Business
travelers change their tickets often. We know this. The current airfare
structure also incentivizes companies and travelers to purchase non refundable
tickets and the change fees to re use them are size able. As a company do you
know how much you are leaving on the table by not maximizing the use if these
non refundable tickets and the cost to exchange these tickets? Not only are the
unused tickets money left on the table-or should I say with the airlines, but
the change fees required to reuse these tickets are significant. Customers in
the United States paid a total of 2.5 billion in cancellation fees in 2012 as
per the bureau of transportation statistics. Cancellation fees have even
increased from $150 to $200 in more recent years. The interesting thing is that
this bureau of transportation statistics does not collect the amount of non
refundable tickets go unused, but you should for your organization. To digress,
I am not a proponent of more regulation but disclosure of this data seems
logical and useful for companies that serve the vast public and use public
facilities and services.
So
what can you do as a travel manager to understand this amount and change
policies and behaviors to better leverage this sizeable investment? Travel Management
Companies like MacNair Travel Management offer a reminder to use these tickets
on their corporate online booking sites, we offer reporting of the unused
tickets to travel managers, and the cost of exchanging tickets is readily
available on travel management summary reports. So yes this is yet another
reason to manage and consolidate travel if your volume and losses are a concern
and are significant.
Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate, has been pressing
airlines to account for the amount that have gone unused. At least you can take
on is responsibility for your organization and deliver even more value. Current
open booking trends can make this process more complicated but in a managed
program, it is easy to control.
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