Flight Centre in court accused of price fixing Read more: http://www.news.com.au/bus

[NM]

From news.com.au:

FLIGHT Centre tried to induce airlines to fix their prices so the travel agent could continue to honour its lowest price guarantee without losing money, a court has heard.

Hmm, many people here use lowest price guarantees. I wonder if the practice will be more limited as a result?

 

[whatmeworry]

Re: Flight Centre in court accused of price fixing Read more: http://www.news.com.au

It meant Flight Centre was required to match the fare and effectively forfeit the five to nine per cent commission which normally adds to the cost of airfares it sells to the public.

Mmm so the commission margin is around 5-9%. Nice to know.

 

[oz_mark]

Re: Flight Centre in court accused of price fixing Read more: http://www.news.com.au

So, it has made it to court: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....flight-centre-accused-price-fixing-37399.html

 

[Globetrotter]

Re: Flight Centre in court accused of price fixing Read more: http://www.news.com.au

Mmm so the commission margin is around 5-9%. Nice to know.

plus override commissions if targets are achieved

 

[samh004]

Re: Flight Centre in court accused of price fixing Read more: http://www.news.com.au

Sucks for FC, but the market has changed, and the simple solution is not to offer such a ridiculous offer when they clearly can't (or don't want to) honour it.

 

[NM]

Re: Flight Centre in court accused of price fixing Read more: http://www.news.com.au

Sucks for FC, but the market has changed, and the simple solution is not to offer such a ridiculous offer when they clearly can't (or don't want to) honour it.

Agree. They need to find a way to differentiate themselves through value added services and not just trying to offer the cheapest fare.

 

[Mal]

Re: Flight Centre in court accused of price fixing Read more: http://www.news.com.au

Agree. They need to find a way to differentiate themselves through value added services and not just trying to offer the cheapest fare.

... or rather *pretend* they're offering the cheapest fare. Same deal with Webjet and their horrendous booking fees that include the "flight price" guarantee.

 

[harvyk]

Re: Flight Centre in court accused of price fixing Read more: http://www.news.com.au

Sucks for FC, but the market has changed, and the simple solution is not to offer such a ridiculous offer when they clearly can't (or don't want to) honour it.

A couple of years ago, I found a set of flights for $x, and FC said it couldn't be done. I called up QF and made the booking on the phone whilst standing in the FC store. It was nothing overly complex, just a CBR-SYD-HKG(QF) HKG-PVG-HKG(CX) HKG-SYD-CBR(QF), and yet FC said they "couldn't do it" for the price (from memory it was $1,700 all up, the minimum FC would do was $2,200).

So despite the fact they have this offer, they have been weaseling out of it for a while. Strangely enough, they released their "we'll match it or you fly for free" offer about a month later.
That said that was the last time I tried to book flights through them.

 

[netgrom]

Re: Flight Centre in court accused of price fixing Read more: http://www.news.com.au

From news.com.au:


Hmm, many people here use lowest price guarantees. I wonder if the practice will be more limited as a result?

Indeed it is, I have heard through a few friends who work at FC that price beats/lowest price guarantees are about to be axed in the next couple of months, probably has to do with the case and also the fact the general landscape has changed over the years in the industry