Are we not saying it loud enough!? Because nobody seems to be listening
I think buyers should somehow get together use bigger leverage - to put pressure on the airlines on this. Unbundling everything out of the ticket price really does play havoc with travel programmes, budgets. it really undermines what we're doing, and its not just about extra cost - the costs could all be in the ticket price & therefore be the same.
It's more about visibility, reporting and control.
Well yes, except as the low cost carriers have proved, the majority of people book on price, even if that price then ends up doubled or more by those ancillary charges. If you could go back and invest in the shares of any airline, who would you have invested in? Ryanair. All the other airlines are doing is adoptin that model, and if travel buyers don't like it, then they'll either have to pay more, or find an airline that isn't joining the gang. And they all are
Our sister publication, Buying Business Travel, had a very interesting article on ancillary charges by journalist Gary Noakes. There is a link to the article here
http://www.abtn.co.uk/feature/0716446-airline-extras.
The figures he quotes there are as follows...
"HRG estimates that ancillary sales will account for 12 per cent of global airline earnings this year, a figure that will be in the US$37-US$60 billion range. “You could say that means 12 per cent of a client’s spend is not easily identifiable,” says HRG’s industry and fare distribution director Tony Berry.
HRG’s figure is a credible estimate, as consultancy IdeaWorks puts ancillary earnings from just 47 carriers last year at almost $22bn – an astonishing 96 per cent increase since 2008.
Although Ryanair has been the ‘unbundler-in-chief’ for some considerable time, the mainline carriers are catching up fast. According to IdeaWorks, last year Ryanair earned 22.1 per cent of its total revenue from ancillaries, making it the world’s third best ancillary seller behind US carrier Spirit, which derived 22.6 per cent of revenue from ancillaries, and Allegiant, with a huge 29.2 per cent. EasyJet came in sixth with 19.2 per cent and, perhaps surprisingly, United Continental crept into the top 10 with 14.7 per cent."
Just goes to show that for years we have all been paying for things we neither wanted nor needed. At least with an unbundled package you can buy only the bits you want.
As I run my own small company, I can take a personal interest in travel arrangements and ensure they suit their purpose. I work a lot in Eastern Europe, and generally in the regions, not the capital cities. Having airlines like Ryanair and Wizzair flying to out-of-the-way places has saved me loads of time and money. I'm willing to forego half an hour in a legacy-airline executive lounge for that!
