THOMSON has started charging holidaymakers an optional £10 flat fee for a return airport transfer on a late deal, with immediate effect.
The move could net the market leader up to £4m extra profit as around 400,000 people travel on last-minute holidays every year with Thomson.
The company is also reducing the baggage allowance for late deals from 20 kilos to 15 kilos and charging £4 per extra kilo on short-haul flights and £7 per extra kilo on long-haul flights. Those on late deals will be charged for kids’ clubs at a rate of £20 per child for seven days or £40 per child for 14 days. However, many late deal customers will find it difficult to gain access to the clubs as they are often booked in advance.
In addition, late deal customers have been warned they may have a reduced service from representatives in resort.
One agent complained to Travel Weekly that the decision was aggravating holidaymakers who did not want to pay extra charges and blamed the agent for them.
But Thomson deputy managing director Shaun Powell said it needed to make money on late deals and differentiate them from full-price holidays. He said holidaymakers were getting what they paid for.
Powell said he was not aware of any complaints about the policy. He said 2,000 people had bought Thomson late deals in the first four days of the new policy and some 94% had opted to pay the £10 fee, which is commissionable to agents. He said the reduction in baggage allowance did not affect many holidaymakers.
“It is difficult to move up the price of a late deal,” he said. “People have the mentality that they will only pay £199, but then they are happy to pay the extra for transfers.”