SAA - South African Airways - can never seem to get away from its scandals. In the latest one - its current CEO joins some of his predecessors in being suspended for a number of irregularities. One of which includes awarding a 3.5 Billion Rand contract for catering to his wife's company.
Cheers
14 February 2009
12 February 2009
ARC Numbers Collapse
We know that its bad out there. Just how bad is now emerging. So my predictions at the end of 2008 was a further 10% drop in 2009 based largely on the fall in US traffic are looking a little overoptimistic. Transactions are off and accelerating downwards.
Looks like I underestimated. Here is the graphic from the ARC Stats page. This is a good proxy for GDS as well as some underlying market behavior. The worries of Madrid, Dallas and Atlanta must be taking years off some people's life expectancy.
But for once at least let me be the optimist here. I do believe that there are a number of factors at work which have combined to make Jan 2009 appear worse than it actually is. Some are lingering factors from 2008's performance and some are actually a major result of the lack of confidence.
January 2008 still had reasonable confidence by the consumer. As a result there was a significant investment in upfront buying by the consumer for the summer. At the January 2008 Caribbean buyfest - confidence was high that summer 2008 would be a sell out and that indications during cruise wave week were also very positive. Unfortunately that gave a false sense of security but once purchased people were still going to travel.
This year is radically different. Caribbean and Mexico product sellers are all reporting advance bookings way off. Wave week was decidedly down. EVERYONE is cutting capacity. The airlines are looking for a 10% additional cut this year. Just anecdotal from my personal trips this year - I can tell you the airports, hotels, etc are noticeably down. January's Florida inbound traffic through the Malls and hotels was off by more than 20%. Snowbirds didn't come south this year.
The advance purchase window is being plain ignored. Europeans behavior adjusts rapidly to this situation by buying late. US traffic is a little more conservative in its adjustment but so far this year the wallets are clamped shut. Once the profiles of buying patterns adjust - traffic will normalize albeit on this much lower level.
Prognosis?
Despite wide exhortations that the great discounts wont last long - I beg to differ. Discounts - and deep ones - are here for a while. I do believe that we are looking at a down market for even longer than most have predicted. 2009 we all know will be one of the worst on record for Travel globally. Recovery in 2010 will be modest. Discounts and last minute behavior will be endemic.
Moreover from a distribution standpoint - I am not bullish on the GDS players. Clearly they are going to suffer now and as they fall below critical mass it makes the holistic single source content model unrealistic and unsustainable.
The emergence of a leaner meaner infrastructure from the end of this down cycle is no longer in doubt. The actual shape and the players composition will however be very interesting. I am prepared to be amazed and excited by this prospect.
Gotta love this industry.....
07 February 2009
Virgin Vents at Boeing
Slamming both Boeing's management and its Unions, Sir Richard Branson let them have it with both barrels yesterday at formal acceptance of the V Australia first 777.
Accompanied by a motley crew of V staff and senior management with Steven Udvar-Hazy in tow (V is leasing its first 2 777s from ILFC) Branson wasted no time in letting Boeing feel his vent of rage.
With the delay of the aircraft essentially about 5 months late - it is clear that the 58 day strike at Boeing did a heck of a lot more damage than Boeing has let on. This has affected customers down the line and Boeing has lost more than just 2 months of delivery capability.
Boeing needs to pull up its socks and get back to work much faster.
06 February 2009
No Airtime?
No Planes
No License
No Airport Space
Maybe no brand
Probably no way
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20090206110623476C916067
Cheers
No License
No Airport Space
Maybe no brand
Probably no way
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20090206110623476C916067
Cheers
Oh Skype WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!!
Version 4 is terrible
Don't upgrade
Looks pretty but loses one heck of a lot of utility
Trillian - I may just come back to you
Sadly.............
Don't upgrade
Looks pretty but loses one heck of a lot of utility
Trillian - I may just come back to you
Sadly.............
05 February 2009
The Breakup of the Holistic Airline Model
For many years people have balked at the prospect of fragmentation - that fear has kept the "Air Transportation System" - well - as a integral holistic service, at least in some people's minds. Much of this stemmed from the good old days when domestic US airlines didn't fight with each other and took each others' tickets in a very gentlemanly fashion. For International travel the only players on effective international routes all swapped tickets because - well International bilateral agreements superseded all other rules.
