Comment by SteveNuts 3 days ago
That blows my mind, I would expect maybe 1 or 2 passengers per plane at most. I'm trying to think of what factors would cause that many no-shows, it has to be mostly missed connections?
I can't imagine spending hundreds of dollars and just not showing up.
A friend of mine works for a Management Consultancy firm and they have full flex tickets if they miss the 8pm flight home they can take the next one or fly back the next morning. All without additional fees. So I believe business travel is the biggest factor when it comes to missed flights.
Side note: His employer is the biggest client of a major European airline.
No additional fees, but the cost of the ticket is typically sky-high. In many cases the company could purchase 3 restricted-fare tickets for less than the unrestricted fare. (And also, the consultants want to get home, they HATE staying extra nights, so they have inherent motivation to catch the original flight). You'd think that management consulting firms, you know, who are supposed to be good at optimization and reducing costs, would have figured this out.
* A massive bulk of flex rates is different price than a single flex ticket
* when I travelled to a single city with 20+ colleagues for several years, our nightly hotel rate was less than quarter of published rate. I don't think we got anything like that on Airlines, but nevertheless, bulk gets discounts.
* I forget details but between specific frequent cities which had hourly flights, we had full flexibility and we used this all the time. So we might catch a flight hour earlier if there was one available, or hour later if need be than booked.
Basically to everybody's point, business travel is very different than vacation travel and intuition from once a year personal trip don't apply.
* Hotels are required by law to have a published "rack rate" and it's common for both leisure and business travelers to book at more than half, or more, off those rates. Airlines don't have that.
* Yes of course there are negotiated discounts for major corporations- but full flexibility is still far more expensive than restricted tickets, just like business is still far more expensive than economy.
* Most airlines offer guaranteed same-day changes, or at least priority standby, to high-status loyalty members (which most consultants are) so buying full-flex tickets to get an hour earlier/later flexibility is redundant - basically, paying for a benefit you already have.
... or perhaps they prioritize ensuring their consultants feel like they're being looked after - replacing them when they find another job is very expensive.
What part of my comment suggests consultants aren't "looked after?" The idea that the consultants' personal time is so low on the scale of priorities that the company prefers to pay 3x or 4x for plane tickets to ensure they are available to spend extra time with clients, rather than their families, suggests that the company is specifically NOT looking after the consultants' well-being.
> You'd think that management consulting firms, you know, who are supposed to be good at optimization and reducing costs, would have figured this out.
Maybe they've figured out that enabling their employees to stay a few extra hours without worry to finish a deal is worth it.
Vast majority of consultants are working on engagements where "the deal" was negotiated weeks/months earlier.
The goal isn't to eliminate flexibility, it's understanding probabilities. If fully-flexible/refundable flights are 3x the fare of restricted, then in aggregate, the company could have a chunk of consultants throw out their original reservations and rebook later flights, and still save money. Yes- sometimes consultants need to stay longer than planned, but in an age of prioritizing "work-life balance," most consultants are encouraged to stick to their schedule and get back home when originally planned.
Intercontinental business-class tickets have a tangible benefit, guaranteed lie-down seat and relaxing accommodations that enable rest, as you correctly point out. Flexible airline tickets have no tangible benefit, it is simply risk mitigation (avoiding wasting a nonrefundable ticket if a person can't make a flight) and like other risk-mitigation products such as insurance, extended warranties, car rental protection, etc, it is priced so that the cost exceeds the benefit.
And as stated elsewhere, the majority of consultants are relatively junior people whose role has nothing to do with negotiating contracts.
Keep in mind they sell a lot of tickets where one of the features that allows for a premium price is that they allow late cancellations or changes to other flights. Holiday travelers are pretty "reliable", but business travelers might have changed needs at the drop of a hat (say you meet another prospective client on a business trip and decide to stay another day to fit in a face-to-face meeting).
I'm sure other factors such as sudden illness and migrateable tickets make a sizeable chunk too.
Delays getting to the airport and missing the plane. Cancelations with full refund. "Hidden city" ticketing. Layover delays. Businesses booking blocks. Flexible flights ( https://www.travelperk.com/guides/flexible-travel/flexible-f... ). Changing / rebooking flights for an earlier or later time.