In a sort of back-to-the-future move, Farelogix introduced its proprietary FLX Commando travel-agency desktop, which uses green-screen commands to access textual and graphical displays after tapping into the distributor’s multisource FLX platform.
The desktop, already deployed at 300 agencies in Germany, supports Amadeus, Galileo and Sabre commands for air shopping and booking. However, the commands that an agency chooses to use don’t limit the content source. In other words, an agency could use Amadeus commands, if that’s what its agents are adept at, to access Galileo inventory (if the agency has a Galileo contract) or one of Farelogix’s dozen or so direct-connect carriers.
Commando is an implicit admission that the vast majority of agents still use and are reluctant to retire cryptic commands despite GUI desktops developed by G2 SwitchWorks (now owned by Travelport) and Sabre, among others. However, agents using cryptic commands in Commando can also access graphical displays, including airline seat maps.
Farelogix also made available for public download its Project Hawkeye point-of-sale application. Unlike Commando, it is an open-source application, and Farelogix made available Hawkeye’s code and documentation in the hope that developers will build applications to it that the travel industry can share.
