TMCs Still Need More People, GBTA Poll Finds
Ninety percent of about 60 travel management company personnel polled in January by GBTA expected their firms to increase staff size in 2023 compared with last year. Forty-six percent said their companies were still smaller than they were before Covid. TMC staffing shortages and resulting service problems are…
American Airlines Continues Fallback From Corporate Market
American Airlines is retreating from the managed corporate travel market and erasing its tracks. According to a World Travel Inc. newsletter, the airline from April 1 will stop providing discounts to companies with less than $1.5 million in annual AA spending. Also as of that date, AA’s corporate…
What To Do About Sky-High International Fares
Domestic U.S. airfare growth has moderated and there’s potential for the same in some long-haul international markets. Any company with an appreciable volume of international air travel should see it as a high-value area for spend management. According to Advito, January bookings as of last week for business…
Sabre, TMCs Advance AA NDC Testing
After some initial tests of basic functionality late last year, Sabre and several travel management companies last week started an “expanded pilot” to support fares coming through American Airlines’ NDC-compliant application programming interface. Corporate travel buyers are keen to see progress as they contemplate potentially unwelcome consequences of…
Dispatch 2
Before the pandemic, American Airlines crowed about adding to its sales force and growing market share in corporate travel. Conditions have changed. Both corporate travel and airline capacity growth are depressed. Improving profitability and paying down debt are top priorities. After cutting back last year on customer benefits including perks and discounts,…
American Express Global Business Travel To Surcharge Qantas Tickets Bought In Australia
One consequence of airlines externalizing the cost of distribution is that it’s pushed to corporate customers. American Express Global Business Travel as of Feb. 20 will invoice clients an extra 3 percent of the ticket price (excluding taxes and airport fees) on all bookings with Qantas purchased in…
Explainer: Personalization And Airline Retailing
In light of American Airlines’ plan to move upwards of 40 percent of its fares to direct or NDC-enabled channels as of April, it’s worth re-examining one of the primary motivations: better tailoring products and services for flyers. As described by its developer, the International Air Transport Association,…