Gao Official Report: Airline Fees Are Misleading (publishing)

August 31st, 2010 admin Posted in news |

By Timmy Vic

The growing number of airline fees is confusing and misleading for consumers said a new report released by the Government’s Accountability Office GAO, on Wednesday.

Congress’ financial watchdog, the GAO recommended that airlines be more upfront about the “true” prices of their tickets. Airlines have been tagging on fees for optional services such as meals, blankets, early boarding and seat selection, said the GAO.

These fees, however, were not disclosed at the time of booking, prompting the GAO to recommend that the government step in to improve the disclosure of airline fees, not only for the airlines, but also for travel booking services.

According to the report, it should be a requirement for airlines, travel agents, online travel services, and other ticket distribution channels to show all fees and services in a clear and consistent manner.

The report also points out that the airlines have becoming increasingly reliant on fee revenues. Since most of these fees are not related to the transportation a person, the fees reduce the proportion of total passenger revenue that is taxed to help fund FAA.

The IRS currently taxes the airlines a 7.5 percent excise tax on domestic air transportation. But while the actual ticket is taxed, the fee for a checked-in bag or a sandwich is not.

Therefore, the GAO report says that the IRS is getting much less in taxes from the airlines than they used to thanks to the new fees.

According to the GOA, if the 7.5 percent tax on airline tickets were applied to fees, the government could have raised $186 million last year just from checked bags fees.

Not surprisingly, the report’s findings have many in Congress and the Department of Transportation considering new rules that would change how airlines charge for baggage, blankets, drinks, luggage, and just about everything else the airlines have tagged fees on.

The new announcement could be bad news for the airlines, which have used fees to improve their bottom lines in a tough economy. Last budget year, the top 10 domestic airlines collected $7.8 billion in fees.

PeterGreenberg.com is a constantly updated source for the latest in travel news, analysis and information led by travel guru Peter Greenberg. For more information, please visit www.PeterGreenberg.com.

Why Email Marketing?

By Garrett36 Pierson36

Email is considered one of the most powerful tools in marketing. Especially these times that more and more people are largely depending almost everything about their businesses on the internet. According to marketing experts, email marketing yields outstanding results even though little time and money is allotted to it; and they are right. Even small businesses are finding this marketing strategy one of the most effective ways to relay information and promotions. This is true, even without considering the numerous benefits it brings to different types of businesses.

So what makes email marketing one of the most efficient marketing tools? Here are the most common reasons:

1. It is inexpensive.

Unlike the postal service, this type of strategy is a lot cheaper to use. Most email servers today offer their services for free so obtaining email accounts are definitely cheap. Its maintenance and usage is also inexpensive if not totally free. This is why even small businesses are able to utilize such strategy even without having any allotted budget when using this strategy for their marketing campaigns. All it needs is a juicy and enticing content and the tool would significantly work on its own.

2. It is fast.

This type of marketing strategy is a lot faster than the conventional postal messaging. Though regular email messages generally take about 24-36 hours depending on the server’s capabilities, most of them today arrive almost in real time. This only means that almost all email messages today are sent with just a few minutes delay; and this timeliness makes it even more reliable that promotions, information and updates are sent out to customers in a timely manner.

3. It is effective.

Most companies today have included such type of marketing utility in their campaigns because of its effectiveness. As a matter fact, it is already included by experts as one of the important tools that most businesses should have in their priority lists.

The use of email in marketing is an effective strategy because it proactively communicates with company’s existing clients. It is highly effective when persuading current clients to go back to the site for new promotions and getting customers respond to surveys, latest updates, changes, etc.

Evidently, as a result of its effectiveness, this tool helps business owners to keep their current customers tuned-in to the company’s campaigns, updated with the various product or service-related information, enticed to make additional purchases and kept loyal to their service or product provider.

4. It is easy.

Using an email as a marketing tool is definitely easier this present times. It does not even need an envelope, a piece of paper or even a postage stamp before it can be sent to customers. There are already a lot of free tools available online that have easy GUIs. This means that almost all email proceeds today are user-friendly and easy to incorporate with the other needs of the business like HTML formatting, email trackers and even receipt reports.

Plus, email marketing is also a lot easier to manage than the conventional ways. Grouping customers according to product purchases, locations and marketing preferences are as well a lot more convenient. Email lists and filters are just a few examples of these ways.

Victor Green is an Account Executive at EliteEmail.com, the award winning email marketing solution used by companies who need the top email marketing software. Try the complete small business email marketing program today for free!

Top 4 Advantages of Email Marketing Software

By Garrett36 Pierson36

An email marketing software is an application that allows bulk emails to be sent to target audiences. Even though it can also be exploited to send unsolicited emails, the general legal use of such program is to send promotional content, newsletters or updates to subscribers. This type of application is also used to store contact details, message archives, message history, campaign statistics and other relevant reports. It generally contains all the necessary features that are needed to run a marketing campaign using emails, a feature that makes it most-loved by a lot of marketers.

There are various reasons why businesses are using email marketing software in their campaigns. Most marketers rely on this marketing tool because of its ease of use or the utility itself; however, there are yet more advantages to unfold about this great marketing tool. Here are the common reasons.

1. It speeds up the process.

The first advantage that this tool has over others is that this non-conventional marketing utility speeds up the process of marketing. Unlike the ordinary email messaging programs, this utility can manage contacts easily and can send email messages in no time. It provides users the convenience of sending one message to even thousands of recipients at a time by means of its bulk email features. Also, it helps users to easily filter, sort or edit contact information, decreasing the time needed for the recording. Thus, this software speeds up the marketing process and makes the marketing campaign a lot easy to implement.

2. It is easily used for routinely campaigns.

One of the best features that this application has is that provides users a handy solution for recurring marketing campaigns. Sending regular updates, new product information and press releases are conveniently done with this tool ’s scheduler. With this, all information that needs to be sent at regular times can be sent at a timely manner, making current customers feel that they are important for the company.

3. It is less expensive.

Compared to the conventional marketing strategies, the use of email marketing software is a lot cheaper because the bulk and the frequency of the emails sent requires no additional fees. This means that despite the fact that emails are sent to thousands of registered customers, the marketing costs does not increase, making it a lenient utility even when the business clientele is expanding or increasing in number. This feature is even most attractive to businesses especially for campaigns that aim to promote regular client communication and improve customer relations. Some companies also find it handy in terms of customer service applications like surveys, polls, etc.

4. It is professional.

This marketing tool also promotes a professional business image among its customers. Marketing campaigns that aims to enhance their brands, service to customers and uplift the business’ professional image finds this an efficient tool. Aside from making the customers feel that they are well cared for, it also promotes professionalism with its various templates that makes the business’ name look more credible and huge in the market.

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