Reporters Notebook

Notebook: Airport Officials Want Travel Buyer Input To Influence Service

Opening communications channels with local airports may represent an untapped opportunity for corporate travel managers to improve air service, according to four airport development officials speaking at last month’s GBTA convention. While there are a lot of variables and nothing is guaranteed, the speakers were certain that airlines can’t factor in information on local companies’…

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…

Notebook: To Outsource Or Not, A Travel Management Question

When McKinsey in 2020 talked about travel management as a candidate for outsourcing, readers shot back.  “Be curious to hear how the travel management team at McKinsey feels about this,” wrote Alō Index co-founder Leanne Turner, between jobs at the time after a pandemic layoff.  “For McKinsey to say [a] full transformation initiative would save…

Notebook: Empathy On Fumes As Airfare Fragmentation Bears Down In America

Boston – With its plan to phase out traditional, EDIFACT-based indirect sales by the end of 2025, Finnair’s alternative distribution vision is among the world’s most ambitious. During a panel discussion at a UATP event here last week, its head of strategy admitted to a lack of familiarity with corporate needs in terms of duty…

Notebook: Less Money, More Problems In Corporate Travel Management (Audio)

The Company Dime on Monday hosted its first LinkedIn audio event, welcoming industry contacts to discuss whatever they’d like. Though much of it rehashed industry debates, some of the conversation was pointed and challenging. In a LinkedIn audio event, hosts can welcome participants to a virtual stage, bringing up the attendee’s avatar and opening their…

Reporter’s Notebook: Spinning Corporate Travel From A Seat At The Table

Though peripheral to big-picture themes like diversity, recovery, risk and sustainability, fundamentals of travel management also got airtime at corporate travel’s largest event here in August. Several education sessions had corporate travel management practitioners dissecting how the pandemic changed interdepartmental collaboration and stakeholder engagement. If the following anecdotes offer any indication, the increased attention paid…

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