p11 BA in-depth feb19 17/2/10 15:53 Page 11
ttglive.com
in-depth
The way forward?
TRADE RELATIONS.
TTG online survey: Your suggestions
Agents call for ‘open dialogue’
“Get sales agents back out on the road.”
“Lift the ban on small independent agents selling
Chris Gray.
Haslemere Travel, backed Smith, saying there
BA tickets if turnover is below their threshold.” AGENTS are calling on BA to meet them as a group was little dialogue between BA and agents, but
to find ways of working more constructively both sides needed a channel of communication.
“Improve the BA travel trade support line – I had
together. Brownrigg has written to BA boss Willie Walsh,
to redial 113 times before I spoke to somebody.”
They have proposed the meeting after TTG proposing a return to its previous Booking Pay-
“Stop charging for seat pre-booking immediately.
asked for suggestions on ways BA could improve ment system which gave agents a small fee for
They have infuriated all our previously loyal its trade relations – which led to dozens of each leg of a journey. It was introduced after
BA customers.”
responses in our online survey (see left). commission was dropped, but later scrapped.
Paul Smith, of Quartz Travel in York, said he Brownrigg said he was called by BA’s head of
“Make fares more competitive. It’s too
easy to sell away from BA to other car-
had five directors of agencies in his region, UK & Ireland sales, Richard Tams, but was still
riers. BA’s product is good but not good
including Andrew Earl of World of Travel in Hull, in favour of a group meeting.
enough to justify spending an extra who had constructive proposals to put to BA. “It is just about going back to having some
£3,372.”
They included suggestions such as providing sort of relationship between the airline and the
seat maps and numbers and guarantees that trade. There is a big gap and it would be good
“Let tour operators issue their own
tickets instead of having to use the
clients’ details would not be used for di- to fill it and build some kind of rapport.”
BA management system.”
rect marketing. BA head of leisure sales Simon Brooks said:
“We want to try to talk about “I’m speaking to the trade on a day-to-day basis
Read the survey results in full at:
where we go next. We’re not there about a whole variety of things, including how
http://bit.ly/TTGideas
to slate them and they need to be we work with them, what works well and what
able to talk to agents,” he said. we can improve. This one-to-one approach
Andrew Brownrigg (pictured), of works better than a mass meeting.”
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