Last week, I tried to book a one-way flight from Seletar, Singapore to Subang, Kuala Lumpur. How hard could it be after all? It’s really only one airline that plies this route and it’s a flight I’ve taken several times – in fact, a flight I always look forward to because it’s on a smaller aircraft,
the ATR 72-500, and it connects two secondary, smaller airports without the teeming crowds I experienced the week before at Suvarnabhumi in Bangkok.
As usual, I logged onto the Firefly website. Airfares are higher than usual, no surprises here – it’s something we have gotten used to as the world gets back on its feet. I choose the flight I desire, decide to pay extra for everything – why not, travellers are prepared to pay extra for comfort and peace of mind these days – and went to payment.
This is when I get stuck. There are payment options by three credit cards, Visa, Mastercard and American Express, and via the Firefly wallet. I try Visa, usually it gets me through pretty quickly. This time, it tells me I need to wait for a push notification from my bank which never came, despite repeated attempts. I try Amex – didn’t work either.
I gave up, thinking, I’ll get back to this later in the day. That evening I tried again – the fare for the flight I wanted had gone up by 20%. Shrug, what to do, and I go through the whole process again and I confront the same problem on check-out.
Having failed to book direct, I decided to check the meta searches and OTA sites. All the airfares on display are lower than on the brand site. There’s Skyscanner, Trip, ly.com, Agoda – a whole host of choices. It’s like a buffet when all you want is one simple dish.
I decided to give Agoda a go since I was curious about their new flight product. The airfare on offer was at least 30% lower than on brand.com – one price, one offer – it doesn’t push you any extras, just says no cancellation, no refund. You get what you pay for.
I wanted extra baggage though, so I had to prompt for that. I like that it doesn’t push you lots of stuff. I’d rather I prompt, rather than be bombarded until my head reels with anxiety. It makes me feel in control.
The missing element is the inability for me to link my frequent flyer number with my booking, although I understand it’s a feature that’s being worked on.
Anyway, the confirmation of my flight booking came no more than 10 minutes later. I had saved 30%, and it was such an easy experience compared to the brand.com debacle.
And you wonder why consumers prefer going to OTAs?
Here I am, a member and frequent flyer with this airline, prepared to be loyal and book direct but it’s too hard.
Of course, some airlines are better than others in enabling you to book direct. Singapore Airlines has an express booking feature that I like. But I suspect they are the exception rather than the rule. I tried All Nippon Airways once and it was more complicated than solving a Sudoku puzzle.
I recount this personal experience because all year, I’ve been listening to traditional airlines talk about how they are implementing NDC (New Distribution Capability) processes to give consumers a better retail experience, and how everyone’s partnering with everyone to give travellers a seamless experience.
At Phocuswright, I heard an American Airlines executive talking about how their mission is to make their website completely self-serve. Said Neil Geurin, managing director, airline retailing, “Our goal is for our customers, whether they book through us or go through anyone else, to have the same experience and have access to all the products and services that we have available, all the bundles we have available, as well as to be able to service themselves if that is what they so desire.
“If customers want to work with a traditional retail agency, that’s fine but we think we need to be able to put the power back in the customer’s hands. And to do that, we need an upgrade to the technology that we use to sell that service.”
My niece, a Millennial who travels a few times a year on trips with friends, never books direct. She’s an expert navigator on meta searches and OTA sites and I am a vicarious observer of her online travel booking behavior.
“How can Agoda offer such low fares?” she asked me. “Who is ly.com? Can they be trusted – they seem to have the best fares? And how come with Skyscanner, sometimes they offer a fare but when you click through, you can’t find that fare?”
I try to explain best as I can, but if there’s someone out there willing to explain the mysteries of the airline universe to her, I will buy you lunch or dinner.
At the Hotelbeds MarketHub Asia conference in Bangkok late November, I heard HBX Group Chief Technology Officer, Paula Felstead, describe online travel as the “transaction of emotional experiences”.
Now if only the transaction could be easier and less emotional – by which I mean less confusion and less frustration on the consumer’s part.