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 Idea by: Dr. Y.E. Kocabasoglu
 Objective: To raise free airplane tickets for TAF by endorsing an airline company (carrier)
as the official carrier of IFMSA to IFMSA meetings.
 Introduction: IFMSA is a global organization,
with two separate worldwide meetings, attracting more than 500 people annually. However, IFMSA needs funds for its Travel
Assistance Fund, a financial assistance system to enable the participation of the delegates from the industrializing
countries to IFMSA meetings. The constrains on TAF mainly arise from the travel expenses, rather than meeting fees.
By negotiating a deal with a commercial airline company, IFMSA might be able to raise some free tickets, by endorsing
the company as the official carrier to IFMSA meetings. This basicly means that IFMSA shall promote a dependable and affordable
carrier with good connections and wide flight web; encouraging the participants in the EOM and GA to fly with that
company when it is necessary, available and competitive in price. In return, IFMSA shall negotiate for free tickets,
covering the travels of the participants from industrializing countries.
This project could raise up to 25 free tickets per year (assuming 5% rate), equalling to US$ 10,000
(assuming US$ 400.- per ticket).
Seeking Consensus and Preliminary Commitment: IFMSA
should discuss this project in detail before taking any actions. First, a preliminary survey should be done during, say GA, to
see if anyone is interested in the project. If so, a consesus should be sought, to see if this interest could be formulated
in some sort of commitment. This idea could be promoted during the GA by underlining several strong points:
- No extra financial burdens to NMOs regarding to ticket costs;
- No obligations whatsoever, especially when and if there are cheaper flights, connections are very inconvenient
or not available, and when a flight is not necessary;
- If this proves successful, IFMSA can afford more people from industrializing countries to come;
- If this proves successful, IFMSA gets a periodic and established source of income for TAF;
- If this proves successful, IFMSA NMOs does not need to sponsor the travel expenses by their membership fees, so the
membership fees can get lower, or used in other projects;
- If this proves successful, IFMSA could go for a bigger project, with bigger profits, of the same nature, encompassing
all the IFMSA-mobilized students,
What Kind of Carrier?: IFMSA should seek for an airline
company which is
- a dependable and well-established company, so it would be easy to promote the company being a considerable choice;
- a carrier that offers acceptable prices; so flying the official carrier will not mean extra financial burdens;
- a carrier which flies many destinations, so participation potential is kept as high as possible;
- a carrier with good connections both in connection time and in locations, so transfers will not be a big extra burden.
In case a company will not cover all the travel bases concerned, than a concortium of two or more carriers with distinct
regional divisions could be approached. Following carriers might prove suitable for this project: Air France, Alitalia,Austrian Airlines, Iberia, MALEV, TAP.
Negotiation Strategy:
- Try to negotiate on miles rather than number of tickets: For instance, ask for a free mile per 20 miles flown by IFMSA
people (IFMSA miles). This amounts to 5% comission, but will actually cost the carrier less, since they usually have
free seats in their flights anyway;
- Go with a list of IFMSA countries; to see if the carrier has flights to there; and a list of possible beneficiary countries,
to see if the carrier has flights to there, and if those flights are "full capacity flights" or not;
- Do not try to make a definite agreement first year, as you do not know how much people will actually participate
in the project. Suggest an agreement in principle, which will define the number of free seats to be provided next year, based
on the actual IFMSA miles of this year.
- You can also offer advertisement possibilities for the carrier on IFMSA report book, and letterheads.
- Always negotiate for a year at maximum, to improve your chances next year by provoking competition amonst the
carriers, say, if the project is proven successful!
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