The Company Dime co-founder Jay Campbell last week interviewed Sabre CEO Kurt Ekert via videoconference. Among other issues, Ekert talked about supplier content fragmentation, global distribution system pricing, AI, technology modernization and, yes, NDC. A lightly edited transcript follows. Some travel managers look back fondly at a period a few years ago when it seemed…
Delta Air Lines during a Thursday virtual meeting named the tech partners it would work with on a customer service-oriented distribution strategy based on IATA’s New Distribution Capability protocols. Accelya, ARC and Google will support Delta as it collaborates with corporate travel intermediaries on new distribution methods. The announcement comes as Delta’s agreement with Sabre…
Washington, D.C. — American Airlines agreed to use the ARC Corporate Intelligence tool for contract management. ARC CI launched with United Airlines in 2020 as an alternative to the market-leading Prism platform, owned by Sabre. An AA official did not comment on whether the airline would continue using Prism. AA signed on in December 2023,…
[UPDATE, April 23, 2024: American Airlines delayed new restrictions on how travelers can earn loyalty program points, to July 11 from May 1. The rules will affect some bookings through agencies AA does not qualify as “preferred.” According to a spokesperson, “This extension gives an opportunity for those agencies to complete the transition. We’ll continue…
[UPDATE, Jan. 3, 2024: Travelport announced completion of the financing.] Travelport said Monday that existing equity holders and lenders agreed to invest $570 million of “new equity financing.” Expected to close by year-end, the transaction would leave Travelport with a new ownership structure, “composed of Travelport’s existing equity and credit investors, including Elliott Investment Management,…
The Global Business Travel Association’s New Jersey chapter on Nov. 9 hosted a webinar on airline distribution featuring JTB Business Travel, SAP Concur, Sabre and United Airlines. Moderated by The Company Dime‘s Jay Campbell, the discussion featured observations about the status of the New Distribution Capability, where it’s going, some of its challenges, what the…
On Tuesday, Air Canada told corporate clients they no longer had to pay its surcharge for bookings made using traditional EDIFACT protocols, at least for the time being. The change acknowledges that the corporate travel community was not ready to adopt surcharge-free NDC channels that Air Canada initiated with global distribution system providers during the…
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