Flight Centre in the news

[QF WP]

Flight Centre, whose value has dropped dramatically because it is too reliant on bricks and mortar travel agencies, has taken the fight to online travel retailer Wotif.com by boosting its own online booking site, quickbeds.com....

 

[bambbbam2]

Maybe it's ignorance, but I never could understand the appeal of mass TA's.. everyone I know was buying up the shares a few years ago, but I still don't know why

Did they think the internet was just a fad that we would all quickly tire of, and go back to bricks and mortar branches?

 

[QF WP]

Maybe there was a misunderstanding of the market. These days, people are learning that they can book their own tickets for simple itineraries and thus the airlines bypass having to pay the (lowering) commissions.

There will always be a market from some pax for face-to-face meetings with TA's (complex itineraries, group tours etc), but I hazard a guess that it will continue to slowly shrink over time.

Rather than sink with the ship, FC are finally diversifying their portfolio by harnessing the internet and the small margin but low cost transactions that it provides.