Professional, fraternal, and other organizations can often arrange reduced fares for members attending out-of-town meetings. These fares offer either or both of two options:

1. Thirty to fifty percent reductions from full coach, with no restrictions other than perhaps a short minimum advance purchase period (to insure blocking out enough seats).

2. Five percent reductions from any published adult fare, including the cheapest excursion, with the Saturday night stay sometimes waived.

Most airlines have a group-travel desk for conventions and meetings. They will usually bend over backwards to accommodate you, suggest economical routing, and may even make competing air and ground reservations.

Sometimes the organizer of a convention or seminar will name an "official" airline and list it in the reservation packet. If you qualify for the packet, you qualify for the fare. Meeting fares are generally valid from several days before the actual meeting begins to several days after it ends. They also usually qualify for frequent-flyer mileage credit but not for upgrades.

Some travel agencies will compile information on all major meetings in cities their clients visit frequently. They then offer their clients (who may or may not qualify as attendees) the reduced meeting fare. Although this technically is a misuse of the intended purpose of the fare, there is almost no way an airline can check if an individual traveler on a meeting fare is actually attending the specified meeting. Travel agents can get the specific "booking code" that identifies the ticket from an advance program or meeting brochure.