Month: January 2015

Uneven Chip Card Migration Will Require Awareness Programs

David Jonas

Corporate cards with chips finally are coming to the United States en masse. How travel departments should deal with them depends on the circumstances. Chip cards requiring a PIN for authentication are more secure and more widely accepted globally than chip-and-signature cards. But many corporate program managers aren’t getting chip-and-PIN from their payment firm. Payments industry analyst Frank Martien of First Annapolis Consulting said chip-and-signature…

Sabre’s Planned Acquisition Is Likely Asian GDS Abacus

Jay Campbell

[UPDATE: Sabre on May 14, 2015, announced the acquisition of Abacus International.] Sabre Corporation on Monday revealed in a financial filing that this quarter it may agree to an acquisition for its Travel Network GDS division. The acquired company would cost around $500 million, add about $250 million in revenue and improve earnings starting next year. Sabre declined to identify this…

Fares Following Fuel? Maybe Not

David Jonas

Some think an obvious consequence of dramatically lower fuel prices is lower airfares. But it’s not that simple. It may not even be likely. “Lower fuel prices translate into lower operating costs for airlines, and, sometimes, air carriers pass along these savings to travelers in the form of lower air ticket prices,” according to an…

Airbnb Adds Risk Management Support In Further Appeal To Corporate Travel

Jay Campbell

International SOS for a few months has been taking data from Airbnb to help joint clients locate employees in a crisis. Sources said Airbnb also is soliciting other types of support from travel risk management companies to increase its appeal to corporate travel programs. Meanwhile, Airbnb seems to be expanding its business travel sales and account management capabilities. The home rental facilitator…

Energy Sector Taking Its Belt-Tightening Turn

David Jonas

When crude oil prices in 2008 peaked at around $140 a barrel, then-Continental Airlines president Jeff Smisek said oil and gas clients were “living large and flying all around the world up front and spending money like drunken sailors.” The global financial recession shortly thereafter hit prices hard, but oil rebounded to more than $100 a barrel by 2011. Prices…

Rivals, Employees Accuse Flight Centre Of Deceptive Practices

Jay Campbell

[UPDATE, Sept. 12, 2016: Channel 4 Dispatches on British television in spring 2016 leveled some related accusations. Channel 4 included a Flight Centre response saying the “Dispatches’ allegation that Flight Centre has a policy or culture of applying opportunistic or excessive margins to particular customers or demographics is completely unfounded.” The travel company, though, acknowledged the program may “highlight some isolated…

How To Get Executives To Focus On Travel Risk Management

Jay Campbell

Nothing important gets done without executive buy-in, but what if no one in the C-suite is listening? That’s the conundrum facing some professionals as they try to establish robust travel risk management programs. When regulations or the news don’t get executives’ attention, experts advise giving them something tangible. “People who have never experienced a crisis don’t often see that it could happen to them,”…

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