Op-Ed: Airline Unbundling Undermines Satisfaction
With increasing fuel costs, travelers are incurring more charges for premium seats, bags and changes.
Just look at the number of airlines that went out of business in the past three months. On one occasion, three went out of business in one week—ATA, Aloha Airlines and Skybus—all U.S. carriers. With no end in sight for fuel increases, airlines are scrambling to merge with each other, as Northwest and Delta will do by year-end, pending DOT approval. For many, it will be a matter of time before they are faced with the grim reality that they cannot survive.
This is important because the fewer the airlines, the less the competition and the higher the airfares. This will have the most impact on business travelers. If you do not travel on business, chances are that all of this has a minimal impact on you. Most likely, you will book your trips in advance. Be willing to connect to get to your destination and even move your trip to save money and it will not be a large impact.
Business travelers will be impacted the hardest. They are the ones who travel with the shortest amount of time to plan—hence they are subject to higher airfares. They are the least able to move their appointments to following weeks to save money. They are the ones who have a limited amount of time and therefore cannot afford to connect or not get to their destinations with hours of their intended arrival. This combined with the limited number of options that will be available with fewer airlines flying will mean that the business traveler will end up spending hundreds of dollars more per trip than today.
The problem comes from the airlines not being able to increase their fares due to market backlash. If one airline is so much as $10 lower than the other, we are quick to purchase the lower airfare. When they are not able to compete with competitive lower airfares, they do it anyway.
This eventually leads to a decrease in service. In the past 10 years, simple things that made our travels easier were removed: meals, pillows and blankets, magazines and newspapers. Legroom was sacrificed to squeeze in more rows of seats.
Once removing things that made our travels more relaxing was complete, the next phase started: charging extra for such services as meals on planes, extra charges for aisle seats or window seats, more charges to change flights. Recently airlines added charges for checking in a second bag and even more recently for your first bag.
Instead of the airlines making travel an experience, they have made it a commodity. Charging for every item and removing all the luxuries of travel is ultimately the road that they have taken.
The airlines actually charge you very little for the service they provide. When was the last time you heard of a hotel chain going out of business? And yet the airlines face extinction on a regular basis.
Airlines: Whatever you do, do not make travel a commodity. People do not like being nickel-and-dimed through the entire process. For the love of travel, charge a little more, but make it an experience. You will not lose business. Editor's Note: Kintetsu International is a New York City-based travel management company.