Travel News Today

U.S. airlines are watching Air Canada's new customer pricing for long-term financial success to see if they wish to adopt it, analysts say.

«More than any other U.S. legacy carrier, (Air Canada has) been willing to try innovative ideas,» Massachusetts Institute of Technology airline pricing expert Peter Belobaba told USA Today.

Among the innovations: Selling bulk travel of, say, 10 round trips to passengers, making tickets a flat fee and giving travelers free business-class upgrades, the ability to book up to an hour before flight time and change or cancel without penalty.

Other novel approaches include cutting fares for customers who do not check baggage or who forgo frequent-flier points, the newspaper said.

«Very few airlines tackled the idea of trying to persuade customers that airlines deliver value for money,» Air Transport World Editor in Chief Perry Flint said.

The world's 13th-biggest airline, which emerged from bankruptcy protection Sept. 30, 2004, earned $171 million last year and is expected to improve on that this year, USA Today said. It also has restored its workforce to 23,000, about the level before the post-Sept. 11, 2001, travel downturn.

(The Money Times)