Fast forward about 30 years and the impact of de-regulation across the spectrum, the growth of ad hoc and even permenant alliances and the pervasiveness of web based technologies and those nice old holistic legislated or commercially constrained systems look decidedly long in the tooth. There really is no such thing as airline neutrality and a holistic system where we live in Utopian cooperation. It is everyone for himself.
Despite this reality some components of these "systems" are still living in the world of yesterday. On the other hand some progressive airlines have decided to blow right through those arcane models and form strong commercial bonds that go outside that nice old holistic model. For example LH buying into JetBlue and then integrating some of their operations. The Volaris/Southwest/WestJet relationship. The new United/Aer Lingus partnership and the announcement today of WestJet and AF/KL tie up. I can cite many more instances but you get my drift here.
It is interesting that on the very day that Westjet/AF+KL announcement is made that you have a senior GDS official getting up and saying that (and I am synthesizng out of context aggressively here to make my point) "...fragmentation ......fundamentally different from our (GDS's) philosophy on content..."
My point is that there is an inevitability now that fragmentation (as The Professor has oft opined) is not a new fleeting thing - it is here to stay and anyone who gets in the way of the unbundled and the fragmentation processes will in my humble opinion become road kill.
I liken this to the break up of Ma Bell (aka the old AT&T). People bemoan the loss of guaranteed dial tone. However they love the development of technology and the lowering of price and the plethora of options. Well so too the airline system model and the IT systems that constrained it that way. Before calm was restored in the telephony market there was a lot of disruption. I think there will be that occurring for a while in distribution.
You have been warned... that noise you hear is not just the wind...
Fast forward about 30 years and the impact of de-regulation across the spectrum, the growth of ad hoc and even permenant alliances and the pervasiveness of web based technologies and those nice old holistic legislated or commercially constrained systems look decidedly long in the tooth. There really is no such thing as airline neutrality and a holistic system where we live in Utopian cooperation. It is everyone for himself.
Despite this reality some components of these "systems" are still living in the world of yesterday. On the other hand some progressive airlines have decided to blow right through those arcane models and form strong commercial bonds that go outside that nice old holistic model. For example LH buying into JetBlue and then integrating some of their operations. The Volaris/Southwest/WestJet relationship. The new United/Aer Lingus partnership and the announcement today of WestJet and AF/KL tie up. I can cite many more instances but you get my drift here.
It is interesting that on the very day that Westjet/AF+KL announcement is made that you have a senior GDS official getting up and saying that (and I am synthesizng out of context aggressively here to make my point) "...fragmentation ......fundamentally different from our (GDS's) philosophy on content..."
My point is that there is an inevitability now that fragmentation (as The Professor has oft opined) is not a new fleeting thing - it is here to stay and anyone who gets in the way of the unbundled and the fragmentation processes will in my humble opinion become road kill.
I liken this to the break up of Ma Bell (aka the old AT&T). People bemoan the loss of guaranteed dial tone. However they love the development of technology and the lowering of price and the plethora of options. Well so too the airline system model and the IT systems that constrained it that way. Before calm was restored in the telephony market there was a lot of disruption. I think there will be that occurring for a while in distribution.
You have been warned... that noise you hear is not just the wind...
Will They or Wont They? BA/IB
The debate of BA+IB seems to be heating up. And I for one think it just isn't going to happen at the prices that people think.
The volatility of airline stocks of late make this even more difficult than usual. Couple with with the pound's collapse we have a rather toxic recipe at Waterside and its opposite number.
Willie's boys (and girls) must be feeling that they are playing wallflower especially at this week's celebrations in Madrid for the One World 10th.
I really find it too hard to justify both logically, emotionally and fiscally.
So I vote no unless its a really great deal for BA around 65:35 in the new company.
Cheers
The volatility of airline stocks of late make this even more difficult than usual. Couple with with the pound's collapse we have a rather toxic recipe at Waterside and its opposite number.
Willie's boys (and girls) must be feeling that they are playing wallflower especially at this week's celebrations in Madrid for the One World 10th.
I really find it too hard to justify both logically, emotionally and fiscally.
So I vote no unless its a really great deal for BA around 65:35 in the new company.
