Most regional operators will tell you their acquisition cost is zero, because they do not run ads. That is not zero cost. It is uncounted cost, and it is usually the largest one in the business after the aircraft.
How to calculate what a booking costs you today
Take one quarter and add up four things:
Hours spent answering enquiries that did not fly. Yours or your dispatcher's, at what that hour is worth. If you handle thirty enquiries and fly eight, the twenty-two failures are the cost of the eight.
Hours spent on the ones that did. Quoting, confirming, chasing paperwork.
Anything paid out. Website, listings, commissions, the receptive agency's cut.
And what you gave away on price to win them. The gap between your rate and the rate you accepted is acquisition cost wearing a different name.
Divide by bookings. That number is almost never zero and almost never what people expect.
Do it for one quarter only. A year's worth is harder to reconstruct honestly, and the quarter is enough to show you the shape.
Why it is so often uncounted
Because it is paid in time rather than money, and time does not appear on a bank statement.
An operator who spends half a day resolving «how much is a flight to Osa?» — a question that does not say whether it means Drake Bay, 83.5 nautical miles from San José, or the other side of the peninsula — has paid for that enquiry. If it does not fly, they paid for nothing.
Where an outside channel is genuinely cheaper
The enquiry arrives resolved. Origin, destination, date, passengers and baggage. You answer availability and a rate rather than conducting an interview.
The comparison happens before it reaches you. Someone who wanted a scheduled seat has already found out that charter is quoted per aircraft. We show a "from" price per route; the final fare depends on the date, the group and the baggage, and is confirmed in writing before booking.
And you pay only on flights that happen. The operator is paid the full flight at their usual rate: our intermediation is not deducted from what they charge. An unfilled enquiry costs you a two-line reply instead of an afternoon.
Where it is not cheaper
For clients who already know you. Paying any distribution cost on a repeat client is the worst trade in this business, and it is why your own site matters.
And for work you were going to win anyway. A channel that sends you jobs your regular receptive agency would have sent has not acquired anything; it has re-routed it.
This one is worth watching in the first months. If the bookings arriving through a new channel look like the clients you already had, the channel is not growing you — it is inserting itself.
The comparison worth running
Not «commission versus no commission». Cost per booking won, all-in, by channel.
A San José–Tamarindo of 97.1 nautical miles won through your own site with four hours of your time is not free. Won through a channel with twenty minutes of your time and a distribution cost may well be cheaper — or not. Run the number for a quarter before deciding.
What we will not claim
That we are your cheapest channel. Your own site, worked properly, beats us over three years and we say so on every page where it comes up.
What we are is the cheapest channel for the client who did not know you existed. The specific aircraft is assigned on confirmation, based on passenger count, baggage and the destination field.
Frequently asked questions
Is my acquisition cost really zero?
No. It is uncounted. Time spent on enquiries that did not fly is the largest hidden cost after the aircraft.
What goes into the calculation?
Failed-enquiry hours, successful-enquiry hours, money paid out, and the discount given to win.
Why is it so often missed?
Because it is paid in time, and time does not appear on a bank statement.
Where is an outside channel cheaper?
When the enquiry arrives resolved and you pay only on flights that happen.
Where is it not?
On repeat clients and on work you would have won anyway.
Are you my cheapest channel?
No. Your own site is, over three years. We are cheapest for the client who did not know you existed.
Let us talk
The operator is paid the full flight at their usual rate: our intermediation is not deducted from what they charge.