Multinational travel programs typically use at least two of the three major airline partner groupings, and many use all three. U.K.-based financial software firm Finastra in 2019 committed to providing all its business on a lucrative international route to just one. After seeing savings by aggregating that spending, the company is hunting for similar opportunities…
With unruly passengers, fears of virus transmission and understaffed airport concessions, a quiet place to sit, work and eat can go a long way. American, Delta and United airlines within the next few months will reopen nearly all domestic airport lounges. Card companies Chase and Capital One are preparing brand new airport clubs, competing with…
Hailed as a solution for the challenges of fare unbundling, NDC has been in development for nine years. What does it have to show for corporate clients? A rebundled fare, theoretical savings, “whatnot” and “whatever.” Oh, and new distribution fees. “So, nothing new or innovative,” according to former Sabre executive Martin Cowley. Cowley got into…
There’s a line of thinking that says the pandemic is widening a gap between Amadeus and its key rivals, Sabre and Travelport. Not only was Amadeus already using more modern infrastructure, the theory says, but it also genuinely bought into XML-based distribution and related NDC protocols sooner. These factors position it best with airlines that…
With reaction, assessment and recovery on their minds, corporate travel professionals understandably did not focus closely on airline distribution developments this year. Inasmuch as they did, for some, it was a question of how the relevant systems could help the response to the pandemic — or not. There’s some debate about how soon the usually…
This autumn isn’t panning out the way many of us expected. Business travel hasn’t bounced back, and in-person industry education is non-existent. Fortunately, virtual forums are standing in. The batch of insights below came from online events conducted by Deem (Sept. 24), the Institute of Travel Management (Sept. 29), and Atlas Travel, Cornell University and…
BCD Travel is paying Microsoft about $20 million for a multi-GDS search and booking desktop system that also could help agents manage bookings made outside the global distribution systems. The travel management company a decade ago retired a similar initiative after airlines patched up their differences with GDS providers. The ultimate cost of the project…
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