United Airlines this week will begin a phased-in expansion of its PerksPlus midsize company program to 36 new cities in the United States and Canada, following a six-month period in which more than 600 companies in four test cities signed up.
American Airlines is matching the United scheme, and Delta revealed for the first time that it, too, has a similar deal. "We have been offering a program to small corporations for about a year," said Robert Coggin, Delta's executive vice president of marketing. "Those companies have met their targets," he said.
AA sales personnel could not be reached for details or confirmation before press time.
The United program, in which the airline uses telemarketers to pitch a package of discounts, booking software and other perks to companies with air volumes of $40,000 to $500,000 (BTN, Dec. 16, 1996) has proven successful, said Anthony Toth, United's strategist for North America.
"We're beyond the test at this point," Toth said. "We were pretty firm about the program's success in February and laid down plans then to expand it." Although he wouldn't say how much revenue the program has yielded from the test, he indicated that the airline is happy with the amount.
United will triple its telemarketing center to handle the expected new volume; new employees have been hired and will start work next week, Toth said. "We think telemarketing is well on its way to complementing field sales as a nice new sales vehicle for us," said Toth. "We're more than pleased about the receptivity of the program among smaller corporations--they don't perceive it to be annoying like telemarketing calls you get at home."
The program also will undergo changes in its product by June. "We'll make some adjustments, but we'd better not describe those just yet," he said. "They involve new partners, including special rates and upgrades with one car rental company and an expansion of the GTE Airfone product line."
The new cities have been determined based on "a variety of industry environment factors, including United's presence in the market versus the competition," Toth said. The initial four cities were Buffalo, Chicago, Kansas City and Phoenix.
Dana Pair, flight and travel manager for Kansas City-based Bernstein-Rein Advertising, which has a total air volume of about $500,000, said her company has benefited from the program. But she said that booking is a bit cumbersome because there is an extra step in the CRS to help with tracking. "They are asking us to track it for them," said Pair, who revealed in December that she would shift her AA business to United to take advantage of the program.