There was a time when
most meeting planners were confined to organizing events primarily
within the United States. But a shrinking planet has spurred more
cross-border meetings and conventions, and consequently, the usual
domestic airlines have found new competitors in this market
segment, from Europe to Asia to Latin America. For many planners,
it’s not just about preferred supplier agreements anymore.
Foreign airlines as diverse as
Lufthansa and Copa, Virgin Atlantic and Emirates are using an
extensive array of sales and marketing incentives to generate more
bookings from U.S.-based meeting professionals. They’re offering
not only guaranteed discounts but additional services as well,
including dedicated check-in desks, pre-arranged boarding passes,
group label baggage tags and even photographs with the flight
crew.
Vicki Hawarden, vice president of
knowledge management and member events for Dallas-based Meeting
Professionals International, notes that MPI recently held its World
Education Congress in Montreal and is planning upcoming events in
London, Dubai and Singapore. “I’m hearing more about the value and
quality of international carriers,” Hawarden says. “There are more
and more flights to overseas hubs, and then [attendees] are
continuing on regional carriers.”
Dana Marshall, director of sales and
marketing for Sharp Events in San Francisco, believes most U.S.
corporations would have no hesitation about using established
European flag carriers such as Air France, British Airways or
Lufthansa. She, too, finds that foreign airlines are seeking more
meetings business: “They’ve become more aggressive. I’ve seen more
requests for appointments from them.”
Indeed, even smaller foreign airlines
are ramping up their efforts. “There have been increasing numbers
of meetings,” notes Nigel Page, senior vice president of commercial
operations for the Americas at Emirates Airline, which will be
launching service from Houston to Dubai in December. “We’re looking
to expand our links to this sector of the business.”
Expanding
partnerships
Eli Gorin, founder of gMeetings in
Aventura, Fla., and a specialist in Latin American events, says the
logistics of foreign travel make choosing an airline a different
proposition than for domestic trips. “I handle all the air travel
for my clients, and first and foremost is price,” he says. “But I
also look at flexibility with schedules. There might be more
frequencies. Going with a local [foreign] carrier does have its
benefits.”
In some cases, using a non-U.S. carrier
requires skirting the company’s commitment to a preferred airline.
But Marshall says airline alliances can be a helpful factor:
“Certainly, airlines are a little more forgiving if you use their
partners.” (See “Choosing Allies.”)
Not all foreign carriers are eager to
work with groups, however. British Airways, for example, issued
this statement: “Although we used to work directly with groups in
the past, in September 2003, it was decided that [we] would work
only with travel agents who could liaise with groups on our behalf
and issue tickets for them on our behalf. This enables us to work
more efficiently.”
A British Airways spokesperson
explains, “Our groups department only works through travel agents.
If planners don’t have one, we can set them up with one.”
CHOOSING ALLIES
This is the age of airline marketing partnerships, but the most critical are the three international mega-alliances: Oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance. Meeting planners organizing particularly complicated international itineraries might find it easier to work through these partnerships rather than unilaterally with individual carriers, particularly since two of the three alliances offer dedicated meetings programs. Here’s a rundown.
* SkyTeam. The Global Meetings product (
globalmeetings.skyteam.com) allows planners to register an event and obtain discounts for attendees, as well as credits redeemable for reward tickets through an incentive program based on the number of travelers. All planning is coordinated through a single point of contact for all 10 SkyTeam member airlines, including Delta and Northwest/KLM. Participants can log onto a Global Meetings attendee page and earn frequent-flyer mileage with any SkyTeam partner.
* Star Alliance. The group’s Conventions Plus program (
www.staralliance.com/en/
business/meetings_travel/index.html) provides a single point of contact for all 17 member airlines (including United and US Airways) and access to discounted fares. Once an account is opened, the planner receives promotional materials and becomes eligible for extra incentives, including free tickets. However, in order to take advantage of Conventions Plus, the meeting or convention must meet certain criteria, including a minimum number of international attendees, delegates arriving from at least three countries and two continents, a minimum of six months lead time and a maximum of three years lead time.
* Oneworld. As for the third mega-alliance (
www.oneworld.com), a spokesperson says, “Oneworld offered a dedicated product for the meetings and conventions market for a few years a short time back, but we found that this was a business segment best served within our grouping by our individual mem-ber airlines, or by air-lines working together on a one-on-one basis, and so we withdrew it from our portfolio.” He adds, “We do have a number of alliance fares -- for round-the-world flights or tours around continents -- that are available for group bookings and eminently suitable for the incentive market.”
Oneworld’s U.S. member carrier, American Airlines, offers its AAssociation Fares on certain itineraries served by its alliance partners as well. Attendees receive 5 percent off published airfares when flying on American and connecting to any of the nine other Oneworld member carriers. -- W.J.M.
Fare deals and
more
What follows is a rundown of some of
the programs and options offered by foreign airlines. Note: In
nearly all cases, planners must file an online query or send an
e-mail to arrange for meeting or convention travel. The URLs
provided go directly to the groups and meetings pages.
* Air Canada (www.aircanada.com/en/
travelinfo/before/
conventions/index.html). For meetings with a minimum of 10
attendees, Canada’s largest airline provides discounts of 10
percent in all flight classes on service from the United States.
Add-ons include car rental discounts through Avis.
* Air France (w9.traveldoo.com/mice/connect.jsf). Meeting planners
must apply online, but once a request for proposal has been
accepted, the French flag carrier will offer discounted airfares
and a single identifier code for bookings.
