Thanks to
JetBlue and
American Airlines for providing us with a nice bit of April Foolery this year. Yeah, right, they are going to join in some kind of partnership, slot swap, interline agreement.
Good job guys. Oh, wait. That was yesterday.
Today is April 1. Hmmmm.
So what is your take on all this news? I admit it. I was surprised at the news. I thought April Fools Day had come a day early when I first saw the headline.
JetBlue Airways last week detailed in its annual report why it likes the GDS channel. "The average fare purchased via this channel is at least 17 percent higher, justifying the increased distribution costs," it wrote. That JetBlue can charge more through global distribution systems is not a new observation. The airline has been noticing that ever since it
rejoined in 2006. But at the same time, the airline is booking a larger proportion of tickets in GDSs.
UBS Investment Research analysts today wrote about more disturbing airline demand trends, but did not suggest the sky is falling.
Back in June I thought
Glassdoor.com was "pretty cool, but not travel." However, the site has managed to build up a decent store of reviews by employees of their own companies--not to mention salary data.
You can judge for yourself how valid you think the info is. Looking through the results is, at the very least, a fun ride. Here's what I found:
JetBlue Airways yesterday shared observations on global distribution system participation, saying GDS bookings account for an increasing proportion of total tickets and usually run around $30 above the average fare--which in March hit a record of $138.
