlines, charters essentially were a way of getting around the old scheduled air agreements.

“It’s no longer cost-efficient to book most charters,” said Los Angeles travel agent Annette Alvarez. “You can still realize savings of up to $150 on many of these flights, but is it worth the extra hassles?”

Yes, say some charter operators.

“We are battling with the reputations of the past,” said Grant Barbre, spokesman for American Trans Air, the largest U.S. supplier of charter aircraft. “We don’t want to compare ourselves with the airlines, but in the charter business, service and reliability are coming of age.”

American Trans Air has a large fleet of eight 747s, four 757s and 10 L-1011 jets.

In operation, companies such as American Trans Air and others are finding that much of their charter business is overseas, where air fares are still highly regulated.

“As charters phase out in the United States, they are booming in Europe,” said Janice Holden, spokeswoman for Martinair. Martinair still maintains a strong summer charter flight schedule to Amsterdam from many U.S. gateway cities.

From Los Angeles to Amsterdam, a typical Martinair fare can be as low as $548 round trip. By comparison, the cheapest advance-purchase, highly restricted fare on KLM is $778.

From New York, Martinair fares start at $538. Compare that with the cheapest KLM fare of $618. (Other Martinair/Netherlands flights offer even better savings from cities where they don’t compete with KLM on nonstop flights: Seattle, Minneapolis, Detroit and Baltimore.)

The same applies to Condor Air, the wholly owned charter subsidiary of Lufthansa. But airlines such as Martinair and Condor offer such frequent charter service during the summer from the United States that the argument could easily be made that they are, indeed, scheduled airlines.

“To me, charter flights are a thing of the past,” said Peter Sutch, deputy chairman and chief executive of Cathay Pacific Airways. “With air fares competitive in highly desirable markets, why would you go out and charter a flight when you can get a similar or cheaper fare with scheduled carriers?

“Air service has become more liberal, and besides, when you think about it, most airline flights are partially charters anyway. We marginally price surplus seats we have and require advance reservations with heavy restrictions.

“Now,” he argues, “doesn’t that sound like a charter flight?”

But if that’s true, then why aren’t charter flights dead?

“Because charter flights today are nothing more than de facto scheduled airlines,” Sutch said. “There isn’t just one charter flight from New York to Amsterdam each year. There are dozens, and they leave every Monday and Wednesday.

“In Hong Kong, one charter airline flies to Beijing on one day, Shanghai on another and Xiamen on a third day each week--exactly the same days at exactly the same times. That’s scheduled service, and the distinction between what constitutes a charter and a scheduled airline flight is being rapidly blurred.”

“Charters are dinosaurs within the United States,” said David Kols, management consultant to Unitravel, a St. Louis-based company that claims it is the largest seller of discounted scheduled travel to Europe from U.S. cities.

“No travel operator in their right mind should be in the charter business,” Kols said. “There’s no way to make money based on the discounts that the scheduled airlines offer passengers on existing routes.

“In fact, the only real charters remaining in the United States are special-niche charters--gambling junkets and luxury Concorde charters. On foreign flights, charter companies such as Martinair, Condor and LTU fly from U.S. cities where service to foreign countries is extremely limited.”

A look at some of Unitravel’s current fares seems to support Kols’ price statements. Unitravel offers a $498 advance-purchase round-trip fare from Los Angeles to Amsterdam (even lower than some charters). To London from Albuquerque: $484. And from Houston to London: $394 . . . round trip! (These are for midweek fares bought by March 15. Fares will be higher after that date.)

Not surprisingly, some passengers who think they have bought charter tickets may find themselves flying on regularly scheduled airlines. Why? Because many charter operators, like Unitravel, have become travel “consolidators” instead, blocking large numbers of discount seats on scheduled carriers.

Within Europe there are still great charter deals to be had. But most of them can’t--or won’t--be booked by U.S. travel agents. Best advice: If you have the extra time, buy your charter seats in London, where most travel agents sell them.

Some important charter cautions: If you want to book a charter, you need to make sure that your purchase is protected. Many charter operators claim that when you buy your charter ticket, the money is put in an escrow account. Not necessarily.

Many so-called “escrow accounts” are nothing more than money-market funds that are immediately available to the company booking the charter.

The best advice: Pay for your charter tickets with a credit card. That way, you are protected in case the flight cancels, or if you find yourself stranded for the return flight.