Cheers
Olympic Back on Deathwatch
The Professor's deathwatch list has a repeat customer - Olympic is back. Here is what ATW Online reported
Greek government's effort to privatize Olympic Airlines has failed (ATWOnline, Nov. 25, 2008). Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis told reporters that "the bids that were submitted do not meet our demands" and that the government is "addressing an open proposal to Greek business groups for the sale of Olympic through immediate negotiations." The government had split OA into flight, ground handling and maintenance units for privatization (ATWOnline, Nov. 3, 2008).
They are nuts...
However sooner or later the government may get realistic and we might get someone biting on the poison apple.
I hope so. But as you may have read before - their service sucks and Aegean is eating them for lunch
Cheers
Greek government's effort to privatize Olympic Airlines has failed (ATWOnline, Nov. 25, 2008). Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis told reporters that "the bids that were submitted do not meet our demands" and that the government is "addressing an open proposal to Greek business groups for the sale of Olympic through immediate negotiations." The government had split OA into flight, ground handling and maintenance units for privatization (ATWOnline, Nov. 3, 2008).
They are nuts...
However sooner or later the government may get realistic and we might get someone biting on the poison apple.
I hope so. But as you may have read before - their service sucks and Aegean is eating them for lunch
Cheers
US Inbound Traffic drop off gets dramatic
The US TIA recently published their number for November inbound to the USA and the first 11 months for the whole of 2008.
While traffic for the year was still way up (6%) this was despite the fact that November inbound visitations plummeted 9%. Judging by the other proxy figures we have seen (LHR departures, BA traffic etc) for December, we can be sure that US inbound numbers will be significantly down on even this number.
Plumbing the numbers for some nuggets - here are the highlights from Europe. The first months through September reflect the weakness of the dollar against the Pound and the Euro. However after September there is now a significant drop off particularly from the UK where the number of visitors make up a substantial portion of the US inbound. With Mexico and Canada both declining - this does not bode well for the USA Tourism market.
• Visitation from Western Europe was down six percent for November and up 14 percent year-to-date, accounting for 48 percent of overseas arrivals.
• Arrivals from the United Kingdom were down 14 percent in November but up three percent year-to-date. Visitors from the United Kingdom accounted for 37 percent of all Western European arrivals.
• Year-to-date, German arrivals increased 18 percent, French arrivals grew 26 percent, and Italian arrivals were up 25 percent, continuing growth trends from 2007. For the first eleven months of 2008, visitation from the Netherlands grew 22 percent. At the same time, visitors from Spain and Ireland grew 31 percent and nine percent, respectively. Arrivals from Sweden and Switzerland were up 19 percent and 17 percent, respectively, for the year.
• Visitation from Asia decreased two percent year-to-date. Japanese arrivals decreased eight percent year-to-date. Japan accounted for 52 percent of all Asian visitors for the year. Year-to-date, arrivals from South Korea decreased five percent. India and PR China grew seven percent and 25 percent, respectively. Taiwanese visitation decreased five percent in the first eleven months of 2008
While traffic for the year was still way up (6%) this was despite the fact that November inbound visitations plummeted 9%. Judging by the other proxy figures we have seen (LHR departures, BA traffic etc) for December, we can be sure that US inbound numbers will be significantly down on even this number.
Plumbing the numbers for some nuggets - here are the highlights from Europe. The first months through September reflect the weakness of the dollar against the Pound and the Euro. However after September there is now a significant drop off particularly from the UK where the number of visitors make up a substantial portion of the US inbound. With Mexico and Canada both declining - this does not bode well for the USA Tourism market.
• Visitation from Western Europe was down six percent for November and up 14 percent year-to-date, accounting for 48 percent of overseas arrivals.
• Arrivals from the United Kingdom were down 14 percent in November but up three percent year-to-date. Visitors from the United Kingdom accounted for 37 percent of all Western European arrivals.
• Year-to-date, German arrivals increased 18 percent, French arrivals grew 26 percent, and Italian arrivals were up 25 percent, continuing growth trends from 2007. For the first eleven months of 2008, visitation from the Netherlands grew 22 percent. At the same time, visitors from Spain and Ireland grew 31 percent and nine percent, respectively. Arrivals from Sweden and Switzerland were up 19 percent and 17 percent, respectively, for the year.