* Alitalia (www.alitalia.com/US_EN/
business_travel/incentivetravel.htm). The Italian flag carrier
offers discounted fares on group and incentive travel, with
connections from both Rome and Milan.
* Cathay Pacific
Airways (www.cathaypacific.com/
cpa/en_US/offers
promotions/event). In addition to special fares, the Hong
Kong-based carrier provides an extensive list of incentive products
for meeting planners, including meet-and-greet, pre-check-in, seat
allocation, special signage and a complimentary ticket for the
group leader.
* Copa (www.copaair.com/html/user/
default.aspx?PageId=84). The Panamanian airline offers
“preferential discounts” for participants, promoters and
exhibitors, as well as reduced rates for shipping brochures and
other materials. Copa provides guaranteed fares for up to 18 months
in advance, in addition to a host of airport and inflight
amenities.
* Japan Airlines (jal.co.jp/csp/index2.html). From the United States,
JAL offers discounts of up to 35 percent on economy-class and 30
percent on business-class travel, based on “a certain amount” of
travelers. The airline also offers attendees additional perks, such
as excess-baggage allowances.
* KLM (www.nwa.com/grouprequest/meeting_travel.html). In many
ways, it’s easier for U.S.-based meeting planners to negotiate with
KLM than any other foreign carrier, since the Dutch airline’s
cooperative agreement with Northwest includes joint sales and
meeting programs. The Meeting Travel Program is designed for groups
of 10 or more and includes discounted rates and centralized
booking.
* LAN (plane.lan.com/info_empresas/lancorporate/incentive-en-us.html).
The airline, which originated in Chile and now serves 20 countries,
offers a full meetings and incentives program with discounted rates
and other bonuses.
* Lufthansa (lufthansa.com/online/portal/lh/us/info_and_
services/local_box?l=en&nodeid=1864873). The Lufthansa
Meetings Product offers pricing tailored for any size meeting, with
discounts on economy- and business-class fares; benefits for
delegates and companions also are available. The German flag
carrier also offers meeting products through its Star Alliance
partners.
* SAS (www.flysas.com/en/SAS-for-business/Conventions/Meeting-industry).
The Scandinavian carrier is a member of both the International
Congress & Convention Association and MPI, and for meetings
with 100 or more attendees, SAS might offer a “support program”
that includes tickets for site inspections, committee travel and
guest speaker travel. Discounted rates are available once an event
code is assigned.
Weighing the
options
Dana Marshall says there are some key
differences when booking overseas meetings: “With international,
it’s about understanding connections, especially if a switch of
airlines is involved. And you have to have enough connection
time.”
From the corporate side, “it’s an
analysis process,” Marshall adds. “You have to ask, ‘Does it make
sense to use the preferred supplier? Or is it just a
dollars-and-cents situation?’?” She says that in some situations,
companies might be better served using noncontracted airlines for
ad hoc meetings. “Airline contracts are built around transient
travel and established annual meetings,” she notes. “It really is a
case-by-case basis.”
DeeDee White, meetings and incentives
planner for Covington International Travel in Richmond, Va.,
currently is organizing a meeting for a local group, to be held in
Italy in 2008, yet she is not using a carrier based in either the
United States or Italy. Instead, she is using Lufthansa. “They were
willing to negotiate,” she explains. The itinerary from Washington,
D.C., includes an outbound stop in Frankfurt en route to Verona and
a return stop in Frankfurt from Florence.
One Midwest-based planner who requested
anonymity says she organizes incentive travel within South America
and the Caribbean, and her job became much easier when she began
avoiding U.S. airlines. “I’ve switched to Latin American carriers
to avoid connections,” she explains.
Going the extra
kilometer
Attendee happiness also requires a
planner to be specific about needs. Nigel Page notes that Emirates
(www.emirates.com/usa) often carries groups with
special requirements, which the airline tries its best to meet,
sometimes at no cost. These include dedicated areas for check-in,
excess-baggage allowances for equipment and supplies, holding areas
for groups, and lounge access. The airline even can schedule flight
attendants with specific language skills.
Other non-U.S. airlines are increasing
their outreach to the meetings community as well. A spokesperson
for Virgin Atlantic Airways (virgin-atlantic.com/en/us/corporateandtrade/index.jsp),
based at the carrier’s U.S. headquarters in Norwalk, Conn., says
the company views the MICE segment (meetings, incentives,
conventions and exhibitions) as its biggest opportunity, and that
Virgin hopes to launch new “customized meeting services” within the
next year, with further details to follow.
As for Lufthansa, the German carrier
has seen double-digit growth in its U.S.-based meetings business
over the last year. “It’s a huge market,” says Lisa Markovich, “and
it’s growing.” Because of this, she says Lufthansa has “redefined”
its meetings product by adding a dedicated staff person and more
online guidance. The airline also provides incentive programs
(working with established houses such as Carlson Wagonlit and
Maritz) and offers three-year pricing plans to lock in costs.
Based on long experience, one
U.S.-based executive for a foreign airline offers some practical
advice: “The first helpful thing planners can do is have back-up or
alternative dates. Give us two or three sets of dates. Say, ‘These
are the three weeks I’m looking at.’ Don’t just call with one date
and then hang up if it’s not available.”
Overall, it pays to remember procedures
that work well domestically will probably work well overseas, too.
“Frankly, it’s pretty straightforward,” says Pieter Rieder, senior
vice president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa for StarCite,
the Philadelphia-based global meeting company. “The principle is
the same, but the logistics are different.”