Make Business Trips Easier With These 4 Travel Hacks

Transcription

1 MAY 2016 NEWSLETTER American and United Will Soon Offer No-Frills Fares Southwest Raises EarlyBird Check-In PAGE 3 PAGE 4 1 Make Business Trips Easier With These 4 Travel Hacks PAGE 2

2 Make Business Trips Easier With These 4 Travel Hacks By Brit Tulloch Travelling frequently for work can be draining, on you and your wallet. But it doesn t have to be that way. There are a few travel tips you can use to save money on business trips, making your travel experience a little more pleasant. 1. Feel more at home with a serviced apartment Staying in hotels every time you travel can be a downer. The sterile surrounds lack the warmth and character of home. Instead, find the next best thing by staying in a serviced apartment. With a starting price of $50 a night, they re cheaper and you get to enjoy the comforts of home (like free movies and decent kitchen). 2. Stress less with a travel checklist It may seem obsessive, but creating a travel checklist before you jet off will do wonders for your stress levels. You no longer have to worry about packing enough socks or a spare laptop charger. Use this free app to organise your packing, scheduling and other details. 3. Create your own inflight entertainment Smartphones and ipads offer better picture quality than any plane television. But holding the device in your hands to watch your favourite movies can give you a headache. Instead, pack a snap lock sandwich bag and place the device inside. Then simply stick the bag to the back of the seat in front of you. You can watch what you want without straining your neck. 4. Save time with the rolling technique Ever wondered how soldiers fit all their provisions into one backpack? They have a special technique for rolling and folding their clothes, to allow for maximum space. With this technique, you can save time at the baggage carousel by travelling with only one suitcase. Take a look at this YouTube tutorial on how to save space. 2

3 American and United Will Soon Offer No-Frills Fares By Steve Johnson United and American will soon be following the lead of Delta Air Lines by launching their own no-frills economy fares. These very basic tickets are meant to compete directly with ultra-budget carriers like Spirit, Allegiant and Frontier. Both United and American should launch these fare options by the end of this year. Delta has already rolled them out on some routes. Competing with ultrabudget airlines The move is a competitive response to low-cost carriers trying to compete on price. Because of their higher operating costs and the higher expectations of their shareholders, matching the nofrills fares of the ultra-budgets is difficult for the legacy carriers. By adding basic economy fares, American and United can compete directly with Spirit and its peers on price while still offering full fares on the same flight. For the legacy carriers, defeating Frontier and Spirit on competitive routes is a necessity. During the first quarter of 2016, American s passenger revenue per seat mile fell by 8.9 percent, while United s dropped by 7.4 percent compared to the first quarter of Both airlines have seen their share prices drop in recent weeks because of this issue. The low revenue numbers are due to airlines expanding services while also lowering fares in order to compete with one another and with the likes of Spirit and Frontier. Appealing to budget travelers Of course, low-cost carriers have to deal with some disadvantages. Their fees are higher and their service is often inferior. Full-service airlines are able to offer more than their budget competitors. However, a fraction of the flying public still searches for fares based on price alone. By offering basic economy fares for some seats, American and United can, like Delta does now, still appeal to this segment of the market without having to put the same rock-bottom price tag on every seat on the entire plane. Neither American or United have provided too much information about what their no-frills fares will look like. They will most likely come without the ability to make changes or get any sort of cancelation refund. Seats will probably be assigned at the gate based on what is available. So, essentially, a basic fare will be a nonrefundable, non-changeable middle seat. Ability to upgrade Once United and American adopt these fares, they will have one very important advantage over Frontier and Spirit. They will be able to offer basic economy passengers the ability to upgrade to something better. There is another dynamic at play here as well. Once they see that extra perks are available for a slightly higher price, many fliers have the tendency to skip the base fares anyway. The so-called winelist effect actually puts people s attention on higher priced fares (regular economy or even premium economy) because they think these tickets offers better value overall. So adding basic economy fares could actually help American and United fill more regular and premium economy seats. May

