Coupon Craze

Up in the air with half fare

An enterprising troop of 71 travelers from Frankenmuth, Mich., chartered a bus to Saginaw, where they boarded a United Airlines flight for the 21-minute, $25 puddle jump to Flint. There they were met by their bus and returned to Frankenmuth. One night last week, 55 travelers plunked down $20 each for the 11:30 p.m. United flight from Akron to Cleveland, a 22-minute trip that normally draws about four paying passengers a week. The attraction was not Cleveland's glamorous night life.

These people were all rushing to get the famous half-price coupons, which entitle the traveler to a 50% discount on any United flight in the continental U.S. from July 1 through Dec. 15. Indeed, people hustling after the discount have bought out United's $14 flights from Los Angeles to San Diego through June 17, the last day of the big giveaway. United began offering the coupons May 28 in an effort to lure back passengers it had lost during a 58-day flight mechanics strike. Soon United's freebie was matched by American Airlines. By the time the promotion ends, United figures that both airlines will have passed out more than 6 million coupons.

One determined fellow booked a single-day odyssey starting in Cleveland and whipping through Youngstown, Akron, Youngstown (again), Pittsburgh and back to Cleveland to collect five coupons. Ads offering top dollar for coupons have appeared in newspapers. Coupon traders flocked to airports, and last week the going price jumped from $5 to $20. The Federal Government, the state of California and many corporations have insisted that employees clip coupons to their expense accounts.

United claims that total bookings rose in one day to 194,000 from the normal 135,000, but it and American may not be able to meet the increased demand. With the grounding of the DC-10, United lost 23% of its available seats and American lost 25%. So far, none of their competitors have offered similar discounts, though TWA was embarrassed when the New York Times ran an ad announcing TWA's half-fare coupons. In fact, the airline had prepared the ad only as a contingency measure. TWA quickly announced that the ad was in error because, a spokesman said huffily, half-fare coupons are "crazy and uneconomical." -

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