A network or platform facilitating transactions for travel service providers through direct connections with airlines, hotels and other suppliers, streamlining the booking process and providing information about availability, prices and related services. Three major providers are Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport.
[CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article suggested Delta was installing WiFi on international flights. The airline already offers such connectivity; the current roll-out is for free WiFi, which it first brought to the domestic U.S. market.] Delta Air Lines announced Tuesday that it was renewing multi-year, full content participation agreements with the three major…
Global distribution system providers are in a “precarious” position thanks to changing economics and roles, according to former Sabre SVP and chief scientist Ben Vinod’s new book, “Mastering The Travel Intermediaries.” Vinod wrote that the adoption of New Distribution Capability means “disintermediation of the GDS is a foregone conclusion,” with the GDS share of the…
On June 20, Spotnana announced it had agreed with Sabre to allow Spotnana’s corporate and travel management company customers to “access NDC content from an expanded set of airlines” while retaining NDC servicing capabilities, including support for self-service cancellations and exchanges. Reiterating its “neutral and unbiased” commitment, Spotnana stated that TMCs could “source NDC content…
As airlines began developing the New Distribution Capability more than a decade ago, they needed a way to communicate flight changes and other events to parties including travel agencies. Global distribution systems have queues for schedule adjustments and the like that agencies routinely deal with; NDC is different because the systems of record are run…
A comprehensive history of travel distribution is hard to find. If you have the spare time, you could plod through the archives of industry trade publications and professional groups. Or you might pick the brains of industry elders; hopefully, they charge you. Revenue management pioneer Ben Vinod aims to help with a book due this…
American Airlines is reeling in the more aggressive parts of its erstwhile distribution plan, but it’s not abandoning the New Distribution Capability. While other carriers around the globe delay or soften their strategies, they and others are pressing ahead with alternative distribution programs. In some cases, they’re adding or raising fees on traditional global distribution…
If you take airline execs at their word, American’s first-quarter “managed” corporate revenue grew far more slowly than Delta’s and United’s. Growth in managed travel drew outsized attention in the most recent airline earnings season, partly because observers wanted evidence for the success or failure of AA’s dramatic changes to corporate sales and distribution. But…
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