Three Myths About Sourcing Airlines – Part 3

(This wraps up the 3-part series.  See Part 1 on consortia buying here, and Part 2 on pre-paying here)

Forget About Those Frequent Flier Miles

Frequent flier miles add cost to the airfares your firm buys.  And yes, firms have tried to cut those costs by stripping miles out of corporate fares, or by capturing employee-earned miles.

But it doesn’t work, for two reasons:

1. Entitlement

No question, business travelers feel that those miles are theirs. 

Three Myths About Sourcing Airlines – Part 2

(See Part 1 in this series here)

Why Buying in Bulk Doesn’t Work

Bulk buying (a.k.a. pre-paying) makes sense for many commodities, but not airfares.  Why? Because it’s complex and expensive.

It’s Complex

Let’s say you want to bulk-buy $1 million in airfares from your primary carrier. You write the airline a check – simple. But now:

Which departments in your firm will be charged for their part of the bulk buy?