Articles tagged “sabre”

Airlines have invested in making many of their offerings increasingly data-driven in recent years. Yet they haven’t taken the same approach to schedules, one of their preeminent products.

This week, Sabre stopping selling Finnair tickets as talks over a new contract broke down while European airlines will most likely have to pay a new EU tax on jet fuel. Meanwhile, India is so desperate to sell its national airline, it has agreed to take over $7 billion in debt to make Air India seem more attractive to a buyer.

It's rare for airline contract disputes with distribution companies to reach this outcome. Finnair will suffer financially until it cuts a deal. Sabre, for its part, risks embarrassment if it's seen as bullying a midsize carrier. Nobody usually ends up winning in these classic games of chicken.

To paraphrase Sabre executives, airlines in North America are too fat and happy to be bothered to mimic the experiments with direct distribution happening in Europe. They're probably calling that right.

Hotels and airlines now distribute their inventory through countless partners. As a result, there’s a growing need to provide payment flexibility while simplifying how business-to-business payments work in the travel industry.

Venture capitalists are turning their sights on airline distribution. Duffel's backing by VC firms Index and Benchmark brings hope to the sector. New ideas and technologies may help create more efficient and user-friendly ways for travel agencies to access airline data to sell tickets and other products.

New deals mean that offline and online travel agencies will more quickly and commonly see richly descriptive details about what any given airfare includes, such as facts about legroom and photos of premium class seats. But don't hold your breath in anticipation. Travel sellers have to wait another five years before next-gen selling will become the norm for agents.

Sabre's acquisition of Radixx is yet another sign that the travel technology giant is shoring up its competitive position vis-à-vis its rival Amadeus in the lucrative market for selling airlines operational technology.

Airlines must move beyond static offers to dynamic, personalized offers that not only take into account what a customer wants, but also what a customer might be willing to pay for it.

The joke goes that the only people who make money in mergers are the lawyers and the bankers. If litigation continues over Sabre's acquisition of Farelogix, the lawyers may be laughing all the way to the bank.