Well it just might be...
Now that jetBlue is to all intents and purposes a full service network/legacy like carrier, why not the other hybrid airlines.
JetBlue now full participates in all GDSs and as a result of its agreement with new hosting vendor Sabre - pretty much everything it does makes it looks like a duck.
(as in if walks like and quacks like - it must be one!)
So when Easyjet announced that it would participate in GDS - it said it would come with a GDS fee - effectively making it free for the airline. Just like Gol and Norwegian do, (and many other airlines wish they could do also!) it got a lot of grumbles from the local Corporate agents.
More work for less pay!
Well now it seems that the airline is considering abandoning the fee pass through to the agents. In ABTN I noticed an article that said they were thinking just that.
It currently charges £3.30 per segment, but in its bid to increase bookings, with travel management companies in particular, this fee could be removed, Easyjet's CEO Carolyn McCall told the website.
The move is likely to be popular with business travel hookers, McCall acknowledged, but will only be made if the figures add up.
“We will run the numbers and see whether we can do it. If we can’t, we won’t and if we can we will,” she said, adding that a decision is likely by September.
Well we know the answer. The numbers don't add up. Especially when the per ticket charge from the alternative channels are just much lower. But the agents are still resisting booking, they want to hang onto those precious incentives as long as they can. If the market was free and the agents could actually book via the U2 website easily - this would not be a contest. But since that is not the case - the dilemma exists.
I wonder if someone at the European Commission is thinking the same thing I am?
Cheers
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