Tips to help business travelers track ancillary fees

As frequent business travelers know, airlines are generating ancillary revenue through an increasing number of fees for items such as baggage handling, onboard food and beverages, in-flight Wi-Fi access and preferred seats.

Because ancillary items are often not purchased at the time of ticket purchase, they can be difficult for business travelers – and for their employers – to track. In fact, industry studies vary widely in their estimates of the cost impact of ancillary fees, with estimates that range from one percent to 30 percent of air travel expenses.

So far, there seems to be no easy way for travelers or businesses to automate the tracking of ancillary fees, even though some industry experts estimate the airlines could collect as much as $35 billion in such fees during the coming year. There are no standards for the description or coding of these expenses, which are likely to grow even more numerous and complex. Employers also vary in fees they consider to be legitimate businesses expenses: some would find a beverage purchased on a flight to be allowable, while others would not.

For now, business travelers should obtain and keep receipts for all ancillary services they purchase and track them on expense reports as clearly as possible. If you’re not looking forward to adding even more receipts to the collection of paper slips in your expense folder, you could also ask your corporate travel agent to help by purchasing as many ancillary items as possible at the time that your airline tickets are purchased. When possible, purchase other ancillary services using your corporate credit card so that the charges will show up on your next statement, which makes for easier tracking.

Better tracking of ancillary fees can be helpful to employers who want to use that information when negotiating future contracts with air travel providers. Those negotiations could result in better prices, and even a few service perks, for your future business travel.

This travel column was written by BlueRibbonNews.com special contributor Robbert van Bloemendaal, an experienced world traveler, native of Australia, an Ambassador with the Rowlett Chamber of Commerce, and president of  Travel Leaders of Rowlett.

To submit your news and events, or a guest column on your area of expertise, email editor@BlueRibbonNews.com.

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