• Visitation from Asia decreased two percent year-to-date. Japanese arrivals decreased eight percent year-to-date. Japan accounted for 52 percent of all Asian visitors for the year. Year-to-date, arrivals from South Korea decreased five percent. India and PR China grew seven percent and 25 percent, respectively. Taiwanese visitation decreased five percent in the first eleven months of 2008
Its Freddie's Time again
I know it will soon by Friday 13th but I don't mean Freddy Kroger.
I mean the Frequent Flyer Awards. Go vote for your favorite Airline, service etc.
http://www.freddieawards.com/
It is actual quite a reasonable battle. So this year don't be passive - voice your opinions. With EOS, Silverjet, Maxjet and others now but a faint murmur of history - who is the best player in Biz Class. With 3 Airlines now flying the behemoth A380 - will that impact the market?
Go vote
Cheers
I mean the Frequent Flyer Awards. Go vote for your favorite Airline, service etc.
http://www.freddieawards.com/
It is actual quite a reasonable battle. So this year don't be passive - voice your opinions. With EOS, Silverjet, Maxjet and others now but a faint murmur of history - who is the best player in Biz Class. With 3 Airlines now flying the behemoth A380 - will that impact the market?
Go vote
Cheers
02 February 2009
Libgo President Exits
Liberty GoGo President Cathy Palaez, who more than 28 years ago was hired as a receptionist at Liberty Travel and eventually climbed to become its president, has resigned, effective Feb. 6th 2009.
She presided over what seems to have been a smooth transition to the Flight Center ownership and can walk out the door knowing she did a great job during this time.
We wish her best wishes and a little time off.
Cheers Cathy
She presided over what seems to have been a smooth transition to the Flight Center ownership and can walk out the door knowing she did a great job during this time.
We wish her best wishes and a little time off.
Cheers Cathy
01 February 2009
A Sign of the Times - Retail Footfalls Plummet At BAA
Borders who itself is having problems in the down economy, is reportedly pulling out from all BAA outlets as visitors to those outlets fall.
Its UK affiliate - Borders UK is to pull out of BAA’s airports in the latest example of fraught negotiations between retailers and landlords. Guy Grainger, head of retail at Jones Lang LaSalle, said footfall had fallen in airport retail outlets by up to 25% because of the downturn in business travel according to the Financial Times.
Ouch!
Its UK affiliate - Borders UK is to pull out of BAA’s airports in the latest example of fraught negotiations between retailers and landlords. Guy Grainger, head of retail at Jones Lang LaSalle, said footfall had fallen in airport retail outlets by up to 25% because of the downturn in business travel according to the Financial Times.
Ouch!
Cathay to BA - Go Away!
Rebuffing any thought of a possible tie up between the declining valued BA and the greater value but smaller Cathay Pacific - its CEO - Tony Tyler wasted no time is telling Willie, Martin and the boys (via the article in the Telegraph)that they were welcome as OneWorlders but no more than that at Cathay City.
In a battle of the top dogs, Cathay Pacific chief executive Tony Tyler - a Swire man - said his airline has no intention of merging with British Airways, which is worth half as much as the Hong Kong-based carrier. In an interview in the Telegraph , he said he does not agree with BA chairman Martin Broughton who stated in early January that the Oneworld alliance will fall apart if the BA tie-up with American Airlines fails. while Cathay has been hit by the recession and has cut capacity growth for 2009 from 6-7% to broadly flat, it is seen as being more profitable than its London based Alliance partner.
British Airways hopes for a partnership now seem to be looking a tad thin. The Iberia merger is all but dead - killed by the free fall in the pound and the poor British Carrier's performance, Qantas and BA never made it past the first date despite having been engaged and almost married successfully before. With the new Obama Administration in power - the prospects for a tighter alignment between AA and BA don't look quite so good unless Gordon and Barack want to make nice and Fly Mandy wants it.
Here is the full article - worth a read.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/4402441/Tony-Tyler-plane-speaking-from-a-merger-sceptic.html
Cheers
In a battle of the top dogs, Cathay Pacific chief executive Tony Tyler - a Swire man - said his airline has no intention of merging with British Airways, which is worth half as much as the Hong Kong-based carrier. In an interview in the Telegraph , he said he does not agree with BA chairman Martin Broughton who stated in early January that the Oneworld alliance will fall apart if the BA tie-up with American Airlines fails. while Cathay has been hit by the recession and has cut capacity growth for 2009 from 6-7% to broadly flat, it is seen as being more profitable than its London based Alliance partner.