4 Southwest Airlines Raises EarlyBird Check-In Fees By Donald Wood The EarlyBird Check-In feature offered by Southwest Airlines has become popular with travelers, but the company has increased the price of the option by 20 percent. According to FoxNews.com, Southwest Airlines has increased the cost of the EarlyBird Check-In feature from $12.50 to $15 for a one-way trip. When the program was originally introduced, Southwest charged only $10. In a statement, Southwest officials said, Every few years, we review the price of our services in order to align with market and operational conditions as well as uphold the quality of our offerings. Southwest Airlines has an open seating policy which puts passengers into boarding groups A, B or C instead of assigning specific seats. Using the EarlyBird Check-In feature, passengers can start checking in up to 24 hours ahead of their flight s scheduled departure. The earlier customers check in, the better the chance that they ll be assigned to Group A and get first selection of their seats on the plane, making the EarlyBird Check-In feature extremely valuable to frequent fliers. While the price increase is bad news for travelers, Southwest Airlines is still the only major U.S. carrier that doesn t charge additional fees for the first two checked bags. Survey: Senior-Level Employees Still Most Frequent Expense Fraud Offenders By JoAnn DeLuna Executives and upper management account for more incidents of expense reimbursement fraud than any other type of employee, according to a new study from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Top executives account for about 24 percent of reimbursement fraud, according to the survey of certified fraud examiners from 114 different countries who submitted to ACFE details of 2,410 cases that they investigated between January 2014 and October The finding is similar to that of ACFE's 2014 Global Fraud Study. "The correlation between authority and loss most likely occurs because high-level fraudsters tend to have greater access to their organizations' assets than lowerlevel employees, as well as a better ability to evade or override anti-fraud controls," according to the report. Accounting department employees were the second-most likely category to commit expense reimbursement fraud, as they account for about 16 percent of incidents, according to the report. As in past years, the biennial survey is "not intended to gauge the absolute trends in overall occurrence of fraud," explained ACFE director of research Andi McNeal. Instead, it is designed to examine "the details of a sample of fraud cases during a particular period." Global expense reimbursement fraud accounted for 14 percent of all cases of "occupational fraud" reviewed by ACFE, and represented a median loss of $40,000 per case. ACFE defined occupational fraud as "the use of one's occupation for personal enrichment through deliberate misuse or misapplication 4

5 SURVEY CONTINUED of the employing organization's resources or assets." In the United States, expense reimbursement fraud accounted for about 16 percent of the 1,038 U.S. fraud cases. Expense reimbursement fraud was most common in the technology sector, where it occurred in 27 percent of cases examined. Reimbursement fraud appeared on 25 percent of cases in the religious charities and social services sector, while manufacturing (22.9 percent), construction (20.9 percent), and health care (20.1 percent) each experienced more than a 20 percent incidence of such fraud. Small businesses, those with less than 100 employees, had a higher incidence of expense reimbursement fraud (16.7 percent) than other firms (13.9 percent). Small companies "not only incur losses as large as bigger organizations, they typically have fewer resources with which to combat this threat," according to the report. "The combination of these factors leaves small businesses particularly vulnerable to occupational fraud." Expense reimbursement fraud lasted a median of two years before it was detected, according to the survey, which noted that "the longer an occupational fraud scheme goes undetected, the greater losses tend to be." Offender Profile Globally, men committed 69 percent of occupational fraud incidences, while in the United States, men accounted for about 56 percent and women about 44 percent. The gender gap in fraud incidence might reflect the male-dominated workforce "we might expect [men] to commit a larger portion of occupational frauds," according to the report but it did not account for the entire difference. Loss amount, fraud type, behavioral indicators and position of power also played roles. Men also were responsible for causing larger average fraud losses ($187,000) than women ($100,000). According to the report, the older the fraudster, the more expensive the fraud amount tended to be. "Fewer than 3 percent of frauds were committed by people over the age of 60, but these cases had a median loss of $360,000, which was much higher than any other age range." May

6 Delta to Deploy New Baggage-Scanning Technology By Michael B Baker Delta Air Lines has announced that it is investing $50 million to deploy Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) baggage tracking technology at 344 stations around the world. Instead of using barcode hand scanners, RFID scanners will capture data stored on an RFID chip embedded in the bag tag. The carrier says this will deliver superior tracking and increased transparency. Thanks to the rollout of RFID technology, from Q passengers will be able to receive push notifications via the Fly Delta mobile app informing them when their bag has been loaded and unloaded from the aircraft. Delta says that initial deployments of RFID integrated throughout the baggage process show that bags are tracked at a 99.9% success rate. The likes of McCarran International Airport and Hong Kong International Airport have previously invested in RFID technology, but Delta s outlay marks the biggest single investment in the technology by an airline to date. With a $50 million investment in RFID at 344 stations around the globe, we aim to reliably deliver every bag on every flight, said Bill Lentsch, Delta s Senior Vice President Airport Customer Service and Cargo Operations. This innovative application of technology gives us greater data and more precise information throughout the bag s journey. Tim Mapes, Delta s Chief Marketing Officer, added: In the same way that customers want information at their fingertips about flight changes, we know our customers want clear visibility to their checked bags. Delta s industryfirst baggage tracking app was a good first step. RFID will allow us to set a new standard for more transparent, interactive tracking on the Fly Delta mobile app. 6

