Need to find negotiated fares

[hgeek23]

I am a skeleton athlete, sliding for Israel.  Skeleton is a winter sliding sport.
Basically for the next few months i'm going to be making 13 or so roundtrips from SFO to SLC, a couple of these will be multi-segments SFO-SLC-SEA-SFO, bringing along with me a heavy, irregular-shaped skeleton sled (67pounds or so). The scheduling works best by flying Delta from SFO to SLC.
The costs of this would be otherwise intensely high.  I believe taking business class would allow me to "check" the skeleton sled.  However, published fares for SFO-SLC range from 650 or more.  I can't be spending 7k on airfare in a few months--skeleton's an expensive sport and that's simply too much cost.  Taking economy and spending $150 on an oversized package per segment would be devastating costwise as well.
Someone recommended that I try to find an agency that negotiated fares/rates/upgrades when buying in quantity.  Anyone got any ideas?  I am part of a national federation so it could be considered as traveling as part of a corporation.
Thanks!

[ranhan429]

I am a skeleton athlete, sliding for Israel.  Skeleton is a winter sliding sport.
Basically for the next few months i'm going to be making 13 or so roundtrips from SFO to SLC, a couple of these will be multi-segments SFO-SLC-SEA-SFO, bringing along with me a heavy, irregular-shaped skeleton sled (67pounds or so). The scheduling works best by flying Delta from SFO to SLC.
The costs of this would be otherwise intensely high.  I believe taking business class would allow me to "check" the skeleton sled.  However, published fares for SFO-SLC range from 650 or more.  I can't be spending 7k on airfare in a few months--skeleton's an expensive sport and that's simply too much cost.  Taking economy and spending $150 on an oversized package per segment would be devastating costwise as well.
Someone recommended that I try to find an agency that negotiated fares/rates/upgrades when buying in quantity.  Anyone got any ideas?  I am part of a national federation so it could be considered as traveling as part of a corporation.
Thanks!

No idea how to help (unless of course you wanted to open credit cards)... but just wanted to wish you good luck in the season and kick butt for Israel!

[Mordy788]

I am a skeleton athlete, sliding for Israel.  Skeleton is a winter sliding sport.
Basically for the next few months i'm going to be making 13 or so roundtrips from SFO to SLC, a couple of these will be multi-segments SFO-SLC-SEA-SFO, bringing along with me a heavy, irregular-shaped skeleton sled (67pounds or so). The scheduling works best by flying Delta from SFO to SLC.
The costs of this would be otherwise intensely high.  I believe taking business class would allow me to "check" the skeleton sled.  However, published fares for SFO-SLC range from 650 or more.  I can't be spending 7k on airfare in a few months--skeleton's an expensive sport and that's simply too much cost.  Taking economy and spending $150 on an oversized package per segment would be devastating costwise as well.
Someone recommended that I try to find an agency that negotiated fares/rates/upgrades when buying in quantity.  Anyone got any ideas?  I am part of a national federation so it could be considered as traveling as part of a corporation.
Thanks!

From what I know about the Corporate Travel sector and and NET Domestic fares, you are not going to gain much. A company or an agency that wants NET rates approach the airline, present the relevant data, and the airline will provide them with a discount based on that. The discount is pretty small. You are talking about max 15% off the base fare, and that is with huge accounts.

I would recommend you look into your national federation and see if they have any agreements. Another option would be to find a local travel agent in San Francisco who handles corporate travel for the local area. Present to them what you need and see if they can assist you with that. You can also check with the park that you ski at as they might have some discounts with airlines or other routes for you.

Best of luck!