US Airways this month will begin detailing client-specific
data on bag fees, showing in monthly reports to travel buyers the number of
bags checked by corporate travelers, the sum of fees paid as well as the number
and value of fees waived for frequent flyers, according to the carrier.
Following a path blazed last year by Delta Air Lines and
also trod by United Airlines, US Airways is in the midst of beta-testing the
reports with corporate clients, planning a broad rollout covering June data.
The bag fee enhancements will be included in the carrier's
newly branded "US Analyzer" monthly reports that already detail
ticketed data, top markets, contract performance, the value of negotiated
savings, opportunities for further savings and other client-specific performance
metrics, according to US Airways managing director of passenger sales Michael
Schmeltzer.
As the largest ancillary spend category, baggage fees
initially would be the only ancillary for which the carrier would detail spend
in the reports, Schmeltzer said, though there is consideration "down the
road" to integrate the carrier's coach-class Choice Seats, "which is
really the only other significant" ancillary expense for customers.
To obtain the data, US Airways managing director of sales
planning and analysis Brett Berman said the carrier internally built a tool to
capture bag counts associated with passenger name records, which are then
matched to client-specific identifiers.
"We look at the class that the passenger had purchased,
we look at the region—we have those regions where bags are exempt—then we look
at Dividend Miles status so we know which rules apply to which level,"
Berman said. "From there, we're able to match that with the fees that a
bag would have incurred, and we're able to aggregate all the data."
Schmeltzer said that clients will be able to request that US
Airways further slice the data into specified time periods.
Sharing the public stance of its largest U.S. competitors,
the increased bag-fee transparency does not mean US Airways is altering its
views on discounting or waiving bag fees outright for clients, though that was
"already a part of conversations," even before the reports,
Schmeltzer said. "Travel managers have been tracking this in their own
way, whether by expense reporting or credit cards."
Based on initial client feedback, Schmeltzer said,
"They're happy to have this information. It really helps them do their
job. They can really reconcile the spend they thought they had and now see what
the actual spend is."
Based on data already captured, US Airways has found that
bag fees on average represent a "low single-digit" percentage of its
corporate clients' total air spend, according to Schmeltzer.
"There was some surprise at how small a percentage of
their total spend this is," he said, sharing a sentiment previously shared
by Delta executives when that carrier released similar reports. "When bag
fees first came into place, we got a lot of push-back on it. This is a way for
travel managers to track it. They feel a little more comfortable that it's not
a huge percentage of their spend that some people had thought."
As part of its new report enhancements, US Airways also will
share on-time performance and completion factor data with corporate clients.
While the carrier said it could customize reports based on top city pairs, the
data, which also includes comparisons with key competitors, will be based on
domestic systemwide data, not corporate-specific flight footprints.