Jet-Travel Agents stalemate : Who will take the bigger pie ?

Jet Airways is refusing to pay commission to travel agents. In retaliation, travel agents are refusing to book clients on Jet! The battle will be won by whoever delivers more customer value to travellers. If they both deliver the same customer value, there will be a stalemate. If the agents deliver more value, they will get more customers; Jet will sell through agents.
Jet customer value lies in offering convenient flights at a fair price versus competition, good service, ease of booking, seat selection, faster buying, seat selection on the net, other value added services, and mileage redemption programs.
A travel agent creates value by building a relationship, offering great service by finding the best combination of flights and price to suit the customers’ needs, by prompt service and by speedy response, saving the customer net time in buying tickets, by offering payment options, great communication, timely response etc.
Today Jet has greater brand equity than its agents. Travellers will prefer agents when they build their own brand equity and customer loyalty. To do so, they have to offer exceptional service, build a lasting relationship, and increase customer value. Their brand recall should be exceptional. Customers should think of them first as indispensable partners in travel (and not Jet)!
Jet will then treat agents as their partners and customers, and help them build brand equity and loyalty to Jet. Jet creates value for agents through its relationship, by the prestige and the business it can bring at a decent return, for its fairness, reliability, and improved communications.
Unfortunately, most travel agents, in fact most dealers and chain partners, consider themselves an extension of the principal (Jet in this case), and do not try to build their own brand equity. Remember, travel agents used to part with their commissions to their clients assuming price was everything, a short-term flawed belief.
21/12/08 Gautam Mahajan/Economic Times

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Categories: Jet Airways Dec 2008