For former Global Business Travel Association executive director and veteran corporate travel executive Mike McCormick, there’s no fighting the changes travel management now faces and no avoiding uncertainty. The American Airlines NDC-powered pricing mandate beginning now is signaling a major inflection point in the travel industry. It is the canary in the coal mine. However,…
We broke the news on December 1 but it’s still sinking in. After hearing no mention of it on investor calls, we tried to contact the loquacious JPMorgan Chase analyst Jamie Baker to talk about it. We didn’t get a hold of him. This week, Baker told AA, “It feels as if you are taking…
Under pressure to improve efficiency, travel management companies are working to automate responses to travel planning requests from travelers sent by email. Contacts of this type make up a significant portion of incoming requests for many TMCs. That figure is 60 percent at Atlanta-based Travel Inc., one of 10 TMCs that has installed Amgine’s technology…
During its eight years, TripActions required some administrative work for clients to sign up. They would need contact with a representative and a contract. With its rebranding, that’s gone and non-client travel managers face the prospect of fending off employees who sign up on their own, agree to terms and policies on their company’s behalf,…
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, now AA is saying goodbye to its…
[UPDATE, Jan. 26, 2023: This article did not properly describe ARC’s Direct Connect initiative; its definition is updated below.] We start with some good news. ARC president and CEO Lauri Reishus told attendees to The Beat Live in December that the pandemic caused fewer travel agency closings than ARC had anticipated. Back in 2020, Reishus…
“As we all know,” said S&P Global director of global travel and meetings Ann Dery, “TMC data is horrendously awful.” Dery’s comment at the Global Business Travel Association convention in August elicited faux disbelief from co-panelist Steve Sitto, senior group manager for global travel, events and mobility supply chain at Tesla. They elaborated. “I don’t…
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