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Posted Aug 3, 2010
As a followup to our Monday article in The Beat about American Airlines' smartphone strategy, here are some techie tidbits that were not in the original piece. Asked about his thoughts on mobile apps versus mobile-enabled sites, which we also explored here, aa.com application architect John Shields said, "I came from the client-server days and then watched the dot-com era swing the pendulum back toward a more homogenized solution for Web application deployment. I feel the pendulum has swung a little bit back ...
Posted Jun 30, 2010
American Airlines is refusing to accept the status quo in corporate travel distribution, pushing a strategy to move all indirect distribution to its XML-based "direct connection" to enable personalization, merchandizing and negotiated corporate "bundles." You've read about these moves and the strong industry reaction in The Beat, and now we're thrilled to announce that AA's new managing director of distribution and merchandising strategy, Bridget Blaise-Shamai, has agreed to field 30 minutes of questions in our Hot Seat session at The Beat Live, Sept. 20-22 in Chicago. Register today...
www.thebeat.travel/live
AA named Bridget Blaise-Shamai to run distribution and merchandising strategy following her three years as vice president of AAdvantage Marketing. Blaise-Shamai joined AA in 1995 after she spent time in Central Europe working on privatization plans for various state-owned companies. She earned a BA degree from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Washington University, St. Louis.
Blaise-Shamai accompanies Hogg Robinson chief executive David Radcliffe, Travelport GDS CEO Gordon Wilson and other industry leaders as confirmed speakers for The Beat Live. Register today for our early-bird rate. The Beat Live will take place at the W Chicago City Center.
www.thebeat.travel/live
Posted May 20, 2010
Two readers responded to "Distribution Standards And The 'Fare Of One' " published here yesterday in The Beat ...
Posted Apr 15, 2010
We reported in The Beat on Wednesday that American Airlines said it had not disclosed economic terms for its planned direct connect initiative. Today, the airline issued a slightly more specific statement:
Posted Apr 13, 2010
Posted Apr 1, 2010
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.
Posted Jan 27, 2010
An industry legend has departed one last time, as reported here by Terry Maxon of the Dallas Morning News. I never knew Max but certainly understand his influence. You're encouraged to post your thoughts...
Posted Jan 22, 2010
UAL Corp. chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton spoke at the airline industry's Wings Club in New York Thursday, and focused his prepared comments on familiar topics: taxes are excessive, infrastructure is inadequate, regulation is outdated and industry behavior is dysfunctional. He talked about possible industry consolidation, but was reluctant to answer analysts' and reporters' questions about the JAL saga beyond saying he hopes it continues to be a distraction for his two primary competitors. Tilton also answered a few questions of mine on corporate accounts and information technology.
Posted Jan 4, 2010
In examining a oneworld alliance antitrust immunity application highlighted by a proposed American Airlines/British Airways/Iberia joint venture, the U.S. Department of Transportation on Dec. 22 "established a supplemental comment period--through January 11" for interested parties "to respond to late-filed pleadings." One such late filing, submitted by the U.S. Department of Justice, argued that the proposed agreements "would result in competitive harm on certain transatlantic routes serving 2.5 million passengers annually" and increase fares "up to 15 percent."
Posted Jan 4, 2010
With the industry still lacking innovation and being driven by incentives, as well as travel management companies continuing to put all their eggs in the global distribution system baskets as it seems, technology providers are forecasted to face a downturn.
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