Canadian airlines gain industry recognition

Of all of the things we expect from an airline when we travel, what is most important to most of us is the comfort in knowing we are flying on a safe airline.

Over the years a number of worst airline postings have been made by analysts, with some airlines even banned from flying into countries because of their known lack of adherence to high safety standards.

While we sometimes tend to pick on our own national airline because of service, pricing, or the addition of ever-expanding ancillary charges, the bottom-line is that Air Canada is one of the safest airline companies in the world.

This is not my conclusion. It's part of a report from the Air Transport Rating Agency, the only organization of its kind to use an objective mathematical approach to measuring the complexities of air safety analysis.

The Geneva-based independent organization releases its results annually and Air Canada is listed as one of the top 10 airlines in the world in regard to safety. Others in the top 10 include its frequent code-share partner in North America, United Airlines, as well as Qantas, British Air, and Lufthansa.

For a complete list and information on how they collect and analyze data, go to www.atra.aero/.

Air Canada was not the only airline Canadian carrier to be internationally honoured recently.

The Skytrax World Airline Awards is an annual event the industry attends with hopeful anticipation that their company might be recognized as "best of" in one of the categories judged for that year.

This was a big one for Canada. Our own Air Transat was the recipient of this year's World's Best Leisure Airline award.

Air Transat specializes in the leisure market with charter flights to most sun destinations during the winter and to a number of European cities over the summer. In Canada their aircraft are used by their related companies, Transat Holidays and Nolitours, as well as other tour operators who contract with them.

Given the number of leisure charter craft that operate around the world in companies that dwarf Transat by comparison, it's an achievement worth noting. More than 200 airlines are judged on the basis of 38 different aspects of the passenger experience.

While Westjet did not win any international awards, it can take pride in the fact that it was judged No, 6 in the very broad regional category of World's Best Low Cost Airlines. Air Asia was first in this category while Southwest, on which Westjet patterned much of its strategy, was eighth.

For a complete list of categories and winners, go to www.worldairlineawards.com.

Fuel surcharges remain high as oil prices drop

In a follow-up to a previous question about whether airline prices will go down with the price of oil so much less than it was a few years ago, a recent study underscored my view that they would not become more attractive with the lower output costs.

Corporate travel management company Carlson Wagonlit recently released a report on fuel surcharges. It concluded fuel surcharges have increased twice as fast as fuel prices in the last year alone, and these charges can add as much as 50 per cent to ticket prices, depending on the airline and the destination.

Where these charges do come in line are on highly competitive routes, where the airlines need to offer the best prices possible to hold on to their share of market.

Airlines continue to advertise a low base fare to create the perception of low prices even as transparency in advertising both north and south of the border has the end-price clearly shown. These moves to transparency, according to the report, could signal the end to the old rationale for fuel-surcharge pricing.

Ancillary charges staggering

Finally, in this, what has turned out to be a airline report column, the world of ancillary fees keeps growing.

I'm often asked just how much airlines collect over a year from these extra charges. The most recent data based on the financials of just 50 major airlines reveals that it's a staggering amount.

From checked bags to reservation changes, food and beverages to other in-flight consumer options, international travel technology company Amadeus, based in Madrid, indicates the total ancillary charges from those 50 airlines alone is more than $22.5 billion.

While we don't have figures on what Canadian air carriers collect, it's worth noting that recently merged United and Continental airlines collected a combined $5.2 billion in ancillary fees in 2011, the most of any airline measured.

And the second-largest amount was collected by another airline that sends thousands to the United States from Winnipeg, Delta Air Lines.

Forward your travel questions to askjourneys@journeystravel.com . Ron Pradinuk is president of Journeys Travel & Leisure SuperCentre and can be heard Sundays at noon on CJOB. Previous columns and tips can be found on www.journeystravelgear.com or read Ron's travel blog at www.thattravelguy.ca .

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 18, 2012 D2