AerCap unlocks savings with unused airline ticket refunds
BCD Travel’s unused ticket auditing turns potential losses into cost-saving opportunities
DOWNLOAD SUCCESS STORYChallenge
AerCap Singapore faced challenges in monitoring and tracking unused airline tickets, resulting in missed refunds due to expiring tickets.
Approach
BCD Travel developed a structured process to audit, identify and refund unused tickets on a quarterly basis.
Results
Through this initiative, AerCap recovered over US$224K in previously unclaimed refunds in 2024 without any administrative burden.
AerCap at a glance
Industry: Aerospace and Defense
Headquarters: Dublin
Presence: Global
Number of employees: 500+ employees
Annual revenue: US$17.8 billion
AerCap is the industry leader across all areas of aviation leasing – aircraft, engines, and helicopters. They have a highly attractive portfolio, a diversified customer base and an order book of the most in-demand new technology assets in the world. This scale, combined with their unmatched team, enables them to provide comprehensive and tailor-made fleet solutions that are unrivalled in the leasing business.
Unused airline tickets are a hidden cost for many businesses. Often non-refundable, unused airline tickets are purchased tickets that travelers don’t use due to unforeseen circumstances or changes in plans. Many organizations struggle to track and recover refunds for these tickets, leading to considerable financial losses. According to IATA, 10% of all tickets sold globally are never used, amounting to over US$10 billion annually. BCD Travel Singapore introduced a structured process to help clients identify and reclaim the value of unused tickets, turning potential losses into realized savings.
Challenge
AerCap Singapore faced multiple hurdles in managing unused tickets:
- Absence of proactive monitoring and tracking
- Manual and time-consuming processes
- Inaccuracies due to unsynchronized airline data
- Ticket expiration causing missed refunds
As a result, the company had a significant number of unused tickets expiring monthly when no action was taken.
Approach
BCD developed a process to simplify and optimize the recovery of unused ticket refunds.
- Proactive process: BCD identifies, audits and refunds all unused tickets on a quarterly basis.
- Transparent reporting: Clients receive a detailed report on unused ticket validity, value, and refund status.
- Quick results: After the audit process of 10-15 working days, client receive all refunds within four to eight weeks.
- No cure, no pay: BCD only charges a pre-agreed fee for successfully refunded tickets, ensuring cost-effectiveness.
Results
The new process proved highly effective, delivering substantial financial benefits to AerCap. They successfully recovered over US$224K in previously unclaimed refunds in 2024 without any administrative burden.
Conclusion
BCD’s seamless, cost-effective and transparent solution maximizes the recovery of unused ticket refunds. By automating the audit and refund process, businesses can achieve increased efficiency, complete data control, and significant financial gains with minimal manual effort.
BCD’s solution has revolutionized the way we manage unused tickets, saving us considerable time and effort while recouping refunds that would have otherwise been forfeited.
Gail McCarthy
Travel Manager at AerCap
Our goal is to simplify travel expense management for our clients. With this proactive approach, we ensure that no unused ticket goes unnoticed, turning potential losses into cost-saving opportunities.
Richard Mo
Director, Program Management at BCD Travel Asia Pacific