British Airways hopes for a partnership now seem to be looking a tad thin. The Iberia merger is all but dead - killed by the free fall in the pound and the poor British Carrier's performance, Qantas and BA never made it past the first date despite having been engaged and almost married successfully before. With the new Obama Administration in power - the prospects for a tighter alignment between AA and BA don't look quite so good unless Gordon and Barack want to make nice and Fly Mandy wants it.
Here is the full article - worth a read.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/4402441/Tony-Tyler-plane-speaking-from-a-merger-sceptic.html
Cheers
Stop Treating Customers/Users like IDIOTS
Bravo and Kudos to Gerry McGovern - who has become somewhat of a Web Curmudgeon of late.
I am reprinting his post in full - this is a very timely piece given my notes from yesterday.I would just change the word to Idiots not fools....
Cheers
TIME FOR MARKETERS TO STOP TREATING CUSTOMERS LIKE FOOLS
One reason Google has been so successful is that it has shown a genuine respect for its customers.
"Google's fourth-quarter revenues were up 18% to $5.7 billion, a solid showing," Fortune reported in January 2009. The article goes on to state that "Google is transferring almost half a billion dollars in wealth from shareholders to employees," as a motivation and retention strategy.
Yahoo, on the other hand, "has frozen annual pay increases for its employees as the Internet company battles with a difficult online advertising market," Reuters reported in January 2009.
Google and Yahoo operate in the same online advertising marketplace. So, why is Google's revenue up 18 percent, while Yahoo continues to struggle?
I visited the Rolling Stone website recently. I saw a link for "Best albums of 2008" and clicked on it. The page I arrived at was totally dominated by a large ad flashing repeatedly in fluorescent green, screaming out at me: "THIS IS NOT A JOKE.
Congratulations you've won." There were two buttons underneath this statement. "Click here to join" and "Cancel".
How could a company like Rolling Stone put an ad like that on its website? To me, Rolling Stone is a reputable, trustworthy brand. On seeing that ad I was shocked that Rolling Stone would stoop so low, would treat its customers as such fools. It will be quite a while-if ever-when I go back to the Rolling Stone website.
The experience at Rolling Stone reminded of an excellent and shocking article I read by Benjamin Edelman called, "False and deceptive display ads at Yahoo's Right Media."
"Given limited enforcement of restrictions on deceptive online advertising, numerous banner advertisers are willing to resort to trickery to draw attention to their offerings," Benjamin writes. "And plenty of web site publishers stand ready to run deceptive ads. But widespread distribution of deceptive ads also requires another crucial input: intermediary ad networks to broker ad placement and tracking. Key among these
intermediaries: Yahoo, whose Right Media marketplace facilitates so much of this traffic that Right Media classifies advertisers'
deceptive tactics into dozens of detailed categories."
Not alone does Right Media condone deceptive advertising but it actually seems to encourage it. "Right Media encouraged publishers to accept ads tagged with negative categories,"
Benjamin states. "For example, in a 2006 message to Direct Media Exchange publishers, a Right Media staff person commented that ads in the "'free' and similar representations with NO disclosure language" category "can get a lot of clicks and conversions and should probably be allowed" -- completely ignoring the ads' tendency to deceive and their apparent violation of applicable FTC requirements.
"As to ads that are difficult to close or exit, the Right Media staff person encouraged publishers to ignore the problem since publishers get paid no matter users' experience: "It is something that may affect the user after they click the ad, but won't create undesirable behavior on your site."
Too much of old marketing saw the primary purpose of advertising as to deceive, manipulate and trick. But marketing doesn't have to be that way. Google is proving that the greatest and most profitable advertising of all is that which customers find useful.
False and Deceptive Display Ads at Yahoo's Right Media http://www.twine.com/item/11t0b5t7p-cp/false-and-deceptive-display-ads-at-yahoo-s-right-media
Gerry McGovern
mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com
I am reprinting his post in full - this is a very timely piece given my notes from yesterday.I would just change the word to Idiots not fools....
Cheers
TIME FOR MARKETERS TO STOP TREATING CUSTOMERS LIKE FOOLS
One reason Google has been so successful is that it has shown a genuine respect for its customers.
