JAXFAX Editorial Archives - JAXFAX Travel Marketing Magazine

PUBLISHER’S CORNER
Selling Airline Tickets Profitably with Air Consolidators
This issue of JAX FAX features the 6th
Annual Guide to Working with Air Consolidators.
This resource is among our
most popular supplements because it
provides our readers with an insider's
view of what is necessary to book airline tickets profitably by
working with Air Consolidators. The articles in this guide are written
by Air Consolidators themselves while the profile pages
inside take the guesswork out of what each company offers:
from the airlines they represent, and the corresponding destinations
they sell, thereby making it easier to know which one to
work with to build particular client itineraries.
If you are not booking your clients' international airfares with
an Air Consolidator, you are leaving good money on the table.
And, even if there is not a big savings on a certain routing
between the consolidators' price and the published fare, be sure
to ask your favorite consolidator about commissions on published
fares as well. Additionally, while not all routes offer exceptional
savings over published fares, long-haul flights and
particularly, Business and First Class tickets represent opportunities
to make hundreds of dollars on a single ticket.
Cruise Agents and Air Consolidators
Since most cruise lines no longer offer commissions on
air/cruise packages, Cruise Agents should always check with a
consolidator for their clients who have cruises leaving out of
international ports, including the Caribbean. Many Cruise Agents
will book the air offered by the cruise lines because it is convenient,
but doing so can keep agents from earning hundreds of
dollars on the air portion of the trip.
Home-based Agents and Air Consolidators
Home-based Agents should make booking air with Consolidators
as routine as checking your E-mail. Even if the particular
routing is not one that allows a markup on the consolidators'
net fare, at least you are booking with a company that will work
with you if your clients encounter a problem on their trip. Consolidators
work very closely with their airline partners and know
their airline reps' phone numbers by heart. Try getting that kind
of service from an online travel agency or CRS.
JAX FAX will be moderating a panel discussion on Air Consolidation
on April 28 during the Home-based Agent Show in San
Diego. I would encourage you to attend, meet several leading
Air Consolidators face to face and learn more about how to once
again sell airline tickets profitably.
For more information, visit www.homebasedagentshow.com.
Doug Cooke, Publisher
6 MARCH 2008 WWW.JAXFAX.COM