Low-cost fairs are less likely to become part of an alliance due to their targets being on bottom ra

Are airlines giving corporates what they want? The direct answer: "No", from Michael Hill, European travel manager at Coca Cola. This was just the start of a lively debate at this year s Business Travel Show in Earls Court, and what followed was an intense discussion between the supplier and the corporate.
The word headache was used to describe the tendering process when working with alliances for airline contracts, and it was met by a swift nod of agreement from many of the audience. Many buyers feel the negotiation process takes too long and becomes too arduous as all airlines look to manage cost control and revenue targets at an individual level within the alliance. I can fully appreciate the frustration of time delays cheap hotels in san antonio with all airlines involved in the negotiation process. I would have expected more of this to be agreed up front with an alliance. United Airlines, part of Star Alliance, rightfully cheap hotels in san antonio defended themselves, emphasising that alliances offer other benefits with more flexibility and the opportunity to do one deal as opposed to working with many airlines and being met with aggressive fairs.
Low-cost fairs are less likely to become part of an alliance due to their targets being on bottom rate costs. This was echoed by the Guernsey airline, Aurigny. Small airlines do not work well with alliances, their objective is to get passengers from point to point. I suspect the preference for low-cost/small airlines and alliances is down to the objective of your business when purchasing air travel.
A consistent message amongst everyone in the room was the lack of innovation in airline pricing and sales. Legacy process cheap hotels in san antonio continue with selling against revenues and per seat. Discounts are offered based on frequent cheap hotels in san antonio flight locations and not on the full multi-location demand of an organisation. Quite surprising when you consider how much talk there is around innovation in technology and mobile apps. Sometimes there is the need to go back to basics and get the process right first.
Members of the audience were proactive in offering suggestions when challenging the airlines to do more. The recommendations to provide more bundled products and considering market share percentage pricing cheap hotels in san antonio as opposed to cost per seat was a unanimous possibility for all parties. This approach begs the question: why does this not already exist.
There was a debate on loyalty for the individual flyer and the corporate organisation, it was agreed there are some perks for the individual such as access to an airport lounge, however there was some silence over the consideration of loyalty to the corporate. Even on something as basic as loyalty points for an organisation as opposed to a frequent flyer. One would have thought it is irrelevant to the airline where the points sit.
An interesting point was made from the airlines around loyalty. It is in essence a two way thing, and that often gets overlooked; most corporates choose cheap hotels in san antonio spot purchasing on flight travel, does that show loyalty to an airline?
The suggestion of loyalty brought the biggest debate of the day amongst the low cost airlines and the corporates. Corporate travel has extra consideration with the ability to carry a laptop cheap hotels in san antonio bag without paying an extra fee etc. On the other side of the coin, the aim of a low-budget airline is not loyalty but to maintain low flight prices, and limited cabin space allows those low prices. I can t help but think in all of this - you get what you pay for!
Karen Moorhouse is Procurement Analyst for Procurement Leaders. With a focus on indirect category intelligence, she draws on 3 years public sector procurement experience focusing cheap hotels in san antonio on HR and corporate categories.
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