"Google's fourth-quarter revenues were up 18% to $5.7 billion, a solid showing," Fortune reported in January 2009. The article goes on to state that "Google is transferring almost half a billion dollars in wealth from shareholders to employees," as a motivation and retention strategy.
Yahoo, on the other hand, "has frozen annual pay increases for its employees as the Internet company battles with a difficult online advertising market," Reuters reported in January 2009.
Google and Yahoo operate in the same online advertising marketplace. So, why is Google's revenue up 18 percent, while Yahoo continues to struggle?
I visited the Rolling Stone website recently. I saw a link for "Best albums of 2008" and clicked on it. The page I arrived at was totally dominated by a large ad flashing repeatedly in fluorescent green, screaming out at me: "THIS IS NOT A JOKE.
Congratulations you've won." There were two buttons underneath this statement. "Click here to join" and "Cancel".
How could a company like Rolling Stone put an ad like that on its website? To me, Rolling Stone is a reputable, trustworthy brand. On seeing that ad I was shocked that Rolling Stone would stoop so low, would treat its customers as such fools. It will be quite a while-if ever-when I go back to the Rolling Stone website.
The experience at Rolling Stone reminded of an excellent and shocking article I read by Benjamin Edelman called, "False and deceptive display ads at Yahoo's Right Media."
"Given limited enforcement of restrictions on deceptive online advertising, numerous banner advertisers are willing to resort to trickery to draw attention to their offerings," Benjamin writes. "And plenty of web site publishers stand ready to run deceptive ads. But widespread distribution of deceptive ads also requires another crucial input: intermediary ad networks to broker ad placement and tracking. Key among these
intermediaries: Yahoo, whose Right Media marketplace facilitates so much of this traffic that Right Media classifies advertisers'
deceptive tactics into dozens of detailed categories."
Not alone does Right Media condone deceptive advertising but it actually seems to encourage it. "Right Media encouraged publishers to accept ads tagged with negative categories,"
Benjamin states. "For example, in a 2006 message to Direct Media Exchange publishers, a Right Media staff person commented that ads in the "'free' and similar representations with NO disclosure language" category "can get a lot of clicks and conversions and should probably be allowed" -- completely ignoring the ads' tendency to deceive and their apparent violation of applicable FTC requirements.
"As to ads that are difficult to close or exit, the Right Media staff person encouraged publishers to ignore the problem since publishers get paid no matter users' experience: "It is something that may affect the user after they click the ad, but won't create undesirable behavior on your site."
Too much of old marketing saw the primary purpose of advertising as to deceive, manipulate and trick. But marketing doesn't have to be that way. Google is proving that the greatest and most profitable advertising of all is that which customers find useful.
False and Deceptive Display Ads at Yahoo's Right Media http://www.twine.com/item/11t0b5t7p-cp/false-and-deceptive-display-ads-at-yahoo-s-right-media
Gerry McGovern
mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com
31 January 2009
Stunning Views of London
So if you have friends in high places it really helps.
Professor Michael (there are actually several) sent me this superb link.
This is one of those nice distractions and definitely some OMG moments:
Enjoy
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/more_of_london_from_above_at_n.html
Cheers
Professor Michael (there are actually several) sent me this superb link.
This is one of those nice distractions and definitely some OMG moments:
Enjoy
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/more_of_london_from_above_at_n.html
Cheers
Think your site is good? Think again...
There is one thing that has bugged me for ages about online travel and it is the booking and purchasing experience. There are others who are far better at describing the customer acquisition process and additional processes that put the consumer into the booking and buying path(s). But the same basic processes still exist that have been there since day one. And I think its time for a change.
Despite the wide adoption of so-called Web 2.0 applications most if not all of them do not improve the basic experience of a travel purchase. The booking process remains perhaps one of the weakest links in the chain of the online experience for travel in my humble opinion. It is somewhat our industry's dirty little secret that after 14 years of online travel we still haven't improved the basic process and no one seems willing to get out there and do something about it.
RightNow who power Travelocity's CRM did a study in the UK I believe and found some interesting but perhaps not so surprising results. It was done online so you have to factor in that these people are online savvy and therefore more likely to be able to get through some of the inadequacies of the booking process.
Here are some highlights:
Many find booking online frustrating, with not being easily able to find information on hidden costs (53%), not finding specific information about holidays (47%), not being able to ask questions about holidays (45%) and finding the actual buying process too complicated (35%) the most common complaints.
