Strategic Meetings Management

Inflation is a vicious cycle.

I read a sobering article in the L.A. Times that foresees airlines levying new fees in order to compensate for higher fuel charges. Among those that would affect business and meetings travelers are:

- in-person, check-in fees -- a charge for checking in with an airline employee at the airport rather than the carrier's website or at an airport kiosk;
- fare lock-in fee -- a charge for holding a fare for up to a week until a traveler buys the ticket (Continental introduced this option in December, and some European carriers have been levying this fee for a while);
- carry-on bag fee: a fee to bring luggage on-board (Spirit Airlines initiated a $45 carry-on bag fee last summer);
- credit card fee: just what it sounds like -- a fee to charge a ticket on a credit card (many non-U.S. airlines already do this).

The predictions come from a site called Airfarewatchdog.com, and while they may not all come true or (for those that are already in place) be imposed by more carriers, I'm once again reminded how urgent it is for meeting managers to not ignore what’s happening in the airline industry, as it’s a barometer of what’s to come.  Just because airlines have virtually abandoned the meetings market by deferring meeting attendees to buy air tickets via their corporate travel program, doesn’t mean it’s not your issue or concern.  When air ticket prices go up, so does everything else to the point where a company may freeze or cancel business travel AND meetings. 

Ancillary fees are an increasingly important source of income for carriers (Airlines earned more than $6 billion in fees during the first nine months of 2010, and they collected $7.8 billion in fee-related income for all of 2009!). Combine that with rising fuel prices = higher air tickets, and you see where this could end up; yes inflation is a vicious cycle. So, bottom line: these fees are not going away.

So, if your spending keeps rising because of travel fees, gather your facts about just how big your expenditures are, and press your case to finance or whichever other department controls your funding. It wouldn't hurt to recruit an ally in purchasing, and/or a senior executive, either.  If you are not part of the corporate travel team, work with the global category manager for air negotiations so you can be up-to-date and in the know about where your SMMP may be heading.