Case Study 2 Increasing compliance with preferred airline rules. Company X, a leading automotive manufacturer based in France, instructed travelers to use alternatives to Air France on selected long-haul routes. To enforce this policy, given that travelers generally favor their national airline, a strict monitoring and control process was introduced. First, travel agents encouraged travelers to take preferred airlines, sending a pre-trip approval request to the travelers’ departmental manager if he or she refused. After each booking with a non-preferred airline, the agent also completed a report with
the name of the traveler and the person who approved his or her request, the preferred airline, the airline with which the booking was made and the dierence in ticket price. Based on this report, the travel manager could discuss non-compliance with each business unit director, as well as leniency on the part of departmental managers. The result was a dramatic increase in travelers’ use of preferred airlines from 47 percent to 73 percent, as shown in Figure 73. This initiative produced 17 percent savings on air spend across the relevant routes.
Figure 73: Company X saved 17% of spend on 3 key routes by increasing the use of preferred airlines
% of bookings with preferred suppliers
Control of exceptions strongly reinforced as of September 2006
80 70 60 50 40 30
Paris-Madrid Paris-Tokyo
20
Paris-Beijing 10
Overall
0 Q1 2006
Q2 2006
Q3 2006
Q4 2006
Q1 2007
Source: CWT Travel Management Institute, based on transaction data for one European company