A lack of clarity is the main reason customers end up having to call or email the company, with 51% citing unclear pricing and details about costs and 50% unclear descriptions about holidays and flights.
When asked what could be improved, 60% said they would like more transparency on travel costs, 44% wanted better provision of destination and flight details, 43% wanted easier website search capabilities to find information, while the same percentage wanted easier and clearer booking processes.
In addition, the survey found that the impact of a negative experience may not just be contained to just one individual, as 72% of consumers have told others about a past negative online booking experience.
By contrast, just 54% of consumers have told others about a good online booking experience.
I would suspect that a more generic poll amongst all user types would magnify the last good vs bad result. If you were to ask the question such as is this experience better or worse than a human agent - that would be an interesting question.
But this doesn't help improve the process. So I am trying to look at better experiences for the online purchasing process. In previous posts I have discussed the better versions of Airline Websites such as AC vs WN and F9's new site. I think that the merchandising part has become too much of a seller's drug to make it valuable to the consumer. However we all recognize the importance of merchandising to the consumer. The problem is that the inherent conflict of holding out your hand for money at every touchpoint eventually causes the user to become inured to your wiles.
One thing is for certain - simplifying does improve the response rate from the users.
Transparency improves trust. Trust actually appears to be the biggest factor that is missing from all the online sites. I have asked countless users and non-users alike about Travel purchasing experience online. Admittedly this is a bar stool research but I believe it is a good proxy for the rest of the world. Frictionless purchasing experience should be the goal. The all say the same when asked - do you really trust this site... answer not as much as someone I know.
Why not combine those factors? I have always thought that the usual consumer trust propositions work as well online as they do offline. However they have to be adapted to an audience with a much shorter attention span and ease of walking away. And they must be kept fresh.
So from now on - I am going to be the advocate for what I am going to call the Crystal Engine. the Crystal Engine is the one that delivers the 4 basic propositions
Natural
Transparent
Frictionless
Trusted
Transactions..... oh yes and it has to work too.
What do you think?
Despite the wide adoption of so-called Web 2.0 applications most if not all of them do not improve the basic experience of a travel purchase. The booking process remains perhaps one of the weakest links in the chain of the online experience for travel in my humble opinion. It is somewhat our industry's dirty little secret that after 14 years of online travel we still haven't improved the basic process and no one seems willing to get out there and do something about it.
RightNow who power Travelocity's CRM did a study in the UK I believe and found some interesting but perhaps not so surprising results. It was done online so you have to factor in that these people are online savvy and therefore more likely to be able to get through some of the inadequacies of the booking process.
Here are some highlights:
Many find booking online frustrating, with not being easily able to find information on hidden costs (53%), not finding specific information about holidays (47%), not being able to ask questions about holidays (45%) and finding the actual buying process too complicated (35%) the most common complaints.
A lack of clarity is the main reason customers end up having to call or email the company, with 51% citing unclear pricing and details about costs and 50% unclear descriptions about holidays and flights.
When asked what could be improved, 60% said they would like more transparency on travel costs, 44% wanted better provision of destination and flight details, 43% wanted easier website search capabilities to find information, while the same percentage wanted easier and clearer booking processes.
In addition, the survey found that the impact of a negative experience may not just be contained to just one individual, as 72% of consumers have told others about a past negative online booking experience.
By contrast, just 54% of consumers have told others about a good online booking experience.
I would suspect that a more generic poll amongst all user types would magnify the last good vs bad result. If you were to ask the question such as is this experience better or worse than a human agent - that would be an interesting question.
But this doesn't help improve the process. So I am trying to look at better experiences for the online purchasing process. In previous posts I have discussed the better versions of Airline Websites such as AC vs WN and F9's new site. I think that the merchandising part has become too much of a seller's drug to make it valuable to the consumer. However we all recognize the importance of merchandising to the consumer. The problem is that the inherent conflict of holding out your hand for money at every touchpoint eventually causes the user to become inured to your wiles.
One thing is for certain - simplifying does improve the response rate from the users.
Transparency improves trust. Trust actually appears to be the biggest factor that is missing from all the online sites. I have asked countless users and non-users alike about Travel purchasing experience online. Admittedly this is a bar stool research but I believe it is a good proxy for the rest of the world. Frictionless purchasing experience should be the goal. The all say the same when asked - do you really trust this site... answer not as much as someone I know.
