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End in sight for no-bag fares frustration?

30 Oct 2019
Comments | 0

THE GDSs say they are

coming to the party with

solutions to help alleviate

agents’ frustration in booking

‘no-bag fares’.

A number of airlines have

introduced cheap economy

‘no-bag fares’, which do not

include a checked baggage

allowance on long-haul routes,

leaving agents with a massive

administrative headache as

it’s not always clear on the

GDS what is included in the

fare price.

Agents say the introduction

of these fares has slowed

down their quoting process

times, and they are asking

GDSs to do more to help

them simplify things.

The addition of these

fares has complicated the

reservations process for

consultants, says Jose Cruz

of Rennies BCD Travel.

“Although the no-bag fares

remain unpopular, they

are not going anywhere.

Consultants need to be

trained accordingly.”

He adds that GDSs could

definitely do more to come

to the party to make the fare

quote display process clearer

for consultants.

Of agents surveyed by

Travelport, 76% said at times

they needed to check with

airlines to understand what

was included in fares.

“We have seen a

corresponding effect on

travellers themselves,” says

Travelport’s country manager

for Southern Africa, Claudette

Thorne. “Our Global Digital

Traveler Research in

2018 showed that 54% of

travellers in South Africa get

frustrated by not being able to

understand what is included

in the fare (bags, meals, etc.)

when booking a trip.”

Travelport says this

frustration has motivated the

development of its Branded

Fares and Ancillary offering,

which is available in its

Smartpoint and API portfolio.

“Agents can easily view the

same fares and extras they’d

see on airline websites. Rich

product descriptions and userfriendly interfaces help them

intuitively shop, price and

book baggage, among other

ancillaries,” says Claudette.

She says the offering is now

being used by 275 airlines

around the world. She adds,

however, that many airlines

can choose to deploy its

Branded Fares and Ancillary

offering in different ways.

Some airlines load different

ancillary offerings on long-haul

versus short-haul flights.

Richard Addey, lead

on Sabre’s South Africa

business, told TNW that it

also recognised that simplicity

was needed to help agents.

“Agents using Sabre Red

360 are able to identify

airfares with baggage

included by a simple icon

alongside each fare option, or

alternatively they can search

for airfares based on free

baggage inclusion only,” says

the spokesperson.

Sabre has also introduced

Beyond NDC, which it

says is an investment in

a fast-forward approach to

next-generation retailing,

distribution and fulfilment.

Amadeus offers the

ability to configure fare

search products such as

MasterPricer to contain

baggage options as a

default; GUI and Crypric

interfaces are laid out in

such a way that it is easy to

see whether a fare contains

a baggage allowance, says

Bafana Sithole, business line

manager, customer solutions,

retail sme for the Middle East

and Africa.

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