Another Name...another Fare

[Kip Powick]

Airlines are hoping to have Flex appeal.

This week, Air Canada renamed its Tango Plus category Flex, saying it better reflects the flexibility and economy value of this category

.

But it will continue to use existing names, including Tango, which is the cheapest fare class, and Latitude and Executive, for the premium classes.

Meanwhile, WestJet Airlines, which is moving away from its one-fare pricing structure, is introducing Econo, Flex and Plus this spring.

“We’ve had these names for a number of years. People have gotten used to it,” said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick. “Everybody knows Tango is the cheapest fare.”

Tango was the name of Air Canada’s previous failed effort into a no-frills airline. The company is returning to the discount airline business this summer, with Rouge, which will fly to cities in Europe and the Caribbean. It will offer three classes of service — Tango, Flex and Latitude.

WestJet spokesman Richard Bartrem said Flex is meant to describe what passengers will receive, noting many airlines around the world use Flex to describe a fare-level offering.

The move is part of WestJet’s plan to attract more business travellers, who are willing to pay more, be it for a slightly bigger seat, or for the flexibility to change or cancel flights.

Depending on the fare class, passengers receive different levels of service from Air Canada, anything from advanced seat selection to waiving change fees and even how many frequent flyer points are given.

Queen’s University marketing professor Ken Wong says that these different categories reflect the economic realities of running an airline. “It’s very hard to come up with one-size-fits-all,” he said. “I suspect that four is probably upper limit of how many fare classes you could have.”

With more than that, Wong said it’s hard for consumers to boil down differences.

“WestJet’s labels are good, better and best,” he said. “If the concept is if you pay a little more, you get a little more, or hopefully get a lot more, then the name of fare class should reinforce that.”

While Air Canada’s names wouldn’t have been Wong’s first choice, he argues that because they have been in use for so long, changing to something else would have invited confusion.

“Sometimes, even if it’s not perfect, the public is used to it,” he said. “Everybody knows Executive is better than Latitude, which is better than Tango. Flex just makes it clear there’s a distinction between Tango and Tango Plus.”

Wong compared the different fare structures to credit card offerings.

“Regular, gold, platinum and now titanium,” he said, referring to American Express’s super-exclusive Centurion card. “It’s by invitation-only — a $5,000 initiation fee and $2,500 a year.”