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Promotion based on national discrimination at Bangkok Airways and its partners

Bangkok Airways launched a promotion campaign only targeting Thai customers. The problem is that the promotion is displayed at Thai airports and can be seen by anyone, including foreigners…

CHIANG MAI- Entering Chiang Mai international airport, they are a wide range of posters greeting passengers with attractive offers. One of them is a promotion campaign of “boutique carrier” Bangkok Airways, offering a promotional 3 for 2 price with holiday packages. The carrier plays very “boutique” indeed: the campaign is only in Thai language and obviously targets only Thais. When asking a confirmation at the counter, an employee of the airline confirms that the campaign is indeed only for Thai nationalities, even not foreign residents living in the country.

Double pricing practice in tourism has been a standard feature of Thailand tourism industry. Museums, national parks, credit cards, Duty Free Shops and even some restaurants propose different prices set on facial discrimination. As soon as a customer does unfortunately not look like a Thai, he will end up by paying more. It is easy to notice when something goes wrong in terms of price setting: Tourists should be careful to know that numbers suddenly written only with Thai traditional numbers hide a double pricing practice.

Thailand is not the only country in the world to discriminate one citizen over another with different prices. However, Thailand is probably one of the few countries to practice it with so little diplomacy… In many countries for example, prices for residents will also allow foreign people living in a country, without judging of his race, nationality or skin colour. For example in Europe, Disneyland Paris proposes discounted prices for the inhabitants of the region Ile de France, where the theme park is located. However, the price is only advertised on the website of the company with immediate online payment and after checking of the address. They would be no double prices standards being shown at the gates of Disneyland Paris…

And this is where the advertising for Thai customers of Bangkok Airways is an extremely irritating practice. It shows a total lack of respect of the airline for its customers by
1) writing in Thai language and assuming that foreigners will not guess what it is all about
2) discriminating in public passengers according to their nationality. The sales lady behind Bangkok Airways counter tried to justify the practice by mentioning that the promotion was set up by a travel agency and not by the airline. She added that the promotion was only for a hotel stay and did not concern any air fare. She might be right. But with a poster splashing the “Bangkok Airways” logo, the message goes certainly wrong.

The practice is even less comprehensible for an airline such as Bangkok Airways. The passengers’ profile of the carrier is mostly divided into two categories: transfer passengers as Bangkok Airways has many code shares with other international carriers; and individual travellers. The latter is a mix of foreign tourists booking directly online and Thai locals, who generally belong to Thailand upper class as Bangkok Airways is perceived as an expensive airline – fares tend to be generally higher on regional and domestic routes than the competition. Thailand upper class has money, a lot of money. Giving them special discounts and not extending the same privileges to other passengers looks at least like a very insensitive commercial gesture. “Fly Boutique, Feel Unique” is the slogan of the carrier. It probably applies only if the passenger is Thai. This is better to be known as long as the airline and its partners will adhere to commercial practices where blatant national discrimination fixes the rule.

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Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.

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