7 Europe s airlines set to benefit from in-flight connectivity advancements By Ryan Ghee Lufthansa will be the first European airline to offer onboard broadband connectivity powered by Inmarsat s Global Xpress service, and has also signed up to trial the European Aviation Network. European-based travellers have faced a patient wait for inflight connectivity to gain traction among the region s airlines largely because the carriers have been waiting for technology to catch up with demand but they are now starting to invest more readily, and the impact on the customer experience will be palpable. While Norwegian Air Shuttle started the rollout of free in-flight Wi-Fi back in 2011, and Lufthansa has offered connectivity on select long-haul services for more than half a decade, the emergence of new, high-quality connectivity services has encouraged more airlines to take the plunge in recent months. For International Airlines Group (IAG), patience seems to have paid off. Having refused to make an early move in the onboard connectivity space, the Group, which includes British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, has just announced that it has opted to invest in Gogo s 2Ku technology. In total, 118 British Airways, four Aer Lingus and up to 15 Iberia aircraft will be fitted with 2Ku. Up until this month, Virgin Atlantic was the only European carrier to have announced an investment in the 2Ku solution. Elsewhere, Lufthansa is continuing to take a leadership role. Having committed to Inmarsat s Ka-band Global Xpress (GX) service to bring connectivity to short- and mediumhaul services, it has also signed up to a flight trial programme of the new Inmarsat/Deutsche Telekom European Aviation Network S-band hybrid satellite/atg connectivity network, starting in Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa s Chairman and CEO, aptly highlighted the thinking behind the carrier s determination to be seen as a connectivity pioneer in Europe. We continue to strive for excellence when it comes to our passengers flying experience, he said, and the provision of reliable, consistent broadband connectivity aboard our planes, which will match that of high-speed home broadband in terms of speed and quality, is of extreme importance to us. Another of the major European airline groups, Air France-KLM, is equally active. A tie-up with Orange May

8 IN-FLIGHT BENEFIT CONTINUED has seen in-flight connectivity trialled on two Air France Airbus A320s, the AirFi solution has been trialled on two KLM s, while KLM s Boeing 787 Dreamliners and a Boeing aircraft already carry in-flight Wi-Fi. Speaking at FTE Europe in Amsterdam last month, Peter Verheijde, Air France-KLM s Head of Research and Development In-flight Entertainment and Connectivity, explained that although the airline group has different ambitions and motivations for its long-haul and short/mediumhaul services, full connectivity is being pursued for the entire fleet. While onboard connectivity brings about a number of passenger experience benefits including the ability to browse the internet and stream content including live TV to personal electronic devices Verheijde stated that the Group s investment will ultimately have much more wide-reaching benefits. For instance, the connected cabin, he said, empowers crew to undertake real-time service recovery in-flight and provide a more personalised level of service to customers. Inflight connectivity also creates a big retail opportunity, he explained, with passengers able to browse and purchase items on their own devices while flying. The wider benefits of onboard connectivity Air France has partnered with Orange to trial an in-flight entertainment and connectivity service on two of its Airbus A320s. 8

9 This is a benefit that IAG has also recognised. Upon the announcement of its decision to invest in the 2Ku connectivity service, it stated in a release: In the future, inflight Wi-Fi will also transform the duty free experience allowing travellers to order from their phones and tablets and arrange for items purchased onboard to be delivered to their homes. And this point is crucial. While passenger demands and technology improvements are almost forcing major European carriers to invest in in-flight connectivity, more effective business cases built on new revenue creation opportunities are also proving to be highly convincing factors. Low-cost and leisure carriers are also getting in on the act, buoyed by the prospect of making money from in-flight connectivity solutions while concurrently improving the passenger experience. Among these airlines, portable connectivity solutions are proving to be especially popular, partly because of the low implementation costs and simple set-up. The likes of Volotea, Iberia Express, Arkefly and Transavia have invested in such solutions, and while they don t offer full blown access to the internet, they do provide a form of entertainment on services that would otherwise offer no form of IFE. Importantly, portable connectivity solutions also create new revenue streams, with passengers able to buy duty free items and destination-based activities, for instance, via the portals. Europe s major low-cost carriers also look poised to make moves in this market. Ryanair s Chief Technology Officer and Head of Ryanair Labs, John Hurley, recently told FTE that the carrier is taking portable IFEC solutions seriously, while easyjet CEO Carolyn McCall has previously recognised the fact that onboard connectivity will come eventually, but not until it is consistently good. With a new generation of connectivity solutions now on the horizon, perhaps easyjet will soon review its stance. With passenger demand for in-flight Wi-Fi continuing to rise, technology developments making high-speed, reliable connectivity services more freely available to European airlines, and the carriers themselves starting to identify new connectivity-centric revenue generation opportunities, it is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for Europe s airlines to put off investment in onboard connectivity. LCC's and connectivity Iberia Express and Volotea have partnered with Immfly to offer their passengers access to content and destination-specific products and services. May