Low-cost connections

One day, perhaps sometime soon, travellers wishing to transfer seamlessly from one low-cost carrier to another may be able to do so. The key word here is seamlessly.

At present, do-it-yourself travellers who want to connect from say Canada's Zoom Airlines to Ryanair or easyJet at London Stansted Airport have to collect their bags after their transatlantic flight and recheck them in for the European leg of their journey. Sounds pretty painful, but a surprising number do it.

There is no baggage transfer, or through ticketing, because there is no-one to pay for it. Certainly not the airlines involved. Many are seeking a way of "interlining" passengers where at least one leg of the journey involves a low-cost player, but the stumbling block keeps coming back to the payment question.

Recognizing the rising demand for such connections, airports are at least trying to help. Denmark's Copenhagen is the latest. It has designed a page on its website called "Via Copenhagen" that shows the 130 or so connections available. London Stansted created a similar page some while ago but after a quick check it seems to have disappeared.

Copenhagen has also gone a step further by tying up with an insurance company to offer travellers insurance against missing a flight.

But, as the Emerging Allies feature in Airline Business October suggests, the time when some traditional and low-cost players will need to resolve this issue, as their commercial ties grow, is approaching.