When Lufthansa Group in mid-2015 informed the market of a new distribution strategy, one stated objective was to lower associated costs. The company expects to prove wrong the skeptics and start achieving that by the end of 2018. Lufthansa’s financial reporting does not offer enough detail to completely validate progress, but there are indicators of…
Though it claims more than 75 consolidated or shared clients including Dropbox, Iconiq Capital, Soros Fund Management and Spotify, New York-based WTMC is something of a corporate travel secret. Considering the trail it’s blazing for alternative airline distribution, it will be hard to stay quiet. WTMC is the first agency in the United States testing…
There will be winners and losers if the proposed acquisition of Hogg Robinson Group’s travel management company unit by American Express Global Business Travel happens. One of the wounded is neither person nor company. It’s a program: the New Distribution Capability. Don’t blame NDC. It’s just a messaging standard. The real loser is the method…
British Airways gave deadlines of this week to some U.S. travel agencies that had not signed a private channel agreement waiving its GDS surcharge. After the megas, U.K. agencies and Expedia, not every travel management company offered the deal signed up, according to sources. For agencies, agreeing to the private channel endorses a model that sacrifices GDS…
Airlines have big plans for new distribution capabilities. Whether and when they become reality in corporate travel remain open questions. At the moment, it’s looking like a huge challenge. British Airways officials said they anticipated a “large chunk” of travel agencies would transition to NDC channels this year. Air France-KLM’s roadmap calls for new products…
With many travel management companies accepting the IAG airlines’ private channel GDS deals, which are left out? Industry experts see the “have-nots” facing ruin or consolidation. The puzzling part is, why would British Airways and Iberia want that? Posed to a BA press official, that question was not answered. International Airlines Group has declined multiple…
Travelport and British Airways/Iberia agreed to a framework for surcharge-free airfares, adopting the private channel concept for travel agency users that sacrifice GDS incentives. It wasn’t unexpected, but the agreement serves as a letdown for some U.K. travel agency leaders who were hoping the market’s top GDS would fight the private-channel construct. Amadeus and Sabre had…
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