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Don’t be blindsided by no-bag fares!

22 Jul 2019 - by Sarah Robertson
Comments | 0

EL AL is the latest airline to

introduce ‘no-bag’ airfares

on its South African route.

The new fare structure of Lite,

Classic and Flex economyclass fares come into effect for

departures from April 1.

However, despite a number

of airlines introducing these

fares to the SA market, agents

have expressed doubts that

these fares are suitable for

the South African market,

given the long-haul nature

of the flights and especially

considering the large number

of corporate travellers.

Priti Ramkissoon, coo of

Thompsons Travel, says both

corporate and leisure South

African passengers almost

always want to take a bag with

them to a destination such as

London, as they stay there for

a few days.

She says the new basic

fare structure leaves room

for errors, with consultants

initially quoting on best-value

airfares and then finding that

they need to requote the client

in order to upsell them to an

airfare that does include the

luggage allowance that the

client actually requires.

Priti also points out it is far

cheaper to book a standard

economy fare including a

baggage allowance in the

GDS than it is to book a basic

no-bag fare and later add

on baggage as an ancillary

service. For this reason,

Thompsons Travel consultants

tend to almost always upsell

their clients to the standard

economy fare option including

checked baggage allowance.

Both Priti and md of Sure

Viva Travels, David Pegg, say

more airlines are introducing

no-bag fare structures locally,

despite low uptake of the

product.

“It would be a complete

disaster if I accidentally

booked a no-bag fare for a

client travelling internationally,”

says Club Travel ITC, Daniella

Ossato of CTT Travel.

She adds that agents should

be particularly vigilant about

potential churning ADMs

when attempting to book

bag-inclusive fares after a farestructure change. She recently

received an ADM for R1 400

when struggling to book a

client’s fare to Lisbon that

included a luggage allowance

in both directions. She

recommends getting into the

habit of pricing airfares and

checking luggage allowances

before ending the booking.

Over the last year, Virgin,

Iberia and British Airways

have jumped on the

bandwagon, introducing new

basic economy airfares that

exclude a checked luggage

allowance on their South

African routes. 

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