Ancillaries, ¿salvation or perdition?

October
29
2008

In the world of airline revenue is known as ancillary to those obtained for the provision of auxiliary services incidental to own passenger transport service. Example for these services are from check luggage, seat selection XL, drinks on board until the provision of insurance, hotel stays, car rentals, etc ...

In recent times we are seeing most of the airlines in Europe, especially the so-called low cost or LCC - Low Cost Carriers - ( Ryanair , Clickair , easyJet , Vueling , ...), offer services that traditionally were free and now instead charges.

The current reality is certainly curious. On the one hand, the legislation has forced airlines to report the final price of the ticket (only includes fare, taxes and fees) in search results, in the process of booking on-line , on the other hand, in contrast, Airlines have decided to decouple the transport service itself certain services Auxiliary and charge additional fees on reserve price just increasing the original "no frills", so the price reported on the initial results is rarely the price the customer ends up paying.

In my opinion, it is logical that airlines need to increase average revenue per passenger and generate incremental revenue at all costs because they are essential in order to survive the harsh market and industry and changes in oil prices, while maintaining competitive prices and supporting ridiculous margins. Instead, on the other hand, the customer sometimes does not seem right the way certain airlines such as Delta in the U.S. case, execute the marketing of ancillary services.

In the following video, humorous, an example that illustrates this reality and ridiculed.

In U.S., yet it seems that as usual, go one step ahead. This is the case of Southwest, which last year drectamente attacking its competitors under the slogan 'fees do not fly with us ", differing by not charging for services that arguably can decouple transport service.

Passenger being quite common, when I see what Southwest spots and having lived bad experiences with other airlines, I think, good communication work, I caught the message, sure that if I have time I choose to fly to you.

Questions that come to mind: are the ancillaries bread today and hunger tomorrow for airlines, is it the greater the benefit obtained from the impact it has on customer perceptions?, ¿charge for certain services may affect largely to the brand that costs as little as build and destroy?, does not charge as strengthen Southwest opinion?

Do you think?

Alex.