Flight Centre Travel Group

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…

American Airlines Terms On Distribution Cost Shift Prompt Pushback

Some travel management company representatives are unhappy with revisions to American Airlines’ ARC agreement addendum that set conditions for fees charged to their clients on bookings with the airline. Some TMCs have told clients they would need to charge higher fees on NDC bookings to cover reduced productivity and GDS incentive revenue. Precedents for this…

Ninety-Nine (NDC) Problems And The Tweaks Aren’t Done

Airline officials and other proponents of the New Distribution Capability have described its servicing challenges as “edge cases,” but travel management companies are finding more than that. Limitations on exchanges and unused ticket tracking are the most crucial on growing lists of issues. It’s no wonder that, by most accounts, corporate adoption of American’s NDC…

Looking To Meet An Acute Need, ASTA Creates Corporate Travel Agent Training

The American Society of Travel Advisors this month plans to offer training for those interested in the corporate travel agency environment. ASTA SVP of industry affairs and education Mark Meader called it a “missing component in the industry today.”  Travel management companies do their own training, but the industry needs all the help it can…

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