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Airlines
he says. “We can see that happening in our data.”
them because there is more going back and forth.” Tams sees this issue differently – and to be fair to him, Bizet pinpoints BA as an airline less in thrall to its revenue management department than some other big names. “We have to refer to our revenue management department, which provides a framework for us,” Tams says, “but our corporate sales team does have an enormous amount of latitude and discretion.” Tams also pleads BA’s innocence of another frequent buyer-complaint about legacy carriers, which is that they force clients to use all the other airline partners of their joint-venture operations. “The feedback when we entered our joint-venture with American Airlines was that buyers didn’t want to be compelled to use them,” says Tams. “Our sales team offers all our joint-venture partners, but it is up to our clients whether to include them. The vast majority do.” Nevertheless, says Bizet, one inevitable consequence of consolidation has been fewer choices. “On those routes, prices are going up,”
European airlines, BA’s app is fairly standard, albeit with a good social media interface. It is also experimenting with using peer-to-peer ‘inspiration’ to drive bookings, in the form of its British Airways Perfect Days app.
Given these myriad obstacles to effective deal-making, what is a poor travel buyer to do? Needless to say, there is no magic bullet, but interviewees suggested the following options, each more or less applicable
“The feedback when we entered our joint-venture with American Airlines was that buyers didn’t want to be compelled to use them”
to different businesses according to buying patterns, company culture and numerous other factors:
• Prepare better Airlines possess increasingly detailed data, says Areka’s Bizet, and clients need to match them.
• Analyse better Bizet also argues that buyers need consultants to help analyse their own data and bids they receive from airlines. “The information is so complex that it is impossible to understand whether you are being offered a good deal,” he says. “Even medium-sized companies may need to analyse pricing on multiple fare classes for 500 city pairs.” Travel purchasing
for passengers flying from Heathrow, sent via email or SMS. Currently, 24 airports accept this boarding pass.
CATHAY PACIFIC In March last year, Cathay (and Dragonair) introduced mobile boarding passes
DELTA AIR LINES The Fly Delta app debuted in September 2010, but it’s the Fly Delta for iPad app which arrived last year that is offering a little something extra. Described as a “practical travelling utility and a way to entertain yourself”, it includes a What’s Next tool to guide passengers once they land, bookable upgrade options and a lot of media content – Delta is one of the few airlines to offer so much in one
package. With all this content, the airline has greater scope for data gathering, and will be able to target passengers with highly personalised offers. Meanwhile, Delta was one of the first carriers to seek approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to allow passengers to use personal electronic devices during taxiing, take-off and landing on domestic flights.
EASYJET
Easyjet began trialling mobile boarding passes in May 2013 at six airports, including Stansted, Southend, Manchester and
consortium Travelpool Europe carries out its work in-house, but managing director Soren Schodt supports the general principle that airfare analysis is a specialist task. “Having good tools is what makes the difference,” he says. “When you can show airlines the business case for giving you a discount, you can get really good deals.” (See Using smarter data to get better discounts, p68.)
• Buy away from your dominant carrier This is what Syngenta, headquartered in Switzerland, has done. Dissatisfied with the levels of discounting offered, it rejected a contract all together and instructed travellers to fly long-haul with rival carriers. One factor helping Syngenta is that Basel, its nearest airport, does not offer long-haul services anyway, but, says Brodbeck, the same policy is also applied in Germany and
Edinburgh. Now Gatwick and Belfast International have just come onboard. The Easyjet app lets users download their boarding pass on to their smartphone, with availability across 85 per cent of its network. So far, 500,000 mobile passes have been downloaded via the app.
EMIRATES Emirates is currently experimenting with Google Now – an ‘intelligent personal assistant’ tool. Passengers who book via the carrier’s website automatically receive reminders about their upcoming flight and
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