The Conference Coach™

Carolyn Bradfield

I’m flying back from Copper Conferencing‘s participation at the Channel Partner Show in Miami catching up on some light reading from USA Today and an interesting article caught my attention – “Fees fatten airline revenues by $3.8B”.

The reality is that fewer people are flying these days based on the down economy.  We know that because to offset less revenue and meet shrinking expense budgets, more people are conferencing.  In my 20 years in conferencing, I know that when passengers abandon the airlines, they fill up the conferencing bridges.  It happened after 9/11 when people were afraid to fly and it’s happening in 2009 when they don’t have the money to travel as much.

Airlines have attempted to compensate for revenue by charging fees for many things that used to be free.  According to USA Today, revenue from checked bags was $1.24B in the first half of 2009.  Add to that are fees to cancel or rebook flights, get better seat assignments, fly pets and absorb airport charges.  Airlines have been able to increase revenue even when fewer people are flying.

Now of course, this is good news for the conferencing industry, because if business passengers weren’t frustrated enough already, this may just be enough to send them over the edge and continue to keep them off airplanes.  According to Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel, an organization tracking fees, even when the economy recovers, these fees will likely not go away citing the fact that the fees have become just too lucrative.

There are also some parallels to this in the conferencing industry.  Despite what should be an uptick in conferencing traffic, InterCall has chosen to increase revenue by adding fees just like the airline industry has done.  Invoices now have minimum conference fees, bridging fees, paper invoice fees, telecom surcharges……on and on.  They are a privately held company, owned by the West Corporation, but my bet is that revenue has increased, just from these fees alone.

As a frequent traveler, I can tell you I’m going to continue to cut back my flights.  The airline fees offend me and I’m voting with my pocketbook by giving the airlines less of my money.  For those of you using companies like InterCall, it may be time to rethink whether you want to be one of those organizations boosting InterCall’s revenue through the weight of the fees they have chosen to add.  And just like the airlines, don’t expect a rollback in fees.  It’s just too lucrative!

If you’re ready to say NO to extra charges and unnecessary fees, find out about the Conferencing Bill of Rights.  Read more now.