Fliers up, up and away at the post office.
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JETSTAR is stepping up its campaign to sell airline tickets at post offices.
The budget airline is seeking fresh talks with state and territory governments in expectation of a statement by the Standing Committee of Officials for Consumer Affairs later this month on its request to exempt Australia Post from travel agent licensing requirements and the Travel Compensation Fund.
Jetstar says it wants to start selling tickets in more than 3000 Australia Post outlets to cater for those people, particularly in rural areas, who do not have access to internet sales.
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Can I assume that all the post office is going to do is purchase tickets off jetstar.com and charge a premium for the service? If so, what's to stop any small business with a modem from doing the same thing?
Can I assume that all the post office is going to do is purchase tickets off jetstar.com and charge a premium for the service? If so, what's to stop any small business with a modem from doing the same thing?
The travel agent licensing requirements and the Travel Compensation Fund. For this to work, then those issues need to be resolved. Now if anyone with a modem could manage to get an exemption, then I guess nothing stops them.
I can't see any reason why Australia Post should not be able to sell airline tickets. You can do most things at a post office these days including passport applications and renewals.
I don't see them being able to compete with the Flight Centres and Harvey World Travels but give them a chance and if they are able to help out some people then all the better
As for charging a premium on the airfare, that is OK as long as there is someone stupid enough that is prepared to pay the premium. Australia Post will not be the sole agents for JetStar so there are other choices!
My sense is that the desire to sell via Aust Post is less around helping people without internet access and more around getting sales from people unwilling to transact online. Jetstar is not agent friendly today so this is a great strategy for them - they're not risking upsetting anyone who might deliver revenue to them. They are very focussed on their objectives to protect brand and price integrity (see also the recent farehunter thread).
For agents its yet another attack on their business model - not that they earn anything much out of a Jetstar sale but because a low revenue domestic pax may become an international pax in the future so is worth having on your books. They will fight this very hard and point to Ansett, Air Paradise and Traveland as signs of what can go wrong when travel supply isn't bonded. Should be interesting.
The one thing australia Post have going for them is being federal government owned. They cannot crash, and all monies paid are guaranteed by the government. I cannot see TCF and TA membership (or lack of it) being an issue here.
You can do most things at a post office these days including passport applications and renewals.
Yes, you're right. And I think this is why customer queues in the POs are generally out the door every time I go there. Can you imagine how much longer they will be when Mr & Mrs Public are standing at the counter trying to decide what flight they will take... "Hey darl, look at moi, what about if we take the earlier flight so we can do some shopping in Cairns airport before our flight to Honolulu?". :roll:
You can do most things at a post office these days including passport applications and renewals.
Yes, you're right. And I think this is why customer queues in the POs are generally out the door every time I go there. Can you imagine how much longer they will be when Mr & Mrs Public are standing at the counter trying to decide what flight they will take... "Hey darl, look at moi, what about if we take the earlier flight so we can do some shopping in Cairns airport before our flight to Honolulu?". :roll:
Agree with you that somedays the queues at Australia Post can be murder.
I am not convinced that Australia Post will become a one stop shop for all airfares on all airlines. They do not have the personnel with the experience to be able to offer this service. If they did they would have a dedicated person to take care of airfares so would not really affect other queues. I also think they will just be selling el cheapo point to point airfares probably only for Jetstar. As for the demand to buy airfares at Australia Post we will have to wait and see.
In my experience Australia Post has a very low focus on quality customer service including length of waiting time in queues. Australia Post has taken on so much new business to improve their bottom line yet have not responded with the staff to provide the adequate level of service. Banks, supermarkets also fall into this category. But that is business in the 21st century, it is all about bottom line not the customer.
Can you imagine how much longer they will be when Mr & Mrs Public are standing at the counter trying to decide what flight they will take... "Hey darl, look at moi, what about if we take the earlier flight so we can do some shopping in Cairns airport before our flight to Honolulu?". :roll:
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