|
Posted Mar 12, 2010
So the British Airways cabin crew unions have decided to call two strikes of three days each. This would make good background for a blockbusting film of what life was like when unions controlled industry and businesses were driven to ruin.
Posted Mar 9, 2010
In Part One I gave my view as to who should buy travel within a corporation. To recap, I pointed out that no one person should do it. Instead an alliance of procurement and operational management was required pulled together by the influence and gravitas of a hands-on board sponsor.
Posted Feb 25, 2010
This debate has rumbled on for a very long time and I expect it will continue particularly at this time of financial and strategic difficulty. Suppliers have to earn more and corporations have to pay less to achieve their recovery strategy so it has never been more important that the function in the middle of the pricing debate gets it right. If they don’t we will end up either with less products or fewer customers or perhaps both. The key reason for there being an impasse in this debate is there is no right answer for all the stakeholders. It very much depends on the flexibility, specialist knowledge and skills of individuals concerned.
Posted Feb 22, 2010
People go to extreme lengths in order to get themselves sitting as near to the pointy bit of a plane as possible, especially on long flights. During the process, every emotion is used from grovelling to indignation, lies and sheer cunning. Sexual promise has also been tried but frankly it got me nowhere.
Posted Feb 20, 2010
Dear Mr. Walsh,
I am writing today to apply for the part-time job of cabin crew. This will probably come as a big a surprise to you as it was to my wife. "Don't be ridiculous," she said. "You are 61, retired and can barely boil an egg." Whilst she is right on at least two counts, I still feel compelled to publicly put myself forward for this position and explain why.
Posted Jul 21, 2009
The only thing that surprises me about all this is that anybody is surprised. This has been a nailed-on certainty for the past few years and ties in neatly with other significant costs which many airlines have passed on via their intermediaries. In fact, this is the greatest value agents give airlines at the moment--the ability to transfer cost indirectly. Except, finally, they have gone for a big one that is visibly less stealthy than the others!
Posted May 20, 2009
Maybe I am naive in thinking anyone trusted anyone in the corporate travel market in the first place, but I don't think so. Once all the hard bargaining has been done and the parameters and delivery goals have been set, then at least an element of trust must prevail. Sadly, I am beginning to fear that trust is now going out the window along with continuity and loyalty.
Posted May 8, 2009
I think the corporate travel market is a bit like Star Trek at the moment, boldly, but somewhat reluctantly going where no self-respecting businessperson has gone before. Only troubles is that I am not sure all our industry leading Captain Kirks know what they are doing, and the poor old airship Global Enterprise seems to be going round in circles and disappearing up its own self-created black hole!
Posted Apr 17, 2009
It's annoying, isn't it? You negotiate a price only to find that there is no room available at that rate, even though the hotel is not full. Even when there is a room available, you cannot book it in the most efficient way, the MI does not give the detail you need and almost nobody will allow the cost to be billed back. To cap it all, you find out that despite heavy negotiation there is frequently a cheaper rate available to someone walking in off the street. Grrrr….
Posted Apr 2, 2009
What is it about online adoption, or the lack of it, that creates so much confusion and contradiction? If you believe what you read in papers, industry journals and technology company surveys you would expect it to be the booking mechanism of choice but it isn’t. Why is that? Why do people still want to pick up the phone to a TMC or do their own thing?
|
