Airfares continue to increase, but low fares appearing on the airlines’ own websites try to attract business away from intermediaries and into the direct channel.
But how much appetite is there in a long-haul market where every ticket is measured in thousands, or tens of thousands of rands, for consumers to book online when those same consumers fear they will get little or no support?
The irony is that now, travel consultants believe that travellers’ insecurities about airline instability are, in fact, driving them to travel agencies where the prices are the highest of all, where the agent still has to add a fee but where the travel agent can take the flak, make the necessary changes, deal with airline cancellations and rebookings and keep the client happy.
Either way, the airline wins.
During COVID, clients were driven to agents for support and information about travelling during the pandemic. Carol Ann Williams, consultant at Sure Maritime Travel, said clients needed agents’ support even more now than they did during COVID.
“Airlines keep changing their refund rules, cancelling flights and re-scheduling flights at the last minute, airports are chaos and lost baggage has become the norm. Our clients are telling us they are distrustful as a result of current airline behaviour and need to know they can get hold of us immediately should something change,” said Williams.
“We are finding bigger and bigger discrepancies between GDS airfares and web airfares than ever before. An example of this is in this British Airways quote comparison. LON-CPT-LON in the GDS in business class is £9 984 (R199 350). The BA website offers a fare of £7 705 (R153 818), a difference of £2 279 (R45 500). This is the case with many airlines’ online fares.
“What kind of partnership are airlines promoting between themselves and agents and even their own customers? It suits airlines that clients are driven to agents because of the fear of how airlines will treat them (flight cancellations, unanswered telephones, unmanned airline desks at airports, baggage losses, offloading, varying refund policies). They know customers will book one way or another. They add GDS surcharges, fares are higher and agents still have to add on their professional fee. It seems as if airlines are cashing in on a situation they have created.”
However, Marco Ciocchetti, CEO of XL Travel, told Travel News that this was more complex than just higher fares and lower fares. “This is a subject that touches on commercials between airline and agent as well as the use of NDC. So it is incorrect to state that airlines are cheaper online than through agents.”
Mladen Lukic, GM of Travel Counsellors South Africa, agrees. “All agents are experiencing price differentials; this is not a new problem. We can’t cry over lack of access to a better product. Agents should be working on mitigating lucrative agreements and NDC solutions that will see better access to airline inventory.
“Travel Counsellors is purpose-built to service customers, finding competitive solutions and working better in the same environment and, at the end of the day, we offer what is best for our customers. All agencies should be doing this. If they are not, they will soon go out of business.”
