Women are saving their companies thousands of pounds a year by booking flights earlier than their male counterparts.
A study from Carlson Wagonlit Travel, which analysed 6.4 million air transactions, found women book flights 1.9 days earlier paying on average 2 per cent less for their tickets than men.
CWT said the financial implications of these findings are “significant”. For companies with 1,000 business travellers, the difference – and therefore potential saving – is just under $50,000 a year. That rises to $1 million for a traveller base of 20,000.
CWT Solutions Group worked with Javier Donna, assistant professor of economics at The Ohio State University, and Gregory Veramendi, assistant professor of economics at Arizona State University. Using advanced statistical techniques, they were able to quantify a direct link between gender and flight booking patterns.
It also found people tend to book flights further in advance the older they are. Additionally, as travellers flying frequency increases, they typically book flights closer to their departure date.
Catalin Ciobanu, senior director data and analytics in the CWT Solutions Group, said: “This analysis technique opens up a whole new range of opportunities in the quest for personalised travel.
“It can also be applied to many other types of traveller segmentation, including geography, booking channel used, or individual business unit, for example.
“Ultimately, by knowing our travellers better we can improve both their experience, as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of corporate travel programmes,” he said.
The full results can be found in the White Paper