Alex on… Has booking an airline ticket become a chore?

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    When Easyjet and Go first appeared on the scene they revolutionised the process of booking a ticket.

    Unlike the conventional airlines with their clunky GDSs, old-fashioned systems and paper tickets a budget airline flight could be booked in seconds rather than minutes. There was no need to worry about tickets being posted or having to collect documents at the airports because budget airlines were ticketless.

    The likes of Easyjet and Go had streamlined systems because they were selling a simple product. It was just a seat from A to B.

    The conventional airlines had slower processes because of complex fare structures, seating requirements, FFPs, meal options, different classes and multi-sector itineraries.

    But now the boot is on the other foot. By majoring on ancillary revenues to boost income the low-cost carriers have complicated the booking process.

    See our Ancillary fees feature “Strings Attached” in July/August issue of Business Traveller.

    Booking a ticket now takes as long, if not longer, than with a conventional carrier, according to a survey in The Daily Telegraph.

    Not only that but prospective passengers must negotiate a minefield of fees and assorted charges designed to take money off you.

    Booking an airline ticket should offer a degree of excitement. But with today’s budget carriers it now has all the thrill of a distress purchase.


    TimFitzgeraldTC
    Participant

    Hi Alex

    I’d also add all the passport requirement field which wasn’t a requirement 10 years ago. Now to book travel (online at least) you often need everyone passport details / date of births / middle names adding yet another stage. I am curious to know which airline is bookable online in the least number of steps (for an international flight)?!


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    Hi Alex

    Great topic. I find booking a ticket is the easy and fast part. Researching the airline, cost, routing and schedule is the time consuming part.

    Using research tools such as Kayak does help but some airlines do not appear…


    transtraxman
    Participant

    This was published on Breaking Travel News yesterday.
    “Iberia’s new website revolutionises digital panorama”

    http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/iberias-new-website-revolutionises-digital-panorama/

    The much criticised Iberia seems to be making an attempt to update and upgrade for potential passengers in its treatment airline-client online. It remains to be seen whether it is successful but at least something positive is appearing at last. We know that great progress is frequently made by small steps. Good luck to Iberia.


    BigDog.
    Participant

    Alex refers to this article from the Telegraph on how many clicks it takes to book.

    Ryanair by far takes the biscuits with on-line bookers having 20 clicks and needing to opt-out of a plethora of automatic (costly) add-ons.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/10157062/How-many-clicks-to-book-a-flight.html

    BA perform relatively well on the clicks front with 10. If their Electronic Luggage Tag gets rolled out permanently it will be another improvement.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2356657/British-Airways-ditches-sticky-luggage-labels-favour-reusable-electronic-tags.html


    Bullfrog
    Participant

    Were Buzz and GO the first of the LCCs ? With Ryanair acquiring the former and Easyjet the latter ?


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    Hi BigDog – interestingly, I am not bothered by firms trying to sell me add ons causing more clicks. At least I have been given the option to buy, rather than not being told about an option to buy.

    I have understood the thread statement to be about the overall time and effort it takes from the decision to travel through to the end process of obtaining the ticket locator.

    I still maintain, the chore is in the research, not the buying process. Quite often, it is necessary to get prices from more than 1 research system – all time consuming and a real chore…….


    canucklad
    Participant

    Good topic Alex….

    Martyn, you’re spot on …… I will take it a further step and throw this into the mix …… through experiance you also need to factor in how airlines decide on their ARPU per seat …….
    and how they stay above the profit line months and weeks upto the departure date..

    I.e …FR’s fare generator must be a very sophisticated tool…. Check a flight to Alicante on Monday and it might be £80, Tuesday £ 103, Wednesday £33 + no taxes, Thursday goes back to £103 and then for a 2 hour window on Friday at 10.00 pm = 1penny + taxes…

    With Emirates multi stopover tool , it was actually cheaper to stop in Dubai and Bangkok en-route to Hong Kong than it was to fly direct….then when we went to book the cost had risen by £300 ???

    Then we get to Avios : )))


    canucklad
    Participant

    Oh and almost forgot the big tip……. When there is more than 1 travelling…..

    Dummy book 4 seats to check for availability……right up to confirm payment.

    If 4 travelling then re-book individually….ideally at the same time, and ideally using different ISP addresses ! …..

    It’s amazing how many times the overall fare increases when more than 2 are travelling !


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Thanks for all your comments.

    I agree that the research takes longer (unless it’s a trip you undertake regularly) but I was looking at the actual booking process itself.

    Of course there was no need to enter passport details at that time.

    But there wasn’t the obstacle course found today.

    Unfortunately I can’t see things getting any better now that ancillary fees are such a big earner for the LCCs.

    Strangely the US LCCs, I’m thinking of Southwest, were slow to adopt ancillaries. But the situation has changed.

    I have just checked ghost flights with Southwest for Chicago Midway to St Louis and it too bombards passengers with all sort of offers. But it’s not such a hard sell as we see from UK LCCs.

    And, yes, BigDog, Go was taken over by Easyjet (it had been subject to a management buy out when BA first sold Go) and Ryanair took over Buzz (which was owned by KLM).

    I always remember that one of the first things Ryanair wanted to do was axe Buzz’s Stansted-Bergerac route. But the local mayor raised enough cash to pay for Ryanair to sustain the route because of the inconvenience to the many UK-expats living in that area.

    As far as I can remember, Ryanair was the first LCC and it became successful after striking a deal with Stansted which in the early 90s was a ‘white elephant.’

    Easyjet started life at Luton. When BA saw how well the budget airline business was doing it decided to set up Go and Stansted was chosen as the base.

    Buzz followed at the beginning of 2000. But Buzz at Stansted was based on a budget version of KLM UK with the same planes and staff but with a new livery. Some routes were the same as KLM UK but others were new. Buzz only survived for 4 years.


    FirstClassWannabe
    Participant

    I always found the old Iberia site one of the best. If you are in IB PLUS all your details were there anyway so very few clicks. I don´t like the new site but probably just a matter of getting used to it, I always say the same thing when companies change the design. I am flying IB to JFK later this month on their new A330 and am looking forward to it – will let you know if they are getting better. Ryanair, far too many clicks and gets tiresome. BA I find good, Delta also.


    Bullfrog
    Participant

    Following on from a few points here …

    I usually find Wednesday is a cheaper day to travel. Years ago Bob Crandall wrote all about revenue management & how the airlines would review previous 5 years business to assess the most lucrative hours of each and every day. Certainly travel out of school holidays if you can.

    I often find Avios flights more available when booked as one way tickets than booked as a return flight. Disappointing that when using the Amex companion voucher, the on line system can not cope with a return flight departing from a different city of arrival.

    Interesting point about Stansted to Bergerac. Ryanair may have wanted to end that route. During the summer months there are often two flights a day, so it must be making Ryanair a profit.


    StandingThemUp
    Participant

    Maybe it’s because I’m familiar with the websites of the airlines I use, but I find the fast and convenient.

    The most annoying is Ryanair, with their anti-spam puzzle and a lot of anciliary offers, not always presented in the most logical/intuitive way, but the again familiarity breeds ease of use.

    As Tim F says, the passport additoin is probably the most aggravating (although I know my passport details by heart), but that is not a result of airline action, but government.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    Canucklad – interesting point about multi point bookings on Emirates.

    With EK you never know what you are going to get. In May I priced my normal monthly return trip to Dubai. As a second thought I added a sideways trip to Nairobi, and the price went down!!!

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