New York – What is American Airlines senior vice president of global sales Alison Taylor cheerful about? What keeps her up at night? The answer to both questions is the same: the future state of AA’s GDS relationships. Speaking here last week at a World Travel Inc. event, Taylor reiterated AA’s stance that NDC is not about circumventing… Read More »
The new, Amadeus-endorsed model for airline distribution with International Airlines Group may or may not take hold among more travel management companies or even other GDSs. For now, it’s constructive to review the role of IATA’s New Distribution Capability. When IAG announced a GDS surcharge in May, NDC was the industry’s ticket to fee-free British Airways and Iberia… Read More »
There are three weeks to go before a surcharge takes effect on global distribution system bookings with British Airways and Iberia. Big travel management companies are revealing that they’re avoiding the fee on bookings through Amadeus thanks to the GDS company’s agreements with the airlines. Following a related Hogg Robinson Group announcement last week, American Express Global Business Travel… Read More »
Travel management sources said British Airways parent IAG should go back to the drawing board on recently discussed alternatives to its surcharge program, due to take effect Nov. 1. An IAG official offered no comment on news that the firm is in the market talking to travel management companies about an incentive program not unlike the one described… Read More »
Sabre’s new leadership is remaking the company. At the start of this month, they attributed a decision to lay off approximately 900 people to a desire to become faster and more efficient. They’re attacking overhead. They’re streamlining products in the division housing airline reservations and related systems. Sometimes stocks go up on news about layoffs. Not this time.… Read More »
When American Airlines announced its alternative distribution program, one of the connectivity options it endorsed was to use third-party aggregators. These would be companies certified by AA for processing offers and orders in accordance with the International Air Transport Association’s New Distribution Capability. At the industry level, IATA has certified six aggregators for that. They include two that achieved… Read More »
[UPDATE, June 29, 2017: Revises Travelport information.] Timing on global distribution system readiness to hook up New Distribution Capability connections for full functionality remains a mystery. Sabre, for one, has committed to achieving that goal with American Airlines. When GDSs do bring in the highest-level NDC functionality of, say, American Airlines, what will that mean for travel management… Read More »
Amadeus expects this year to reach a major milestone, decommissioning the last of its mainframes. This is the culmination of a multi-year process to achieve “more flexibility and resiliency.” Sabre isn’t there yet. Under new CEO Sean Menke, the company has embarked on a general tech upgrade program. “We will make investments in our IT infrastructure this year… Read More »
[UPDATE, May 26, 2017: IAG informed industry partners that British Airways and Iberia would add a $10 fee as of Nov. 1, essentially for each one-way trip, on tickets purchased in global distribution systems. The fee will be displayed as a “Q charge” in fare constructions, and included in itinerary fare quotes. Refunds will align with the rules of the… Read More »
Travel suppliers want to provide personalized offers to travelers. Some travel managers want to customize travel policies to better fit individual travelers and the specifics of a trip. The problem is, some online booking tools can’t or don’t easily handle the nuances. OBTs connect with traveler profiles. Those often include basic data like an employee’s level in the… Read More »