New Airline Advertising Methods – The Honest Way!

A few weeks ago, on February 8, 2012, Air Canada introduced its new marketing and advertising approach to mark its 75^th anniversary. Canada’s largest airline company has begun to advertise their prices as what they call an “all-in-sale.”

This means that rather than listing a flight ticket for $244, they include all extra costs, which may raise the advertised sale price up to $887—an increase of over $600!

Although this is a big difference and may throw some people off at first, for those who travel a lot or know that most airline companies have hidden fees, this will not be a surprise. On the contrary, I believe it will work. Frequent flying customers such as businessman, avid travellers, etc. do not have time to search and look for hidden fees. Instead, they would rather see one gross fee, know what they are paying and get on with it.

photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

I think the majority of people prefer this kind of method—I certainly do.

Knowing how much you intend to spend on travel from the get-go saves you time, worry, unnecessary hurdles and unpleasant surprises.

I strongly believe that once the general public becomes familiar with Air Canada delivering this new “honest” method of advertising, any future discounts the company announces will come across as authentic. For instance, if Air Canada advertises “SAVE $100 on a single ticket,” customers will know they are actually getting a $100 reduction from the full price. This is more likely to spark a sense of consumer trust, and will likely be more successful than offering discounts that get buried in numerous hidden extra fees.

These changes come after the Conservative government announced new rules and regulations in December 2011 that require Canadian airlines to include all fees and taxes in their advertising.

In conclusion, it was a good decision for the government to introduce these new rules, and this practice is something other airlines can learn from and carry out in foreign markets.