By Adam Holdridge
Staff Writer
On a Tuesday morning on the first floor of the Thornton Administration Center sit two ladies calmly typing away and intently focusing on their computer screens. A student walks up to the office with a laptop in his hands and the ladies look up. He quickly begins: “My laptop keeps crashing and I need to get it fixed!” Without an opportunity for the ladies to respond he adds, “it is really annoying me.”
One of the ladies replies, “You need the computer store. They are now in the Tyler Campus Center between the bookstore and the cafeteria.” The student looks puzzled, processes the information, says “thanks” and continues on his way.
“We also provide directions to the computer store,” smiles Mary Ann Spinelli, manager of Corniche Travel as her colleague Aileen Buenafe lets out a little chuckle. Spinelli and Buenafe are the faces of Corniche Travel. These two are readily available to serve the Pepperdine community with any travel needs and have been since January 1995. Corniche is a full service travel agency with offices in West Hollywood, Malibu, London, New York and Pepperdine. They are open for business Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. to 4.pm. serving the administration, faculty, staff and students.
Due to all the turmoil in the airline industry, the airlines are now paying zero percent in commissions to travel agents. To make up for this loss in revenue, Corniche charged the hefty service fee of $25. This “went over (at Pepperdine) like a lead balloon.” Since Corniche really valued its account with Pepperdine it waived this fee. However, very soon, they had to work with Pepperdine in order to survive and so the $25 fee came back into existence. For most students this fee is a bit too high, especially when you can purchase your tickets online directly from the airline with no service fee involved.
Spinelli realizes this and gave the example, “If a student comes in needing a ticket to Las Vegas and it is only $79, why would they spend $25 extra when they can do it online for free?”
However, Spinelli points out that there are some benefits to using Corniche rather than an online service which would make the $25 fee worthwhile. For starters, the $25 buys you peace of mind and security. If an airline’s employees go on strike, Corniche can re-accommodate you. Also, they are able to find student fares well. For example, some summer fares to Europe are high; Spinelli estimates that a fare to Europe could be about $1,100 and that most likely they can obtain a fare for a student for $700 through a consolidator. For Spring Break travel, students can be put into contact with the Malibu agent who specializes in leisure travel.
Dr. William Phillips, dean of International Programs and Pepperdine’s top flyer, highly recommends using their services.
“If I were a Pepperdine student, I would consider using Corniche for making my travel arrangements,” Phillips said. “There is a reasonable fee involved, but I think you get what you pay for. Having an experienced agent help you plan and arrange your travel, and being able to issue the ticket on the spot offers a lot of advantages … (Corniche is always) working hard to find you the most economical flight. Anyone can click a button on the Internet and book a cheap flight to New York, but would the people doing that know that the reason the flight was so cheap was that they had to change planes in Kansas City and had a four hour layover there?”
The university has an account with Corniche for its International Programs, Athletic Department, Board of Regents, student recruiting trips and other departments that have travel needs. Spinelli said Corniche really values and loves the Pepperdine account. In addition, she personally loves the people and students. Spinelli has a very good outlook for Corniche and for the travel industry in general. She does predict that down the line frequent flyer programs are going to go.
Corniche can be found on the first floor of TAC, room 125, and can be reached at ext. 4562. If you have upcoming travel needs, want to book your flight home after the semester, or come up with something to do for the February “Spring Break,” Corniche would be a good place to start.
Weekend E-fares
Fares must be purchased through the airlines’ Web sites. They are good only for last-minute weekend travel. Outbound begins on Saturday and the return is on Monday or Tuesday. The fares quoted are for round-trip travel.
AMERICAN
Las Vegas – $79
Maui – $332
Nashville – $189
UNITED
Boston – $228
Dallas/Ft. Worth – $158
Monterey/Carmel – $84
New York (JFK) – $228
Oakland – $80
Sacramento – 75
CONTINENTAL
New York/Newark (EWR) – $179
Also check out Alaska’s and Northwest’s deals online at alaskaair.com and nwa.com.
News Flash
ALOHA
Looking for a cheap way to get away to the islands for Spring Break? Hit up United Airlines’ online fare sale to Hawaii. Los Angeles to Honolulu will run $138 each way. United also offers non-stop service to Kona, Maui, Honolulu and Lihue. But travelers must book before Jan. 31 and complete travel by March 9.
FREQUENT FLIER ALLIANCE
Continental, Delta and Northwest will implement an alliance agreement. Customers will be able to earn their favorite frequent flyer miles whether the fly Continental, Delta or Northwest, access to each carrier’s private airport lounges, seamless service to thousands of new markets.
BIG LOSS FOR CONTINENTAL
Continental reports a full year loss of $451 million. However, the airline broke nine out of 11 operational records and Forbes Magazine in 2002 still calls Continental one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.”
January 30, 2003
