Alternatives Advance W/ Airfares

<B>Alternatives Advance W/ Airfares</B>

The competition over online airfares, already heating up, will get even get hotter. On the frontline are the airlines. In addition to becoming more aggressive in promoting lowest-fare sales on their own Web sites, they are forming alliances to create super sites, which threaten to dominate the travel industry. It certainly could be argued that these super sites, while jockeying for position as the non-biased, low-fare leader, are doing nothing more than slowing the shift of information from suppliers to customers, using that data to increase airline yields instead of the customer's purchasing leverage. The key issue will continue to be whether the purchaser truly has any control over the buying process when a provider owns both the information and the inventory.

In this highly volatile atmosphere, the online booking vendors are not just targeting the consumer and leisure traveler, but also the corporate business travel segment. As a result, travel management companies may have an unprecedented opportunity to play a new role in helping corporations get the best deals by managing the distribution channels, guaranteeing that corporate travelers are treated fairly and afforded the same low airfares as leisure travelers. Forward-thinking travel management companies will be proactive to ensure that their corporate clients are given easy, convenient access to competitive fares at the same point of sale as negotiated and business fares.

There are specific actions that a proactive corporation can take to ensure that business travelers are treated fairly and afforded the same "hot deals" as leisure travelers.

If you have not yet done so, implement a managed online booking tool that provides travelers with access to the availability schedules of all carriers, not just preferred suppliers. Filtering carriers to ensure usage of specific airlines will do nothing more than cause travelers to distrust the system. Ensure that all time-of-ticketing discounts are included in the displayed fares, so travelers are comparing the truly lowest fares.

Include in your airline RFP the requirement for specific access to Internet fares as private fares in the database. This will guarantee that corporations get easy, convenient access to Web fares at the same point of sale as negotiated and business fares.

Consider modifying your travel policy to allow travelers to book Internet fares if, in a direct comparison, the same schedule is available at a substantially lower Web-only fare. Track these exceptions to include in your discussions with airline partners on a quarterly basis. Our experience is that, when comparing apples to apples, the perception of lower Web fares is generally much higher than the actual occurrence.

If Internet fares persist as a problem, consider using net fares to provide a lower comparative fare to the traveler.

As airlines continue to control distribution costs, the only way to reduce travel expenditures is to reduce the number of trips. Establish policy guidelines for when it is appropriate to travel or use alternative forms of communication--virtual conferencing, e-mail, instant messaging, Web casting, streaming video and developing additional technologies. You not only have an unprecedented opportunity to increase efficiency and improve productivity, you can control costs--unequivocally.<I>

Richard Spradling is corporate vice president of Maritz Travel Co. in St. Louis, Mo.