When it comes to comparing ticket prices for marine flights, there’s a lot going on behind the scenes. Probably more than you are concerned with. In this article, we shed some light on things to take into account comparing prices. Read this carefully and use it to your advantage!
For the purpose of explaining the principle let’s just look at marine fares and forget about public flights. And let’s suggest that some of the cheaper seats are already booked. This will automatically have a negative effect on the pricing of the leftover seats, as they will have an increase, by the growth of its scarcity. Even though this information is relevant, most likely you are not aware of it when you give the assignment for booking your flights.
Now your crew manager starts out with the booking process. Due to company procedure, he approaches three or four travel agencies with the assignment, because he wants to compare prices. Little does he know, but if you were to approach a number of marine travel agencies, chances are slim that they have a fair chance to compete. In order for the first agency to give you the price on the required flight, they would actually have to book the seats.
This means that the second agency will not have the same opportunity, because the ticket prices just raised, again due to the increasing scarcity of the available seats. Either he should have started sooner or you should have given him the assignment sooner. And we’re not even talking about the third or fourth travel agency. But maybe you can guess as well, that it will only get worse. Underneath we have a few tips, on how to make benchmarking marine travel agencies more accurate.
Compare apples with apples
You would have to compare the same flight for the same date at the same moment, with the same route and to be completely fair you should also use the exact same airline. Ticket prices you received a month ago cannot be compared with prices you received a minute ago. Due to seasonality and other factors, prices are altered. Therefore they are just incomparable.
Do not use more than two travel agents at the same time
If you will be using multiple travel agents, the dynamic system of the airline prices may interpret reservations as an increase in demand. And because of that, airlines may dynamically increase the price range of the flights, which is against your goals. Therefore our suggestion is not to use more than two travel agents.
Check prices with C Teleport first
C Teleport shows you prices, without actually making a reservation. It’s more of a fair play towards other travel agents. You will see prices at C Teleport first. Then you can request prices, with other travel agents to make a comparison. Just keep in mind, that those other travel agents will be making reservations before sending you prices.
If you need more elaborate information on this subject, please have a look at this video:
