Are you watching your airfares in 3-D?
Businesses pay close attention to obtaining the lowest airfare when making reservations. Searching multiple sources for the lowest price has become a way of life for corporate planners and travelers, but securing the lowest fare is only one dimension of the 3-D concept to save on total airline travel expenditures. Businesses often overlook the other two important dimensions.
The second dimension of fare savings is minimizing itinerary changes before and during travel. Modifying a ticket after purchase erodes the original savings by adding a minimum of a $150 airline imposed “change fee.” In addition, when a change occurs, there is frequently a fare increase over the original ticket price.
The third dimension of airfare cost containment is focused on unused tickets. When a trip or part of a trip is cancelled, there is potentially a residual dollar value that can be applied to a future purchase on the same airline. It is alarming how many dollars a year are never reclaimed.
Here is an example of a company that was concerned about getting the lowest possible fare, yet overlooked the other two dimensions of airfare savings.
Over a period of 12 months, the company’s airfare savings was $2,570, but their expenditure for exchanges and unused tickets totaled $31,050. By not utilizing the 3-D concept, this company spent more than 12 times the amount of their savings – and didn’t even realize it!
Changing flights after ticketing and not redeeming unused ticket values increase the total cost faster than any other travel expenditure. One change ($150) can exceed the cost of a hotel night or several days of car rental.
Covington Travel helps business travelers reduce lost ticket values by viewing airfares in 3-D. Rest assured that at point of sale, in our communications with your appointed contacts and with concise goal-oriented reports, Covington looks at your airfare purchases in 3-D every day.
Contact our Business Travel Services team about redeeming unused tickets and airfare savings for your company.
