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Posted Dec 4, 2009
Posted Oct 3, 2009
At the FVW Kongress in Cologne last month, Amadeus offered a hint in a speech that they would be reconsidering the issue of the 4.90 euros fee that Lufthansa has been leveraging for segments booked on Amadeus for the PFP program.
Posted Sept 12, 2009
I have written a more than a few times on the changing face of the global distribution system products. Latest on the market is the new Amadeus One. Developed in the USA by the dev team based on the East Coast, the new tool is Amadeus' latest effort at cracking the US market--something that thus far has resisted the allures of the Franco-German-Hispano combine.
Posted Sept 8, 2009
Over the past few weeks, behind the scenes, a high stakes drama has been going on over the seemingly innocent issue of just one airline in a global distribution system. In this case the battle was over Lufthansa Group subsidiary Swiss Air Lines (LX)’s participation in Sabre. I am not going to comment on the actual nature of the dispute between the parties. That is for them to surface and share--far be it for me to address that issue.
Posted May 28, 2009
Posted Feb 12, 2009
Only those open to change will reap the rewards
by Michael Strauss
From a technological point of view, the travel industry is not the hunter, but the hunted. Innovations are neither fostered nor developed to the necessary extent. Suppliers, distributors, travel management companies, but also technology providers are partially to blame for this. However, new concepts can help the travel industry to reduce costs, master crises and offer better products.
Posted Feb 9, 2009
Today at 11am ET Chicke Fitzgerald welcomes Jake Fuller as her guest co-host on Solutionz Live! They will talk about the state of the travel industry and will be talking about the rivalries in the GDS and online travel space.
Listen live on www.blogtalkradio.com/solutionzlive or call in on 1-646-727-2840 to ask questions live on the air.
Or download after the broadcast is complete and listen at your convenience.
Posted Dec 4, 2008
Chicago-based Travelclick recently posted third quarter results for electronic bookings. The term "electronic bookings" includes bookings made via the GDS and via Pegasus, whether by a traditional travel agent or via the Internet, which primarily includes OTA bookings. It excludes consumer direct bookings made via hoteliers' own internal systems and excludes merchant model bookings, which are generally made via the OTAs' own inventory system against a block of rooms versus live inventory access via a GDS or Pegasus.
The year-to-date results show that bookings via the consumer Internet channel are declining year over year at a rate much greater than their travel agent counterparts. This is not surprising in light of the traffic trends for supplier sites versus OTA sites (as reported by Compete).
Posted Jun 27, 2008
Despite the director general of IATA recently asserting that "It’s time for the GDSs come to the table with efficiency gains and cost savings," Amadeus commercial executive vice president David Jones earlier this month told us he's hopeful that the next major round of airline-GDS talks in the United States (due no later than 2011) will include greater recognition of "the value of the GDSs as distribution vehicles or as means to distribution through the travel agency chain." Some carriers, Jones said, have given him reason to believe.
Posted Jun 20, 2008
Since the rumbling of 2006, U.S. global distribution system users have enjoyed relative peace when it comes to accessing fares and inventory from U.S. carriers. JetBlue, Southwest and others have even boosted the comprehensiveness of several GDSs here in the United States, prompting officials from Sabre to proclaim that GDSs never had as much airline content as they do now. But with ongoing issues related to mainline and/or low-cost carriers in Canada, Germany and other parts of the world, there should be no resting on laurels. Yesterday's comments by International Air Transport Association director general Giovanni Bisignani prove this point. "Let's focus on GDSs for a minute," Bisignani said during a SITA conference, according to a transcript posted online by IATA. "It's no secret that airlines are held hostage to GDSs."
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