Today’s advisor is Egencia chief operating officer Mark Hollyhead. He provides a sneak peek into his company’s latest research on travel policies. The analysis zeroes in on what’s required at small and large companies around the world related to class of service, advance purchasing and pre-trip approvals. Travel policy is one of the core elements of managed corporate… Read More »
Is it still a bad idea to wait until the last few days before a flight to buy a ticket? Yes. However, extra capacity and low-fare competition is causing some counterintuitive pricing. Walk-up fares, for example, are not always the most expensive. For the most part, travel management pros continue to advocate advance purchasing. It’s a common component of… Read More »
Executives at American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines are optimistic. For corporate buyers, many of whom are now in the throes of budgeting for next year, that may mean higher airfares into 2018. Determining which way airfares will move is never easy. On top of the upward and downward pressures that observers routinely watch — supply,… Read More »
[UPDATE, June 28, 2017: BCD Travel’s Advito slightly raised several of its 2017 airfare projections, owing to strong global demand and improving economic conditions. It also increased to $52 per barrel from $50 its assumption for the price of oil, due to geopolitical tension. “Efforts by airlines to push up prices have so far had only limited success,”… Read More »
After a chaotic six weeks, the brouhaha around fare combinability has simmered down. American, Delta and United have settled on a middle ground, but differed in how they got there. The bottom line seems to be that fare combinability again is permissible for circle trips and when stringing together multiple one-way fares, except for the very lowest fares.… Read More »
The fare combinability fracas isn’t over. American, Delta and United at the end of last week said their recent changes on one-way ticketing went further than intended. They are making revisions to bring back some normalcy. But live travel agents still seem to be the only ones capable of booking circle trips and some other itineraries on a… Read More »
[UPDATE, April 1, 6:29 p.m. EDT: Delta now says that while “end-on-end combinability of non-refundable fares has been restricted,” booking within one passenger name record “multiple one-way tickets for the purpose of constructing legitimate circle trips” is again possible. “You can book any one-way ticket we offer for sale, but we do not recommend using multiple one-way tickets… Read More »