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Email your views to BBT editor Paul Revel at
editor@buyingbusinesstravel.com
REGARDING WILLIE WALSH’S remarks that the UK’s aviation policy is “an unholy mess”: he is on the button as far as I am concerned. First we have Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander, who told a gathering of Scottish executives that APD was “down to the financial mess the government had been left by the Labour administration”, and they had to get the money from somewhere, so our industry would have to carry its share. The truth is that every visitor
to the UK will spend at least four times the air fare on accommodation, food and drink (not counting entertainment). There are examples already where companies are not coming to the UK from the US, because they see us as too costly. One of my clients said: “APD is adding at least US$15 to US$20 a day to our visits so we will chose somewhere else until your costs come down”. Then there’s the hubs issue.
Britain needs a hub airport, and being Scottish I don’t really care where it is, but we must have a flow of unencumbered international routes to market for all our industries. Government needs to start listening to the professionals in travel and tourism.
Ken McNab, Managing director, The Travel Company Edinburgh 110
HIGHLIGHTING THE distasteful drive by TMC s to impose hidden charges – as detailed in the According to Amon column – illustrates perfectly the key negative that sullies our industry. There is nothing more likely to inspire mistrust than a client receiving their bill, only to find it is way in excess of what was expected, with no clear way of understanding how these new charges arose. It was this issue of transparency that we put at
the core of our customer service offering when we set up our new business. We trade solely on a fees-based approach, as opposed to the ticket-plus-mark up model adopted by others. Decades of experience in the sector has told me that travel buyers want the confidence of knowing they are getting the best deal at the best price. We have a mantra we pitch in all our dealings with travel buyers – ask your TMC if they would be willing to be audited to reveal any hidden margins over and above their “stated” fee. Business buyers need to know a TMC with a low fee model often relies on hidden charges. By charging a flat fee and putting clarity and transparency into corporate travel bookings, buyers can benefit by knowing the best deals and options are being sourced to meet the company’s travel budget and policy. So let’s all work to bring
greater transparency, or at least, in the short-term, work with TMCs who aren’t afraid to show you their books.
Franc Jeffrey Managing director, Equilibrium Travel Management
IT WAS GOOD to see Amon Cohen drawing attention to some of the dodgy charging practices undertaken by some TMCs in his most recent column. Last year a long-standing client phoned me to say that one of our competitors had offered him a charging scale which amounted to £20 per air ticket, no fees to reissue or refund tickets, no fee for 24-hour service, and no fees for hotel, rail or car bookings. The £20 airline fee was
advertised as being “plus VAT”, when, of course, air travel is not subject to VAT. Instantly our friendly rival was exposed as being disingenuous (at best),
This letter wins the writer a bottle of champagne
and we were quite easily able to demonstrate that the whole proposal was a pile of … well, I’ll leave you to fill in the blanks. This kind of approach really does us no favours. It’s simply not possible to provide a service on such fees, and it’s blatantly obvious to those buyers who understand travel that the TMC in question will have incremental revenue streams elsewhere. I’m not sure that Amon’s idea
of a code of practice on TMC charging would work, though.
We would sign up, but I seriously doubt that any such code would be stringent enough to make a significant difference. For example, would the code be able to insist that TMC bills detail airline over-ride commission? Complete transparency – whether in the form of management fees or transaction fees – is the only way forward and corporate clients should insist on it. Andy Hampshaw Managing director,
Travel By Appointment
TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP BORDER-BOTTLENECKS
T
he issues associated with excessive queuing times at UK border control points have gained much attention recently and, rather than add to the clamour, I think constructive resolutions to the problems are the way forward. So what are the problems? A queuing time of one hour is
excessive for a holidaymaker, let alone those travelling on business. So recent reports of queues of three hours or more are simply not acceptable. A warm welcome to the UK? I think not! Airlines and airports have embraced technology to improve the
customer experience, such as online seat selection and check- in. The border force must be allowed to do the same, despite the budget cutbacks placed on it. The government has an obligation for stringent entry controls
and we are not challenging that need. But we at the Board of Airline Representatives in the UK (BAR UK) firmly believe improved technology can be used effectively to process increasing numbers of travellers, while maintaining the highest standards of border security. Airlines already cooperate with government, through its
e-borders programme, by providing advance access to the passport data of approximately 90 million travellers each year. These records need to be efficiently checked against a watch-list to identify those who pose a threat or who should not be in the UK. Airlines would also like to see an increase in the number of smart
gates, popular with business travellers, which permit automated entry through the use of chip-enabled passports. We also propose the re-introduction of smart zones, where feasible, which would benefit entire flights that have been processed prior to departing for the UK. Collectively, these steps can bring huge improvements without compromising the government’s need for stringency. The airline community remains ready to continue cooperation
with government so that the full potential of the e-borders programme can be realised. Bar UK calls upon the government to invest now in the technology and systems that will allow far more efficient use of available information and resources.
Mike Carrivick Chief executive,
Board of Airline Representatives in the UK (BAR UK)
MAY/JUNE 2012
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