Air Canada’s success with multi-trip flight passes has prompted WestJet to follow suit. Both see the advantage of bulk ticket sales that lock in passengers and lock out rivals.
Air Canada launched its first pass two years ago in the busy Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa triangle. It proved so popular with business travellers that it now offers 13 different passes targeted for various-sized businesses, tourists and even workers in Alberta’s oil patch.
Passes work like a book of prepaid tickets that range in price based on zones covered. The typical pass is for 10 one-way trips that must be used within a year. Business travellers like them because they avoid premium fares for short-notice trips. On some flights Air Canada says a quarter of its passengers are using passes.
Passes have a competitive appeal to Sean Menke, Air Canada’s chief commercial officer. Once customers buy them, he says: “I’ve locked them in.”
It may or may not be a coincidence that Air Canada offered its first eastern Canada pass at the same time as WestJet launched flights from Toronto’s Pearson airport. WestJet has now responded with its own flight pass in the same Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa triangle. ■
Source: Airline Business