I can see why you might be frustrated but I have to say that I don't mind having the internet offer lower fares than a rez agent. Our website doesn't even use sabre so it saves my company quite a lot of money to have people book online. Passengers willing to do the work themselves SHOULD receive a discount if you ask me. Plus, those lower prices are often offered to dump excess seats. Good business.

Personally, I like to book things online - depending on the product. There are certain things I won't book online because of the complexity. I won't book concert tickets, for example. I think my airline's "simple" over the phone fares are good and easy for a passenger to understand. The online fares are as complex as the old system used to be and I always caution passengers to read the rules carefully before authorizing payment.

Would I fly my airline if I had to pay regular fares? In a heartbeat. I have actually purchased tickets on my own airline before when I wanted to get somewhere and the company is now offering employees/dependants a 20% discount off of positive space tickets (even webspecials) for those times you absolutely have to be there.

The system can be confusing in some instances but the old way wasn't necessarily better. The price is the price system was far more expensive for the travelling public and those tickets were totally unchangeable. Don't you remember how expensive everything was before deregulation?