Iain Webster, Travel Loyalty Specialist at ICLP
As Michael Smith comments, there is an interesting dynamic looming between airlines and their B2B distribution channels to travel agents and corporate travel buyers. Much of which centres around the notion that the airline product itself is being unbundled into its component parts – the bag, the seat, the onboard catering, the payment process etc. However, a much wider view of the concept of ancillary revenue is extending to other travel components – typically car, hotel and travel insurance - and then a leaping beyond that taking us to other products and services appropriate to the wider lifestyle of a frequent traveller.
The first step is already well embedded into the website of European carriers, less so in the Americas, and hardly at all yet in Asia. In 2011 I see the rest of the world’s airlines playing catch up with the European model.
But the even more exciting trend which is emerging is the recognition that an airline’s greatest asset is its customer database. Intelligent analytics will enable segmentation and cross-selling of new products and services that can be purchased with cash or points. Airlines will wake up to the fact that there is serious money to be made, way beyond the price of the flight experience.
< Return to 2011 trends