Ryanair on Kelkoo (+ Easyjet)

[archetects]

Have just noticed Ryanair fares coming up on Kelkoo. This is great news for those of us who run travel websites. I'll admit to being surprised too - I thought Ryanair would be the last airline to offer any kind of model that goes anywhere near a CPA 9 (ok it's basically CPC) - knowing how tight they are (I don't mean that in an insulting way if Mr O'Leary is reading).

If any network managers are reading this, and have been rejected by no-frills airlines on the basis of them not wanting to be seen to be "using travel agents", it is worth bearing in mind the following points:

As affiliates, we are looking for much less than the 8-10% high street travel agents would take for flight bookings.
Ryanair + Easyjet are now on Kelkoo. Germanwings are on AW.
FlyBE quoted at a recent press conference that their marketing costs are 4.3% of turnover, and that this figure is similar to Easyjet's. Affiliates can bring them passengers at a much lower rate than this (2-3% on a cpa model is typical), and create a win-win for everyone.
If they don't like CPA, there's always CPL, CPC etc.
Many affiliate travel sites currently only display travel agents booking engines (e.g. Opodo). This means users miss out on the no-frills options.

[getvisible]

completely agree. We definitely need the low cost carriers on board and it would be a win-win situation all round - except for those marketing agencies that charge horrendous fees!

[Qui Gon Jinn]

"Baby BMI" would also be a good one to get on board.

[archetects]

QGJ,

Speak to Luke at Affiliate Future. They've just signed up Singapore Airlines, who are part of the Star Alliance. They all do a lot of marketing together. Virgin Atlantic are 49% owned by SIA, and BMI are also part of Star. Once you've got the parent companies, I think you then might be able to move on to the subsidiaries - and I would find Virgin Blue / Virgin Express good to have too!

BMI Baby would be good, but they are small compared to Ryanair and Easyjet - those two between them carry about 10x more passengers than BMI Baby. I'd like to see FlyBE come on board, as you can already sell their tickets via Opodo etc, but their best deals are direct on their website.

James

PS: Has anyone else tried finding Easyjet flights on Kelkoo? It says it searches Easyjet, but they don't come up as an option -even on routes when they are the only operator.

[clixmedia]

For anyone that runs a travel website, see if you can find me a good deal and I'll order through ur site.
I'm looking to book for 4 people to travel from London to Miami and returning 12 nights later from Orlando to London.
We want to fly out anytime between Thursday 26th February 2004 and Thursday 4th March 2004.
You can also email me at carlbuckingham(@)sterlingrock.co.uk

Thanks.

[archetects]

I got a reply from Kelkoo saying Ryanair are on a one month trial, but Easyjet are temporarily offline. He believes they will both come back more permanently some time in the near future.

Please email Ed @ Kelkoo (via Tradedoubler contact form, unless anyone has direct contact), and offer your support for having the no-frills airlines on board.

Having one site which compares prices of scheduled and budget airlines together is going to be really useful all round.

James

PS: Re flights to Orlando / Miami. An interesting challenge, which would be good if a few of us could join in on.
Open jaw tickets can be tricky, so my guess would be that your best deal will involve a return to either Orlando or Miami, followed by a one way flight from Miami to Orlando (or vice versa). I'll get back to you on this shortly...

[archetects]

Looks like Ryanair have ended their trial with Kelkoo. They are "optimistic" that both RA and EJ will come back to them shortly, but I am not going to bank on it.

No frills airlines all seem to have this stupid hang up about "middle men", and that is how they view affiliates, or comparison sites like Kelkoo. Ryanair have also barred Openjet from "scanning" their site, and selling on their tickets with an E10 booking fee. Effectively, Ryanair are being send extra customers, at no cost to themselves, yet they are turning this site away!

IMHO, all the newspapers Ryanair advertise in are still "middle men" too - especially as their cost per seat filled is about twice what they would pay out via an affiliate programme.

[getvisible]

completely agree - why would they turn down 1000's of experts in internet marketing if weren't for some deep-rooted ideology?