I have been having an interesting conversation on twitter with regards for BA's calls for the Trade to support them.
Should BA have our support, in my mind the answer is yes as long as they support us!
In the mean time here are a few suggestions;
1. Agents do not owe Airlines a living
2. They should look at other ideas to improve there business (walking dogs perhaps?)
3. If there costs are wrong maybe they should look at there base line and see if there business is set up correctly.
4. Failing this we could all club together and pay some high powered consultants to come in and tell them what they already know
Yes I will come clean, this is the advice British Airways gave agents when they stopped paying us commission. But does remind me of the old saying "what goes around comes around"
Real suggestions on how to support agents:
Do not charge us for calling you (doing so means it is not support but a revenue stream)
Do not charge us for selling your goods. (Show me one other wholesaler who charges it retailers more than what it sells directly to the public).
Support us all the time, not only when things goes tits up for you.
Listen to us and do not inform us we do not know what we are talking about. 2 way dialog is need in any "partnership"
Totally agree. It couldn't have been put better.
BA need to mean what they say, and stick with it for the long term. Yes I could give them lots more passengers, but I would need to see:
The end of undercutting on BA.COM
The ability to get the same booking classes, so if I have a passenger who wants business, but I can't get it in the right class, but its available on BA.Com, why can't I get it. ! This week alone I lost 6 lots of passengers - I did get the hotel bookings though, but it would have been nice to get the flights to. Instead I had to say to the customer go to BA.COM, I suppose that way BA try to get the hotel booking to.
Why don't BA come up with some value added services agents can give customers who book ba via an agent, for example free seating, instead of charging them. Giving us an 0800 number instead of charing us premium rates ?
Until BA radically changes its attitude to agents (and means it) I will happily cross selling away from them.
BA are no better, or no worse, than the majority of carriers including the once trade friendly Virgin Atlantic. They will sell seats direct to the public at less than the trade can buy them net... on top of that we have the expense of training our staff on their products, costs of bonding and providing ATOL protection - something the airlines do not have to conform to.
When something goes wrong - whether unavoidable such as rescheduling or missed connections or self inflicted like the pending BA strikes - we, the agent, are in the front line putting things right are our own expense. The likes of BA/Virgin and others have adopted a very arrogant stand and do not deserve any help or sympathy from travel professionals.
The travel industry - particularly in the Worldwide, tailor made sectors is becoming increasingly strong and airlines need to take note. With the growing need of ATOL protected arrangements the role of the agent and specialist tour operator will start taking direct business away from airlines. Any airline bold enough to recognise that the future lies with the developing trade relationships rather than remaining a competitor within the industry will benefit strongly in the long term. Sadly I fear that the reality is that airlines will only ask the trade for help when it's too late and the opportunity will have been lost forever.
In short - Will I support BA with potential strike action pending? "No - not a chance in Hell!"