Can Aurigny do better?

I could sing the praises of the many positives about Aurigny, but the purpose of this letter is to ask, 'could they do better?'.

A correspondent to the Guernsey Press letters page on Saturday raised the issue of Aurigny's ticket pricing policy, one often brought up by many people but never satisfactorily resolved by the management of our airline.

The problem is essentially this: Aurigny persists in a policy of selling thousands of their airline tickets in advance at reduced prices, with the consequence being that purchases of tickets closer to departure dates are often very much more, sometimes prohibitively so – as your correspondent found out to his detriment.

I question whether the current Aurigny ticketing policy is in the best interests of Aurigny or of Guernsey itself.

Who actually benefits from the current policy? Basically, those who can afford to buy tickets in advance and who sometimes don't even use them. The policy also suits those who know for certain when they will be travelling. That is all fine, except who is looking after the needs of the many passengers who, for a variety of different reasons, do not know of their need to travel until much closer to the departure date? The answer is no one. Not Aurigny, not any individual director and not the Treasury and Resources Department, who are responsible for Aurigny.

In their response to your correspondent, Aurigny's management trotted out the same old line we have heard from them over the last few years. In essence, it is that other airlines have policies of lower ticket prices for advance booking, so therefore Aurigny should do the same.

Other airlines may do this, mainly on international routes, but these other airlines are not government-owned with a responsibility to be the main lifeline air link.

Aurigny also this time used the argument that as train fares are cheaper if booked in advance, then therefore it was all right for Aurigny to have the same policy with their air fares.

If you are in the UK and travelling a long distance, there is generally the choice of plane, train or car travel. If the train or plane is too expensive, the traveller does have the option of travelling by car, if they have use of one. This choice is a stabilising influence on the costs of travel. We obviously cannot drive to UK destinations without first paying to put our car on the ferry. So Aurigny using the argument of being in the same position as train companies does not hold sway. In fact, it holds even less sway if the many different fare structures are examined. You cannot, for example, obtain an older person's air fare reduction, or cheap family travel, with Aurigny, as you can with rail travel (and that is booking on the day of travel, too). Aurigny itself offers cheap train fare tickets on the day of travel.

Aurigny mentions yet again the agreement with Treasury and Resources that at least 63% of London Gatwick flights are priced at no more than £67, plus the air passenger duty.

This agreement should never have been made as it is not a fair one in the interests of all passengers. It is also not one which serves the best interests of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which also has an important visitor economy. It is well known that the trend is more towards late booking, but our booking policy actually loses us potential visitors. I have lost count of the number of people I have spoken to when in the UK who have said they have not come to Guernsey because late booking is so expensive.

Most of us also have relatives and friends and business associates who would come over more often if Aurigny gave a fairer deal.

It is interesting that Aurigny only has an agreement on the Gatwick route and not the others.

What Aurigny needs to do is to move in the direction of having a standard fare policy, so everyone knows where they stand. This may mean a slight increase in fares for some people but I believe that such a new policy will result in more people travelling and the fares becoming lower.

It is important for Aurigny to lead the way on standard fares because other airlines serving the island will inevitably have to follow suit.

If Aurigny has a much higher proportion of standard fares and reduces them steadily, then the high cost of sea travel will be forced downward too.

I have the firm belief that Aurigny is a major influencing factor on the cost of both air and sea travel to and from the island. This can change if Aurigny changes.

Positive change also means not having single fares which are the same as return ones.

It means on everything, looking to give the customer a fair deal.

Aurigny also need to adopt the Blue Islands policies of not charging for changing travelling times and to try to match their no charges for extra baggage.

Aurigny needs to have a thorough review of the deal they give customers.

TONY WEBBER,

anthonywebber@cwgsy.net