VS gives agents the chop!

VIRGIN Atlantic Airways
(VS) notified travel
agents on September 18
on VS Flying Hub that the
airline would remove ticketing
authority from all agents who
currently have authority to
issue tickets on VS stock
(932) who have not completed
a transaction in the last six
calendar months.
The notice includes that
this does not apply to agents
who have received ticketing
authority within the last two
calendar months.
Asked for the reason behind
the move, Darrin Thomas,
manager of marketing and
communications for SA of
Virgin Atlantic commented:
“We do this to protect
ourselves against any risk we
could incur with having a large
amount of agencies open.”
Darrin says “turning off”
some agents shouldn’t have
a negative impact as they will
not be turned off indefinitely.
“It is a very easy process
to turn agents back on. Our
intention is not to encourage
those who are turned off to
book online. We have a very
close relationship with our
agents.”
Industry players have mixed
views on this decision by
Virgin. A number of agents
accepted the move on the
basis that agents barely
booking VS would not be
significantly impacted. Marco
Ciocchetti, ceo of XL Travel,
feels there is nothing wrong
with it. He argues that if an
agent has not booked VS for
six months, they either do not
have clients who travel on the
airline or simply do not wish
to book it. “Perhaps they do
not even know VS’s product
offering.”
However, Rachael Penaluna,
business manager of Sure
Maritime Travel, expects the
outcome of VS’s decision to
be largely negative for the
airline. She says if an agent
cannot issue tickets on a
specific airline, they will be
forced to offsell another.
“I think the ultimate outcome
will be that VS’s relationship
with agents breaks down.”
Michael Lovelock, says
removing ticketing authority
from certain agents could
either push sales to other
direct carriers or push
sales to agents with
ticketing authority and boost
their sales.