Travel managers vent
Travel managers attending Wednesday's meeting in Washington are running out of patience. They’ve been waiting for years for the airlines and the GDSs to figure out how to let them comparison shop for the total cost of a trip, including the ancillary fees.
And if the airlines and the GDSs can’t do it on their own, they want the government to do it for them.
Donna Bibbo, manager of fleet and travel for Novo Nordisk, a company that books $20 million in annual air travel, said her travelers don’t have time to look at five websites when booking and need a marketplace like the one provided by the GDSs.
And, she said, travelers need to know what the trip is going to cost before they ask their supervisors to approve the trip.
Liz Mandarino, president of World Travel, a travel agency that books $750 million in annual air travel, said to committee members, “We are very happy with the GDS platform. “I think you are being given the impression that the GDS is broken. It works. That is why direct connect is not getting traction.”
Darla Montalto, corporate travel manager for the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, said travelers and travel management companies want to know the fees they have to pay at the time a ticket is issued.
“Just negotiate it so we don’t have to regulate it,” she said. “If we have to ask the government to step in and regulate it, that is what we will start doing if you can’t do it on your own.”
— Kate Rice
WASHINGTON — It was airlines vs. GDSs in the ongoing feud in airline distribution at a Department of Transportation advisory committee hearing on aviation consumer protection on Wednesday.
The current debate centers on whether the DOT should require airlines to list bookable ancillary services in the GDSs.
And at the end of a long day of contentious testimony, one corporate travel manager frustrated with the inability of airlines and GDSs to work out their differences said it had been an “interesting pissing contest” to watch.
Another told the battling parties to “just negotiate so we don’t have to regulate.”
Airlines don’t want the DOT to mandate the listing of their ancillary services in GDSs because they are afraid it will deprive airlines of leverage in contract negotiations.
Airlines, represented by trade association Airlines 4 America, continued their argument that GDSs provide outdated technology at inflated prices, and that there are more cost-effective and efficient alternatives available.
Despite that argument, some airlines have reached deals to sell certain ancillary products in the GDSs. For example, Delta has agreed to sell its premium economy seats in Amadeus and the Travelport GDSs (Worldspan, Apollo and Galileo).
The airlines argued that they provide consumers what they need on their own websites and can tailor offers to travelers more effectively through their own websites than they can through GDSs.
GDSs, represented by Chris Kroeger, Sabre Travel Network’s senior vice president of marketing, countered that GDSs supply the tools airlines need to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, while giving consumers the best place for comparison shopping.
Kroeger said that Sabre would not charge airlines extra for including ancillary services. He also said that the GDSs charge airlines far less than what online distributors charge suppliers in other industries.
He said GDS fees average 1% of airline expenses, and that eBay charges suppliers up to 10%, Amazon up to 15% and the Apple App store up to 30%.
Correction: Kroeger said GDS fees average 1% of airline expenses, not fares as previously reported.
Follow Kate Rice on Twitter @krtraveleekly.