Every setback 'makes the travel agent all the more important'
Gary Noakes & 
Tom ParryBy now, agents should be waving off grateful families on their summer breaks and thinking about high-margin late sales.
For many, things have not worked out this way, with flight cancellations and client concerns about potential bad travel experiences taking up agents’ time instead.
While only a small proportion of flights are being cancelled, pictures and footage of long check-in and security queues are damaging travel’s post-pandemic recovery. Earlier this month, the CAA and Competition and Markets Authority wrote to airlines warning them of their obligations to affected passengers.
“We continue to remind clients what’s in the news only represents a small proportion of flights and holidays, although there are some terrible stories making headlines,” said Tickets Travel owner Diane Coleman.
“Our clients are getting away and only a few have experienced delays. We tell them how many times we’ve travelled these past few months without disruption. Our clients trust us, so this reassures them; it’s all we can do.”
’Race to the bottom’
Travel’s recruitment crisis stems from the pandemic, and has hit aviation hard. But the ground handlers that dispatch, unload and, in some cases, operate check-in for airlines, complain that they were left out of discussions about the consequences once travel returned.
John Geddes, head of corporate affairs at ground handler Menzies Aviation, told a recent UK Trade and Business Commission webinar the focus during Covid had been on airlines and airports. “Nobody talked to us," he said. "We told Grant Shapps in the one audience we had [with him] we would lose 45% of our workforce in six months. Brexit made the issue worse.”
Geddes said travellers did not realise UK airports outsourced staff. For example, British Airways’ check-in at Edinburgh is run by Menzies staff in BA uniform. He blamed a “race to the bottom” by airports and airlines seeking to cut costs for some recruitment issues.
“We are a 5% margin business," he continued. "We are closer to a minimum wage job than we have ever been. We need to make airports attractive to work in again.” Geddes added: “We are 7-8% of the flight cost, but 80-90% of what can go wrong on the ground.”
Behind-the-scenes issues mean some clients are waiting until later to book and are taking a dim view of airlines cancelling flights. Wanderluxe homeworker Lisa Russell highlighted how nervy clients were, revealing she received more than 50 calls in 20 minutes following BBC Panorama’s Airport Chaos investigation.
“Do people call their doctor straight away when they have an issue?” she mused. “Most were Jet2holidays [which has its own ground staff] though, so no issues there. But I feel like the grim reaper when I call clients – they think I’m going to tell them their flight has been cancelled. Facts and balanced views would certainly help. At the moment, it’s all consumer rights.”
Meon Valley Travel managing director James Beagrie took a brighter view. “Absolutely it’s a worry for clients because of the media coverage, but it’s fewer than 5% of flights that are impacted,” he said. "It means the travel agent is all the more important; in the most obscure of ways, it’s doing us a favour.”
Beagrie said half his bookings were for travel in the next 12 weeks. “The other 50% are asking what the chances are of this impacting their flight in November. They’re saying they want a tour operator looking after them, so they’re coming to us for advice.”
Beagrie added operators with flight allocations were in a good position this summer. “There will only be so many aircraft that can fly – hoteliers will be throwing great deals at Joe Public, but Joe Public won’t be able to get a flight.”
Leaving it late?
The Advantage Travel Partnership believes there is still a lates market despite consumer concerns. Kelly Cookes, chief commercial officer, estimates Advantage’s summer sales are now ahead of 2019.
“At the moment, we are still seeing almost 50% of what is booked on a weekly basis is for departures in the next 12 weeks... it still seems to be a very late market,” she said.
Vim Vithaldas, Travel Network Group chief commercial officer, agreed flight cancellations and cost of living challenges had made consumers hesitant. “Despite these challenges, our members have had three solid months of trading,” he said. “The lates market, however, is not as strong as we anticipated.”
Vithaldas added staff shortages at agencies and operators had caused issues with bookings and amendments, but concluded: “All said and done, no one is ‘really’ complaining as a lot of these issues are almost business as usual compared with the challenges of the past two years.”
Diane Coleman’s wisdom really struck a chord. Clients evidently still trust their agents above all others in the travel supply chain to do right by them. New Abta research, meanwhile, suggests people are in excess of a third more likely to book with an agent now than they were before the pandemic. The blame game has to stop; travel needs to present a united front during these challenging times. As Jet2 trade chief Alan Cross remarks, there’s still good business to be had.
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Gary Noakes
Tom Parry
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