As much as we might all want fee-free travel again, that’s one holiday wish that is unlikely to be granted.
Now that airlines have figured out that passengers will pay extra for seat assignments, food, checked luggage, and priority lines, the only question is: What will they charge for next?
But in addition to the whole issue of having to spend extra for things that used to be free, there is the problem of keeping track of all those extras. This problem is worst for business travelers, who need to submit expense reports. But even as a leisure traveler, it would be nice just to pay it all upfront and know the price.
Now IATA (International Air Transport Association) has announced a deadline for airlines to make that a reality, by setting a three-year deadline for airlines to comply with what they call EMD standards.
EMD stands for Electronic Miscellaneous Documents. These new standards would allow “ancillary” service fees to be charged by both travel agents and airlines.
In addition, presumably these could be charged at time of ticketing, instead of now where one airline trip could end up with several different charges.
The charges would then show up on an “e-coupon” attached to the ticket showing what has been paid. Presumably, too, the e-coupon could be printed as a record, either for expenses, or proving at the airport that fees were prepaid.
EMDs, once implemented, would be a major boon for anyone paying for another person’s ticket, whether a company doing it for a consultant or interviewee, or say, a parent purchasing a flight home for a student.
And from a travel agent point of view, it would be simpler for clients to prepay a premium seat or baggage fee. On the other hand, more charges mean more potential refund hassles if something goes wrong. And then there is the whole issue of what if a traveler gets part but not all of what they paid for, ie – a good seat only on the first segment and then a middle seat in back due to a aircraft change.
Some airlines and reservations systems, along with ARC (Airlines Reporting Corporation, basically the airline-agency settlement bank), have indicated they are already working on this kind of software, but having it become mandatory cannot help but speed the process along.
There is also the whole Pandora’s Box of travel agencies being able to build their service fee right into the price of the ticket — but that’s a whole other post.
In any case, the one almost unquestioned bright spot is that in a few years we will be past the days of a one simple airline trip meaning a pocketful of receipts, or rather a receipt or two in your pocket, another in your wallet, another….somewhere.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I think this is a good idea. I really can’t agree with the premise of the article that we all want “fee free travel” again. I like it that I don’t have to pay for the products and services that other people want, but I don’t. These were never “free” – they were incorporated into the cost of the ticket, but everyone had to pay them, use them or not. If I wanted to travel without luggage, I still had to pay for everyone else’s belongings to be shipped. If I didn’t care for an airline meal, I still had to pay for everyone else’s slop. The current system is better, as long as prices are honestly quoted upfront. It is the fees that are hidden, such as the phony “fuel surcharge”, that I despise.
“There is also the whole Pandora’s Box of travel agencies being able to build their service fee right into the price of the ticket — but that’s a whole other post.”
As long as the agency discloses the amount of their fee, this is not a problem. I think that if they have to list what is paid for on the EMD, as you stated, “The charges would then show up on an “e-coupon” attached to the ticket showing what has been paid.”, then the client will know what they were charged for. It is OLAs that have the easiest time hiding fees, since they usually use their own merchant account instead of the airlines’. Many people are told there are no fees but when I can book the same flights in a GDS for $5 or $10, less that is a fee they have added. It is these kinds of hidden fees that give travel a bad name.
Two thoughts:
Firstly the “Pandoras Box” of an agency building their fee into the pricing of a ticket. Ain’t going to happen. The airlines “own” the ticket and have made it abundantly clear on numerous occasions they will not permit the agency to show its’ fee on the ticket. In the early days there were various attempts in several countries to “misuse” a “tax” code for that purpose but it was rejected. The airlines have provided a document for agents to use if the fee is paid by passenger craedit/charge/debit card but since there is a fee for its’ use and they have to wait for the money most agents have twigged that it’s simply not worth using.
The other point is that it’s all very well for IATA to mandate the use of the EMD but that’s no use if the user doesn’t know what the fee is. The GDS have to build pricing engines that will permit agencys to quote fees and websites to do the same so that when it comes time to issue the EMD the fee is accurate.
And… you have no idea of the complexities behind all this. Just to give you a flavour it’s quite possible for the same product on a given flight (e.g. a meal) to be charged differently depending on whose code you’re flying on. Life also gets complex on connections; do you want a pillow/blanket? On a long haul maybe but on the short connecting flight? How will the airline price that for the whole journey meaning you get one on the short flight whether you want it or not or by segment? Then when it comes to issuing the EMD you have to associate the coupons on the EMD that pay for the various fees (one coupon per fee) with the ticket coupon so that at checkin the airline knows what you’ve paid for. Of itself, not too difficult for computers but then you decide to add another chargeable product so the association has to take place after the ticket issue and now you (potentially) have two EMD with different numbers associated with any given coupon and don’t get me stared on whta happens when IROPs happen and either the product isn’t provided or the passenger is reouted……