Flight Centre Travel Group

Notebook: Travel Buyers Discuss Booking Channel Policy Flavors And Tradeoffs

Asked how corporate travel buyers should deal with fares found outside preferred booking channels, Cisco senior global procurement service leader for travel and card Carlos Almendros said, “You’ll get a different answer for every buyer.” Travel managers also speaking at the Global Business Travel Association convention last month supported the variety of approaches and considered…

Notebook: NDC As Contract Component? It’s Under Consideration

Dallas – Utilization targets for the New Distribution Capability are part of the “new contracting process with many of the airlines,” according to FCM Travel’s head of consulting for the Americas, Ashley Gutermuth.  That companies could negotiate with airlines on this basis was fascinating and “eye-opening” for Matt Patterson, senior director of client relationship management…

The Corporate Travel World According To Flight Centre’s Leiss: Staffing And Service Are Back, Data’s A Challenge, NDC Is Nascent But Driving Economics

The Company Dime‘s Jay Campbell on June 28 interviewed Flight Centre Travel Group’s president of the Americas, Charlene Leiss, on a live show via LinkedIn Audio. They surfaced some potential conventional wisdom about a variety of topics. An edited transcript follows. So, Charlene, there’s a lot going on in the industry, but as often happens,…

Is Airline Service A Difference-Maker? Not Really, Say Corporate Travel Folks

In its opposition to proposed U.S. federal protections for air travelers, IATA last month said passengers could “take their loyalty to other carriers if they are not satisfied with service levels.” In corporate travel, this is more theory than practice. While compensation for inconvenience would be nice, individual business travelers with options tend to favor…

Everybody Wants The Elusive Unmanaged Business Traveler

AmTrav CEO Jeff Klee, an NDC supporter, sounded exasperated on his company’s May 16 webinar. He wanted to acknowledge the gaps in American Airlines’ NDC implementation without giving undue fodder to its skeptics. The challenges with NDC were not trivial, but in Klee’s view, throwing out the baby with the bathwater could have severe consequences…

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