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Related Newslog Items July 15, 2010 NBTA called on the U.S. Department of Transportation to "use its existing and common sense authority to direct the airlines to provide full transparency" on ancillary fees. According to comments provided by NBTA to a congressional subcommittee examining airline fees, " ancillary fees are ultimately part of the total net fare. It is imperative that airlines provide full transparency to the public, including corporate travel managers and travel agencies, with regard to all fares, fees and other charges related to transporting passengers and their luggage, as well as booking, ticketing, billing, and fulfilling those services." NBTA also wrote that it formed a task force to seek solutions for challenges related to ancillary fees. It includes representatives from AirPlus, Amadeus, American Airlines, American Express, ARC, Airilne Tariff Publishing Company, BCD Travel, Concur, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, MasterCard, Monsanto, Sabre, Thomson Reuters, 3sixtysourcing, TRX and US Airways. June 30, 2010 Sabre said it launched the first phase of its electronic miscellaneous document capability with Latin American carrier Avior Airlines, which uses its SabreSonic res system. EMDs are the International Air Transport Association's standardized e-documents for the sale of ancillary services by airlines and, eventually, travel agencies. Avior is "the first airline to use the EMD component of the broader Sabre merchandising platform to support their emerging fulfillment needs," Sabre announced. "By using this first phase of Sabre EMD Manager, Avior Airlines has moved to a paperless environment that will improve how they sell their products and services, while also provide added convenience for their passengers. This first phase of enabling EMDs is with Sabre-hosted airlines. The much broader launch of merchandising capabilities via the global distribution system will occur late this year." June 15, 2010 Sabre Travel Network unveiled for reporters its Red "total travel agency solution," including a new graphical interface currently in testing by 250 travel agencies. Those agencies are scheduled to make a formal upgrade within the next month, while other clients will upgrade during the second half of the year, Sabre officials said. Similar to emerging solutions from competitors Amadeus, Farelogix and Travelport, Red offers new capabilities for ancillary services shopping, leverages the company's latest profiles system, includes community concepts, moves some quality-control functions to the point of sale and is both multi-source and multi-GDS, according to officials. Also incorporating mobile device integration and preferred supplier agreement support, Red would eventually replace Sabre's MySabre. May 11, 2010 Several travel management companies, travel distributors and airlines announced they have "agreed to support common technology approaches for the merchandising of airline ancillary services." Those listed on a joint press release included corporate TMCs American Express Business Travel, BCD Travel, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Egencia, HRG, Orbitz for Business and Travelocity Business, and global distribution system operators Amadeus, Sabre Travel Network and Travelport. They each expressed support for both the Airline Tariff Publishing Company's optional services fare filing capabilities and the industry standard Electronic Miscellaneous Document. According to the joint statement, "the GDSs plan to provide corporations and travel agencies the ability to shop, book and fulfill airline ancillary services to travelers by late 2010." Air New Zealand, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Lan and WestJet also were listed in the announcement as supporting these developments as "an option" for distributing products and services. American Airlines previously told The Beat that for its unbundling plans and direct connect initiative, it plans to implement EMDs but does not need ATPCo specifications. An AirTran Airways executive recently said that implementing EMDs is "something we don't want to do" because for the carrier's business model, some standards "don't make sense." April 20, 2010 Concur released to Travel & Expense clients new tracking and reporting for ancillary airline charges, mileage calculations using Google Maps and a dashboard that rates the effectiveness of system configurations. Concur now is capturing and reporting on fees for baggage, upgrades, seats, airline club access and on-board expenses, the company said. After detecting a card report charge as a fee rather than a fare, the expense system can prompt travelers to identify the type of fee, building company-level data that could be used in negotiations or policymaking. The mileage calculation enhancement allows users to select start and end points in Google Maps to input trip data--and accompanies new company auditing options--while the dashboard compares client system configurations with "best practices," initially in terms of mobility or control and compliance. April 7, 2010 British Airways and Sabre Travel Network enacted a three-year global distribution deal offering Sabre users "all" of BA's published fares and inventory, and the companies said they would collaborate on the sale of " ancillary travel products through the GDS" by applying the electronic miscellaneous document standard due from ARC late this year. April 5, 2010 A spokesman for Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) expects that the Department of Transportation's next proposed rulemaking on aviation passenger protection will address disclosure of ancillary fees on "corporate travel sites." Menendez added provisions to the Senate's Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that would compel DOT to create a rule requiring airline sites and online agents to display ancillary fees "in reasonable proximity to the price listed for the ticket." December 21, 2009 A new DOT rule "prohibits" U.S. airlines from keeping domestic passengers on airplanes on airport tarmacs for more than three hours. Issued today by the U.S. Department of Transportation after much debate, the rule--set to take effect in April 2010--also requires airlines "to provide adequate food and potable drinking water for passengers within two hours of the aircraft being delayed on the tarmac and to maintain operable lavatories and, if necessary, provide medical attention." Other components of the rule include a prohibition against "scheduling chronically delayed flights" and requirements related to airline customer service plans. The Air Transport Association issued a statement committing its member airlines to "comply with the new rule even though we believe it will lead to unintended consequences--more cancelled flights and greater passenger inconvenience."
November 19, 2009 More than three quarters of 297 organizations do not tabulate total trip cost for top destinations, according to an ACTE survey. More than 40 percent of corporate buyers polled this month by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives said "unmanaged ancillary fees"--including checked baggage, seat assignments, airport lounge access, hotel Internet access, airport parking and car rental GPS navigation and fuel surcharges--represent between 5 percent and 15 percent of their organizations' total T&E costs. Another 27 percent said such fees represent even more of the total. June 10, 2009 Travelport GDS announced the "full market launch" of a travel agency solution integrating all Air Canada "fare families" into Galileo global distribution system desktop displays. First announced in August 2007, the Agencia tool allows Galileo-connected agents to book "any service from the Air Canada a la carte menu," provides comparison shopping capabilities and lists any applicable corporate negotiated fares. Much of Air Canada's content previously was unavailable through traditional travel agency GDS processes. Travelport said it would add the Air Canada booking capabilities to its Traversa corporate self-booking tool "in the coming months."
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