Q: In my agency's Sabre contract, which I assume contains the same basic boilerplate as every other Sabre contract, there is a key distinction between two kinds of airline bookings. We get no incentives for bookings on carriers that participate in Sabre at the "Basic Booking Request" level, but Sabre pays incentives for bookings on all airlines that participate at the "Full Availability" level. Since I cannot find any definition of the latter term, I sense a loophole: Can Sabre deprive us of incentives by devising new levels of participation and thereby deprive us of all segment incentives for carriers participating at those levels?
A: There are loopholes galore in Sabre's definitions of what kinds of bookings qualify for an incentive. As a result, you may be dependent on Sabre's good faith to keep receiving segment incentives.
The biggest problem is, as you sense, definitional. According to the contract, " 'Sabre BBR Booking' means a Sabre booking for an air carrier participant that either i) participates in the Sabre System at, or ii) [a booking] for which payment is made at, the Basic Booking Request (BBR) level or other level or rate below Sabre's Full Availability."
The tricky words in the quoted sentence are "or other level." Under the Sabre contract, a BBR booking is any airline booking below the Full Availability level, not necessarily the lowest level.
So, you are correct when you suspect that Sabre can deprive you of all segment incentives by devising new levels and allowing or encouraging airlines to participate at those levels. A level that is 99% the same as Full Availability level would qualify as a BBR booking under Sabre's definition.
If you think that this is all theoretical and implausible, keep in mind that as of April, Sabre will have no fewer than five levels at which carriers can participate. Remarkably, not one of the five is called "Full Availability" level or "Basic Booking Request" level.
From the highest to the lowest level of participation, Sabre is calling them "Max Connect," "Advance Connect," "Flex Connect" "Standard Connect" and "Basic Connect."
So, which is the Full Availability level in your contract? There is no definitive answer, but according to a recent trade press article, Standard Connect is the new name for that level.
However, nothing binds Sabre to this definitional association. Sabre can decide that Max Connect is the new Full Availability for the purposes of your contract, thereby depriving you of segment incentives on airlines that participate at any of the four lower levels.
Sharp readers are no doubt thinking that it is unlikely that Sabre would make such a decision, as it would cause protest and backlash in the agency community. I agree that it is unlikely, but who would have predicted before 2006 that an 80-cent fee would be forced on all Sabre agencies?
Is Sabre playing a shell game designed to cut agency incentives? I doubt that the problems discussed here are intentional; Sabre is so focused on offering carriers attractive levels of participation that it has probably given no thought at all to the effect of these changes on agency contracts.
If you plan to negotiate a Sabre contract in the next few years, you need to try to bring these problems to Sabre's attention and try to close the loopholes.
Mark Pestronk is a Washington-based lawyer specializing in travel law. To submit a question for Legal Briefs, email him at [email protected].