Does anyone else have to suffer an exclusive TA?

[knoxd]

Here at work we are required to use a particular TA Campus travel.

When travelling on a ticket solely purchased on work money we HAVE to use Campus travel. But if they are paying only a portion we can use anyone we like??

I've had so much trouble with Campus travel. I think they are an arm of flight centre.

For instance I was at a conference in sydney and I had to come back a day early and I rang up the TA and got them to change my ticket on the tuesday. When i turned up on the Sat my tickets weren't paid for and I had pay ticketing at QF. The campus travel phone lines were down AGAIN on a weekend.. and there supposed to be 24/7 in cases of emergency..

Why is it a large University signs and exclusive contract and gets cough service!!!!!!!!!

 

[Damien]

We use an exclusive TA (Carlson Wagonlit), and I find them quite responsive and good to deal with. In fact, the only issue I have is that my hotel membership numbers never seem to make it to the hotel.

Unfortunately, I think your company just made the wrong decision.

 

[NM]

Why is it a large University signs and exclusive contract and gets cough service!!!!!!!!!

Exclusive contracts are put in place because your employer gets benefits from it. Usually they get some sort of kick-back either from the airline or the TA. If from the airline, they need to be able to track the spend and that is done by the TA.

If the service is less than expected, feed that info back to the person responsible for managing the travel contract. They will usually appreciate the feedback and if they get enough negative feedback it may have an impact on the contract renewal. Then again, in my experience its usually price the drives these contracts, not service.

 

[Warks]

We also have such a deal (multinational company) which bites.
Hopeless and getting worse. Am sure there must be a big kickback there for someone!

These days we who travel for work a lot should be allocated our own travel budget and then can book all our travel online. This would stop certain staff members sucking the majority of the pooled funding into their overseas junkets in the first few months of the financial year leaving us with bugger all.
Pretty sure we pay over the odds for J fares.

 

[AlwaysUpThere]

The corporate travel industry is pretty much like any other B2B scenario and that the buyer tries to gain a pricing or service advantage by using volume as leverage.

Inexperienced buyers don't know what the market is offering and what they could get for their expenditure...same as any other comodity.

The main exception is that travel is a very emotional buy. Likes / Dislikes / FFP - we travel so much in our own time that I believe we have the right to want the best from our employers. Its very expensive and often, very little in pricing so decisions often come down to "value add". Maybe the agency is sponsoring some programme within the Uni???

From the Uni's perspective, they often purchase collectively through the "Vice Chancellor's" committee - not sure whether your Uni participates... Probably not if the service is like that.

Anyway, this day and age, the BEST possible thing using ONE AGENT deliver is the security of knowing where everyone is at any given time. Think of how many companies had staff visiting NYC on the 11th September...???

 

[NM]

Also note that pricing is not always transparent. For example, our previous travel contract through a major TA organisation was structured such that the airline discount was passed back to the traveller and our airfares were very attractive. The company then paid the TA company a retainer to have three staff dedicated to service our company.

Our new contract with a different TA company means that now the traveller gets charged the list/retain price for the fares, and we pay a booking fee to the TA company. Then on a regular basis (could be monthly or quarterly) the company gets a rebate/kick-back directly from the airlines.

This latter arrangement is good for the corporate budget since it is a cash injection into the corporate coffers on a regular basis. But the initial full cost is born by the cost centre paying the bill with no relief when the kick-back is received.

I liked it under the previous method. But of course these contracts are always managed by the corporate folks and not by the individual cost centre managers.

 

[cabbage74]

Unfortunately YES through a sporting body. Upcoming trip to Rome for a competition in November.
Really annoying me ATM, because;
1) Cheaper fares by going through QF groups
2) WE are the ones who are paying for the flights, not the organisation.
3) Very poor service. No calls returned and their lines are regularly engaged.
4) Routing to Rome we were given was. BNE-SYD-BKK-LHR-FCO return. I wanted to add in LHR-IST-LHR so that I could commence a DONE4. No problems, but then my itinerary ended up as BNE-SIN-LHR-FCO-LHR-IST-LHR-SIN-BNE. Seriously why would I want to be on different flights than the other 20 or so who are also traveling?

Anyway. I not a fan of these arrangements especially if you are stuck with a poor TA.

Mal.

 

[knoxd]

Well I have recieved various emails floating around work stating that the loss of experienced TA's at the shop front has impacted on their ability to deal with the current volume.

Which is rather dodgy as whenever i go there the same faces seem to be serving..

I know that work is rather unimpressed with the way that our TA is performing. Several emails from higher ups have basically said they will be reviewing the contract.. Can't say I blame them..

Was speaking to the Boss-man a senior professor, and he was rather upset when they messed up his booking changes while O/S.. Once again the 24/7 emergancy number wasn't working.. He had to fork out a fortune for a full price ticket when travelling on a RTW fare.

 

[AlwaysUpThere]

Ah, therin lies another problem.

SOunds like you've got the on-campus student travel (=cheapest fares with nastiest routings) agent doing your corporate travel. Doh! Sorry mate, but what can the Uni expect from them?

Contact me directly if "The Professor" needs a hand to sort out the problem...