TravelMole Interview: Tiffany Hall, British Airways
British Airways head of UK and Ireland sales Tiffany Hall has defended the airline’s decision to axe its Fresh Approach payment scheme and pay agents 1% commission from December 1.
Ms Hall said that “rapid change in the market” had left the airline no choice but to look at cutting distribution costs further.
But she denied that it was the recent strikes at Heathrow – and their knock-on effect on BA sales – that had led to the airline looking for further savings. “It wasn’t a key factor,” she claimed.
Instead Ms Hall pointed to the continued growth of low cost carriers and the depressed economy as reasons why BA has to keep fares low – and subsequently make savings elsewhere. And she did not rule out an eventual move to zero commission, stating: “In this market you can never guarantee things will stay the same.”
Ms Hall also reacted angrily to claims that three months was not enough time for agents to adjust their business models to the new scheme. Ms Hall said: “You say only three months but most carriers in the US did it overnight. It’s a reasonable length of time.” She claimed that – unlike the implementation of Fresh Approach – the move to 1% commission requires no system changes at the airline.
When asked what proportion of sales went through agents Ms Hall said she didn’t “have the exact figures”. However according to last week’s TTG, the figure stands at 85%. Ms Hall accepted that it was the majority of sales but denied this meant the airline was “alienating” its main sales outlet, arguing instead that most agents had already accepted the need to charge service fees.
She told TravelMole: “When you say alienate certainly some agents will be looking to switch sell but also a lot of agents say they are making a lot more charging services fees and buy into this model. Not just in the UK, but all around the world agents are increasing their income from fees.”
And she denied that the move had been forced on the sales team from above: “Absolutely not. We been charged as a sales force to deliver a bottom line figure and having looked at the market and the competition we felt that this was the right move.”
See our previous stories:
02-Sep-2003GBTA: BA decision will cause consumer confusion
29-Aug-2003 TravelMole Interview: Sandy MacPherson, ABTA
29-Aug-2003 BA to ditch Fresh Approach
12 Dec 2002 ABTA loses case against BA
13 Feb 2002 BA cuts Fresh Approach payments
23 Jan 2002 BA and ABTA at loggerheads over Fresh Approach
08 Jan 2002 ABTA tries to calm Fresh Approach fears
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