Kaveesha Beranagoda Gamage
BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Travel and Tourism
Unit 5 – Marketing Travel and Tourism products and service
Assignment 2 – Marketing Mix
British Airways Marketing Mix
Nature of product
The products offered at British Airways are mainly intangible rather than tangible. Their holidays, car
hire, insurance and seats in the aeroplane are intangible because they are purchased through their
website and the customers can`t physically see their destinations but they can only see pictures of
the destinations. The only tangible products offered by British Airways are the on-board products
such as food purchased on short-haul flights and their duty free goods because they can see it
physically before buying it.
T&T products and services are often perishable. For example, British Airways once their flight has left
the airport they can`t sell any more seats and these seats becomes perished. In order to avoid
having perishable seats, British Airways offer discounted seats because airlines have to make sure
their flights are as full as possible to make a profit.
British Airways offer on board services for example food services and customer service. They
provide the best customer service and provide the staff with training by following their ethos “To Fly
to serve”. The service offered are integrated with the latest technology. They offer entertainment
screens, beds, cabins, extra space and main meal courses. British airways have four classes,
economy, business, premium economy and first class. The higher the travel class is the more
sophisticated and luxurious the service is and it also depends the duration of the flight.
The Brand is the name and image that goes with the product or service and to deliver a message
about the product. British Airway’s branding shows their excellent quality of their service which is
their unique selling point and that they are the UK`s national carrier. British Airways is the UK
national carrier and it is well known for its premium travel experience. They have their logo on every
aircraft they own and on their pilots, hand and staffs uniform which represent their ethos “To fly to
serve”.
The product life cycle shows how a product moves through different stages from introduction to
decline. In 2009 and 2010 there was a global recession, the competition of airlines increased due to
the decline in passengers travelling. British Airways started to see a decline in their profits and this
was caused by a number of different factors. As the popularity of budget airlines increased, BA saw
themselves in direct competition especially when flying to European destinations. During this
period, they were also affected by high fuel costs and a number of staff strikes.
In 2011, to stop from the decline, British Airways rebranded their image and changed their ethos “To
fly to serve”. Their new company ethos shows that their priority is to provide excellent customer
service for their passengers. Moreover, it shows that for them their passengers are really important.
Furthermore, they want to be the first choice for long-haul destinations. They improved their
customer service skills by providing excellent training for their staff. They expanded their
destinations and introduced two new adverts to promote their company. The two new adverts
showed the development of the aircrafts through the time line. The importance of the generations
and their future and how they are the leaders in aviation. They also showed how they innovate with
new seat design for the customers to feel comfortable, the ethos is shown in every pilot`s hat and
, Kaveesha Beranagoda Gamage
BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Travel and Tourism
Unit 5 – Marketing Travel and Tourism products and service
Assignment 2 – Marketing Mix
staffs uniform and the Check in app was introduced as well which helped saving time to their
passengers. Their annual reports of 2013 and 14 showed an increase in their profits and the coming
moving back into the growth stage of the cycle.
British Airways gain more profit through the business class and first class and because of that they
always try to innovate those departments to give their customers a good experience and a
comfortable flight and making them wanting to come back again. Furthermore, in their new 2019
advert for their 100th year anniversary, they showed the diversity of their customers and how they
accept each individual for their uniqueness also they represent Britain as whole.
Pricing
“If you book flights directly with us, you deserve the very best deal. Which is exactly what you’ll get
with our Best Price Guarantee.”
British Airway use differential pricing strategy which means the products have various pricing in
order to allow them customers to choose what type of service they want. For instance, an economic
ticket to Sri Lanka its £683. Whereas a first-class ticket is £6315. This shows that, when the class is
high the price will be high too as they will give outstanding service to their customers so they will not
feel un-satisfied. This helps them to keep their high standards and creating profits as they have a
wide range of competitors. If the price is higher than the quality, the company would not make any
profit. And if the price and quality are balanced then the company would reach its profits and gain
customer loyalty.
British Airways have many competitors. Which are, EasyJet, Jet2.com, Virgin Atlantic, Delta,
Monarch, United, American Airlines, Southwest, Flybe and Lufthansa. Because of the high number of
competitors, British Airways will use competitive pricing strategies. Which mean they will keep in
check the prices a competitor sets for their competitors. For example, the introduction of the low
cost airlines and the recession they started to introduce low cost pricing to remain competitive with
their competitors. British Airways also offers discounts for customers having frequent flier miles and
in periods of festivals like Christmas. The increasing fuel prices have put pressure on the airlines and
because of that they need to ensure that they are earning a sizable profit for efficient functioning.
Furthermore, British Airways uses odd pricing which makes customers feel that a price is cheaper
because it is an odd number.
This example makes the Customer automatically thing that they are spending less and saving more.
Moreover, they use promotional pricing to promote new destination. They will introduce the new
destination by starting with a low price to draw attention to the product and gain publicity for a
limited time. When the destination gains popularity, they will increase the price so they can gain
more profit.