Travel agents can now book Ryanair’s Business Plus Fare through the Amadeus system.
MADRID – When your sales manager books a flight out of London to pitch a new client in Rome, she’s looking for a carrier that understands her needs as a business traveler. As Maria travels frequently, what she needs to make her journey as smooth and comfortable as possible is a premium seat in the aircraft, speedy boarding and priority access through security checks. She would probably appreciate flexible ticket changes and a free checked-in bag as well. Ryanair wants business travelers like Maria on their flights. That’s why they’ve introduced their Business Plus Fare in the travel agency channel. Travel agents can now book flights that automatically include all the services above without any additional surcharge. The Business Plus Fare is available to travel agents through Amadeus.
What’s included in Ryanair’s Business Plus Fare?
- One free 20Kg checked-in bag
- Free airport check in
- A premium seat with extra legroom or a speedy exit (subject to availability)
- Free Priority boarding
- Free priority access to security checks (only airports supporting this service)
- Flexible ticket changes without fees
“Business travelers have enough to think about when they are traveling. Our goal is to make the entire booking process and flight easier and more enjoyable, so that our business passengers can focus on what matters most to them-their business,” says Tim Howe Schroeder, Head of Corporate Sales at Ryanair.
“At Amadeus, we are always focused on improving the travel experience. One of the ways we do this is to provide technology that helps airlines like Ryanair create more relevant and targeted offers for their travelers. We also have the largest travel agency network in the world; no other GDS can offer as much exposure to business clients as we do,” says Decius Valmorbida, Vice President of Distribution Marketing at Amadeus.
Approximately 67% of business and first class bookings are done through an indirect channel, and Amadeus is the only GDS with Light Ticketing technology that allows travel agents to book flights with low-cost (LCC) and hybrid carriers in the same way as they do with full-service carriers.
In the first three quarters of 2015, Amadeus saw a 16.3% increase in total bookings on LCCs by travel agencies, compared to the same period last year. Today, more than 80 LCC and hybrid carriers distribute their fares to travel agencies through Amadeus.
Ryanair’s 76 cabin crew bases agree 5 year pay deals
Ryanair also announced that it has negotiated 5 year pay and conditions deal with all of its 76 cabin crew bases across Europe, following the successful conclusion of similar 5 year deals at all 76 pilot bases. Following weeks of direct negotiations between Ryanair and its elected cabin crew representatives, using long established collective bargaining structures, Ryanair’s cabin crew at all of its 76 bases have voted (by over 90%) to accept new 5 year pay agreements which will deliver:
- Guaranteed pay and allowance increases over the next 5 years
- Improved rosters with 5 days on, 3 days off (a bank holiday every week)
- Improved sickness benefits
- New cabin crew uniforms from 1st Feb
- More crew promotions as Ryanair embarks on an 8 year, 400 new aircraft order.
The successful conclusion of these deals means that both pilots and cabin crew at all 76 Ryanair bases have now secured improved pay and condition deals which will provide them with increased pay benefits and job security over the next 5 years.
Ryanair’s Chief People Officer, Eddie Wilson said: “The last 12 months have been an extremely busy period for Ryanair’s people. We rolled out Year 2 of our “Always Getting Better” programme, while delivering increased load factors and industry leading traffic growth. We have also been working hard behind the scenes with our people to negotiate improved pay and working condition deals for all our frontline pilots and cabin crew.
The fact that Ryanair can use our improving financial performance to improve the pay and conditions of our frontline crew underlines the long standing success of Ryanair’s collective bargaining model, which continues to deliver improved pay and conditions as well as job security for our pilots and cabin crew at a time when their counterparts in many other European airlines are facing job, pay and pension cuts or are engaged in industrial action to avoid such cuts.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
