Strategic Meetings Management

Did you know that airlines last year earned $7.8 billion in ancillary fees, including $2.7 billion in baggage fees? Who knows how much they took in from $7 and $8 pillows and blankets, not to mention the $5 in-flight snack.  For those of you waiting for pricing to be bundled again, dream on – ancillary fees are here to stay, and my barometer for that declaration is $7.8 billion in additional revenue!

Nobody wants to deny the airlines their right to be profitable -- after all, business and meetings travel depend on healthy carriers and sound operations. But for travel and meetings managers, it becomes a problem when all those fees are:

a - not always easily visible or discoverable at booking time -- such as on online third-party booking sites
b - difficult to track to get an aggregate picture of total fees for budgetary and cost-control purposes
c – invisible for auditing for expense reporting purposes

While many companies have come to accept these fees as part of the "new normal" of business travel, I recently read an article in USA Today that suggests a growing number of travelers are "mad as hell" about the fees. In fact, the Business Travel Coalition, the American Society of Travel Agents and Consumer Travel Alliance have formed a site, which is collecting travelers' signatures and stories to send to Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. The group's aim is to urge the Department of Transportation to take action to require airlines to disclose fees in advance through every ticketing channel.

In a release announcing the site, the coalition said 99% of nearly 1,400 travelers that it surveyed felt airlines should be required to disclose all of their fees in advance on every website (meaning not just their own) that sells tickets.

From a strategic point of view, my take on all of this is that meetings managers need clear, aggregate information on ancillary fees so that they can construct accurate budgets. So, it's extremely important that non-airline websites that sell tickets have those fees prominently displayed. If you're using technology that allows attendees to make air bookings via a link to a third-party site, make sure that your agreements with those sites stipulate that all fees for meetings air travel be displayed upfront and that they be obvious to the attendee. And don't forget that it's worth it to try and negotiate a reduction or elimination of some ancillary fees with your airline partner -- especially if you represent a lot of buying volume.

In the meantime, visit the website, make your voice known and contribute your own stories. The groups will deliver your comments to the DOT tomorrow, September 23rd, (the same day comments are due for the agency's proposals to enhance air travelers' protections).