Why not combine those factors? I have always thought that the usual consumer trust propositions work as well online as they do offline. However they have to be adapted to an audience with a much shorter attention span and ease of walking away. And they must be kept fresh.
So from now on - I am going to be the advocate for what I am going to call the Crystal Engine. the Crystal Engine is the one that delivers the 4 basic propositions
Natural
Transparent
Frictionless
Trusted
Transactions..... oh yes and it has to work too.
What do you think?
29 January 2009
Airtime Airline - Should it fly or not?
Should they or should they not?
Professor Paul reports from the scene in ZA that there seems to be more than a little confusion for the time based airline's competency and legality to fly.
Stay tuned - lets see if either people show up in an hour or two and if a plane shows up also....
Cheers
Professor Paul reports from the scene in ZA that there seems to be more than a little confusion for the time based airline's competency and legality to fly.
Stay tuned - lets see if either people show up in an hour or two and if a plane shows up also....
Cheers
Secureflight fails people like... the Professor
So following up on a story from The Beat's David Jonas - I can personally attest that this is not working. As you all know my real name is Professor O'Sabena. The use of the apostrophe causes grief. So I drop it on my itineraries. However my federal and state ID also do not match. My state cannot handle the "'" symbol so it ignores it. Some federal agencies ignore and leave a blank - others ignore and remove the blank.
My passport is correct on the face but it is not how the data is necessarily stored. Ditto credit cards and reservation systems vendors.
SO I applied for CLEAR and asked everyone involved what the impact would be. The end state was that no one would give me a full answer and all answers were inconsistent.
So I am muscling my way to the front of the Q and claiming to be important. So if you see me shouting at a poor rigid TSA agent - have a little sympathy for us both.
Cheers
My passport is correct on the face but it is not how the data is necessarily stored. Ditto credit cards and reservation systems vendors.
SO I applied for CLEAR and asked everyone involved what the impact would be. The end state was that no one would give me a full answer and all answers were inconsistent.
So I am muscling my way to the front of the Q and claiming to be important. So if you see me shouting at a poor rigid TSA agent - have a little sympathy for us both.
Cheers
Westjet FINALLY chooses its Next Gen PSS
After first choosing not to stay with Navitaire (its current provider) then selecting AiRes but abandoning that choice - Westjet took a hard look at all of their options. The 2 finalists were Sabre with its tarted up Sabre Sonic CSS and Amadeus Altea/Pioneer hybrid.
The envelope please - Sabre wins.
Actually I am surprised Given that Frontier already looked at the issue and decided that SSCSS didn't hack it for them. Maybe Sabre offered them some special secret source.
For Amadeus - it might be a final nail in the coffin for Pioneer which has been a bit of a dud in the market.
For Navitaire who had hoped to hang on - it must be a bit of a blow. Esp since Volaris is retaining NewSkies.
Exciting times for all
The envelope please - Sabre wins.
Actually I am surprised Given that Frontier already looked at the issue and decided that SSCSS didn't hack it for them. Maybe Sabre offered them some special secret source.
For Amadeus - it might be a final nail in the coffin for Pioneer which has been a bit of a dud in the market.
For Navitaire who had hoped to hang on - it must be a bit of a blow. Esp since Volaris is retaining NewSkies.
Exciting times for all
28 January 2009
Detla reports worst single loss in history
For non-impairment costs - DL took a lot to beat. Despite both NW and DL writing down items earlier in the year to the tune of more than $2 billion before the merger - post the coupling DL't total for goodwill write off was an astounding $7.3 Billion making the total loss for the combined carrier to just under $9billion. Pass the hat please.
If we look back over the past few years - we can see that DL took more in losses than any other airline. So perhaps you could say that they write downs leave them with almost no goodwill but a relatively strong balance sheet.
Perhaps this is why they denied me EP status despite flying more than 126,000 miles on them last year. Still I too am hopeful and dream of that iPod....
If we look back over the past few years - we can see that DL took more in losses than any other airline. So perhaps you could say that they write downs leave them with almost no goodwill but a relatively strong balance sheet.
Perhaps this is why they denied me EP status despite flying more than 126,000 miles on them last year. Still I too am hopeful and dream of that iPod....
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