COVID-19 Has Made Baggage and Change Policies Obsolete; Allegiant, Ryanair, and Southwest Represent Alternatives

Jun 16, 2020

CarTrawler-sponsored report encourages airlines to innovate and offers a 7-point checklist for building revenue during the pandemic and period of recovery.

Dublin, Ireland & Shorewood, Wisconsin, 16 June 2020: Travel is returning and airlines have an opportunity to improve the experience for consumers and bring more critical revenue to their bottom lines. The essential elements of baggage policies and change fees had simple beginnings, but over time the quest for more revenue has created a structure poorly equipped for the COVID-19 era. In addition, the pandemic requires new sensitivity when developing revenue-producing plans. This report describes how this can occur for airlines in the categories of change fees, baggage policies, and the overall process of boosting airline revenue. The following are some of the findings:

  • Allegiant’s Trip Flex sells flexibility as an a la carte service typically priced at $29 or packaged with branded fares. Trip Flex features a $0 change fee and is estimated to produce revenue of nearly $11 per passenger.
  • Delta generated revenue of $5.11 per passenger in 2019 from a traditional change/cancel policy which charges $200 to $500 for some reservation changes.
  • Ryanair bundles a large carry-on bag and personal item with early boarding to achieve smoother passenger loading without overhead bin headaches and estimated revenue in excess of $6 per passenger.
  • Southwest doesn’t charge change or cancel fees but counts on better passenger loyalty to create financial results that have been the envy of the industry.

The 7-point checklist provides advice to airlines receiving government aid, considering pandemic related price increases, and implementing other revenue initiatives. Flight Plan 2020: Building Airline Revenue in the Recovery was released today as a free 16-page report sponsored by CarTrawler. The full report is available at here.

As consumers look for reassurances, at CarTrawler we’re working with our suppliers to make sure we’re highlighting additional efforts in place around cleanliness and consumer safety. We’re also working with our partners to actively merchandise these product improvements to address any consumer concerns
Across the travel industry, businesses are planning for the return of travel and what this may look like in the short- and medium-term. As we collectively navigate these uncharted waters, an emphasis on innovation is vital for future success. These innovations need to be consumer-focused to create changes that will work to support our continued recovery as well as encouraging the revival of travel.

Aileen McCormack, Chief Commercial Officer at CarTrawler. 

About CarTrawler: CarTrawler is the leading B2B provider of car rental and mobility solutions to the global travel industry. We bring opportunities to life through an online marketplace connecting our partners, customers and mobility suppliers. CarTrawler’s end-to-end technology platform expands our airline and travel partners’ offering to their customers, creating substantial ancillary revenue opportunities. We provide unrivalled breadth and depth of content worldwide, including car rental, private airport transfer and ride-hailing services. CarTrawler creates innovative, data-led solutions for some of the largest travel brands in the world, including American Express, Alaska Airlines, easyJet, eDreams ODIGEO, Hotels.com, KLM, TravelStart and Emirates. As a B2B company we focus solely on helping our airline and travel partners build their brands, not our own.

CarTrawler was established in 2004. Our headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland, with an office in New York. For more information visit www.cartrawler.com.

About IdeaWorksCompany: IdeaWorksCompany boosts airline profits through innovations in ancillary revenue, a la carte pricing, and loyalty marketing. The firm was founded in 1996 and has an international client list of airlines and other travel industry firms in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. IdeaWorksCompany enjoys a reputation as a global resource for ancillary revenue strategy, on-site executive workshops, and research reports. Learn more at IdeaWorksCompany.com.

Contacts:

CarTrawler:

David Curran, Marketing Manager, [email protected]

IdeaWorksCompany: Jay Sorensen, President, 1-414-961-1939, jay “at” ideaworkscompany.com  

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