Channel 4 flight centre

bigadaj

Interesting programme tonight, not exactly shocked but just proves you have to shop around for any product.

Will be interesting to see what effect it may have on the company, you tend to think that most people book online now but there's obviously still a market there for intermediaries, consolidators and shops.

duchy

I watched it - it was interesting.

I used to work in the travel industry so am familiar with the concept of marking up a profit onto a nett rate ticket. To be honest though anyone who goes into one single agency without doing any prior or post quote research for themselves is asking for trouble. It's normal to shop around for any big ticket purchase surely- not just air tickets.

I thought the seat blocking claims were a bit ridiculous-Whilst I can see it happening on a very very occassional basis - any company doing it on a regular basis would be getting hell from the airlines whose stock they were manipulating so realistically I don't think this is a common problem.

The cancellation/amendment scam was probably the most shocking to me.

Bottom line is if you get someone else to find you flights they won't be doing it for free as their wages need paying so it makes sense to do your research first so you know if the price they are offering is better (sometimes- although more rarely than in the past) an agency may have a bulk buy deal that will get you a better price so it can be worth checking this - but it isn't common.

richardw

They'll do seat blocking on flights that they can get away with it and airlines that won't notice/ be bothered.

I've been in flight centre a few times, I noticed that if you give any impression of knowing a bit about flight pricing, they just lost interest.

Alan_Bowen

It appears that either the Flight Centre has a lot of rogue agents or it really is the culture of the business. Channel 4 seems to have excelled in PR prior to the programme itself in getting the story into the major papers, even the bastion of the less internet savvy Mail readers, who are most likely to be worried at the alleged age discrimination. The price promise, which seemed to be the mainstay of their defence clearly is of no value to those who don't use it and they clearly hope that people assume that the FC will always look for the best fare when it is clear it is the exact opposite.

We all recognise that someone has to pay the wages of staff in travel agencies but the majority of agents have a fixed price at which the staff sell so that if you contacted them twice, you would get the same price quoted, it appears to be the wild west in every sense of the term at the Flight Centre where everyone is out to make more money than their colleagues

duchy

I'd quite like to know if some of the practices we saw getting "taught" were actually a part of a formal induction training or an individual manager coaching staff in a particular store. It was clearly heavily edited so not easy to tell.

I worked "on relief" for a while (for a more reputable chain ) and I'd see different managers leading their teams with vastly varying standards and levels of integrity.

Either way it's another nail in the coffin of the high street travel agent.

callum9999

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

It appears that either the Flight Centre has a lot of rogue agents or it really is the culture of the business. Channel 4 seems to have excelled in PR prior to the programme itself in getting the story into the major papers, even the bastion of the less internet savvy Mail readers, who are most likely to be worried at the alleged age discrimination. The price promise, which seemed to be the mainstay of their defence clearly is of no value to those who don't use it and they clearly hope that people assume that the FC will always look for the best fare when it is clear it is the exact opposite.

We all recognise that someone has to pay the wages of staff in travel agencies but the majority of agents have a fixed price at which the staff sell so that if you contacted them twice, you would get the same price quoted, it appears to be the wild west in every sense of the term at the Flight Centre where everyone is out to make more money than their colleagues

Not really related to the story, but I loved the price promise Flight Centre Australia used to have. If you found a cheaper flight they'd beat it by $1 and give a $20 unrestricted flight voucher. As Tiger Airways (their Ryanair) wasn't in their booking system they couldn't be cheapest on that flight, so I effectively received a $21 discount on every flight I ever took!

Alan_Bowen

It is good to know someone make use of it because you certainly couldn't do so in the UK, they exclude all low cost airlines and the fare must be available through another travel agent, not direct from an airline. If, as was alleged, they block all the seats in the lowest class, then obviously no one else is going to be able to sell it, so they need never pay out