Interview with the operators of Flights For Cheap
"Good morning and thank you for coming to meet us today. Can you please tell us a bit about Flights
For Cheap and who is behind the idea?"
"Thanks for having us Ken, my name is Pascal Kellenberg I am part of Arvox, a Queensland based
company specialising in online product placement. We are a small but dedicated team working to
bring the best choices of Flights For Cheap to our customers. We work work with one of the worlds
largest aggregators of Flights For Cheap offers serving Flights of over 450 airlines worth millions
of dollars every year. So although we are a small company we are lucky enough to be in the position
to offer everything the customer expects when booking with a traditional travel agent."
"Recently Flights For Cheap and other similar offerings have made the news being heavily critized
by one of Australia's leading Travel Agents who we cannot name here for legal reasons. What is your
opinion on the critisim of your offering?"
"Well Ken, the truth is that the travel business is changing and not everybody thrives on change.
See an offering like Flights For Cheap has the massive advantage that we do not have the overhead
a traditional travel agent has - we need no branches, we have no extra staff, simply none of the
regular overheads and are therefore in a position to truly pass on the best deals to customers and
offer flights for cheap with which a travel agent operating within traditional structures simply
cannot compete."
"Specifically you are being told that although you can provide flights for cheap you cannot provide
the same level of customer service given by your local travel agent. How do you feel about that?"
"For starters, we do provide all levels of customer service - provided by the companies whos
product you end up buying. There even is online live support during the booking process with
Flights For Cheap to help you with any questions you may have. However it is true that this service
is very different to sitting down opposite your travel agent and having a live conversation. The
question is whether the customer is willing to pay for this service and if he is he will not book
with Flights For Cheap but visit his local travel agent. I have no doubts that both offerings have
their target market, the problem for the existing travel agents is however that they are on the
loosing side as any market share the online travel providers like Flights for Cheap can provide will
inevitably cut into their market share. I therefore do not accept the critizism that Flights For
Cheap behaves in a negative opportunistic way but simply provides Flights For Cheap for the market
segment ready to take up that offering and willing to trade personalised service for lower airfares
which result in our Flights For Cheap offerings."
"And how do you feel about the claim that internet offerings like the one provided by Flights For
Cheap destroys local jobs in Australia? It has recently been demanded that the operation of websites
like Flights For Cheap be restricted in order to preserve traditional Australian travel businesses."
"All I can tell you Ken is that Flights For Cheap provides work - I cannot tell you anything
about what other jobs Flights For Cheap may claim in the process but as far as I am concerned we
are in the business of creating jobs in Australia and competition is the normal way of conducting
business in our capitalistic society. It is not like we are outsourcing factory jobs to a chinese
sweatshop but Flights For Cheap and many other online businesses create opportunity for innovative
Australians all around the country. If we don't keep up with the times jobs will truly and permanently
be lost. I don't feel upset by these claims, in fact we feel reconfirmed in our activities, the claims
brought against Flights For Cheap only confirm the success of our offering and the obvious fright it
puts into the competition. Honestly we are quite flattered to receive any attention at all, we did not
expect to be noticed by the big players on the market. Obviously we are onto something and we will find
out over the coming years whether Flights For Cheap meets customer demands and has a longterm place on the
Australian travel market."
"Thank you for being with us today - and all the best with Flights For Cheap."
"Thank you too Ken, it has been a pleasure and we are looking forward to an exciting year and are
confident growth will keep up to see us providing flights for cheap to a fast growing demand in
Australia for great travel deals and Flights For Cheap."