New York – With the British Airways/Iberia surcharge on GDS bookings set to take effect in two weeks, many eyes are on the United Kingdom’s largest GDS. Travelport arguably has both more influence on, and more to lose from, the outcome of the airlines’ program than any other intermediary. Speaking at a World Travel Inc. event here last week, Travelport… Read More »
United Airlines this summer made available a new self-service portal for corporate and agency customers. Now it’s training salespeople on the internal component of the platform. Based on Salesforce, the customer relationship management tool is meant to streamline planning and interactions with existing and prospective corporate clients. The CRM system is on the same platform as the Jetstream… Read More »
New York – What is American Airlines senior vice president of global sales Alison Taylor cheerful about? What keeps her up at night? The answer to both questions is the same: the future state of AA’s GDS relationships. Speaking here last week at a World Travel Inc. event, Taylor reiterated AA’s stance that NDC is not about circumventing… Read More »
Carlson Wagonlit Travel joined rivals Amex GBT and HRG in creating a deal to avoid the IAG carriers’ GDS surcharge. CWT would use “participating GDSs.” It did not name the lone participating GDS, Amadeus, in its press statement. CWT said very little about the New Distribution Capability, posting the following in a client Q&A: “What agreement is in place between… Read More »
Carlson Wagonlit Travel is showing it’s serious about lodging, with 150 people already in its RoomIt dedicated hotel division, and more to come next year. Six salespeople are selling RoomIt to businesses that are not clients of the mother ship. “We have already signed a RoomIt-only client,” said CWT president for hotels Scott Brennan during a late September… Read More »