Ancillary Revenue Goes Mobile

The latest report from IdeaWorksCompany applies the rise of the mobile age to the ancillary revenue revolution.

IdeaWorksCompany researched the in-path booking capabilities of the mobile applications offered by the world’s largest 25 airlines.

It’s a varied list which includes traditional global network airlines and eight low cost carriers. Here are a few top line observations from the report:

• 24 of the 25 airlines reviewed offer Android versions of mobile applications.
• Mobile apps are becoming adroit a la carte retailers. In particular, the apps offered by AirAsia, Delta, Indigo, Ryanair, and United offer five or more a la carte options in their booking paths.
• Ryanair provides an exceptional example of seat assignment done right, with ever-present icons to describe seats, color coding to indicate prices, and in-path alerts for discounted pricing.
• The Air France mobile app provides a consumer friendly and retail savvy collection of screens for pre-paid baggage that provide three layers of information.
• Book now, pay later motivates impulse buying and five airlines — Air France, American, Emirates, Lufthansa, and United — were found to include the feature in their mobile apps.

Ancillary Revenue Goes Mobile: The Best Methods Used by the Top 25 Airlines was released as a free 15-page report by CarTrawler and is available at the company’s web site at http://www.cartrawler.com .