ATLANTA -- Delta is offering large corporate customers an
opportunity to book airline tickets directly on line with Delta,
eschewing transaction fees that the corporation's agency might
charge.
Companies that have negotiated rates with Delta are eligible to
take advantage of the new feature, called Delta.com For
Corporations. To register, corporate travel managers must contact
their assigned account manager at Delta and provide a list of
travelers who are eligible.
After Delta loads the data in its database, travelers can visit
Delta.com, enter their PIN and their SkyMiles number and book their
flights.
Delta said the customer has the option of choosing the corporate
discounted rate if traveling on business or the lowest available
published fare if it's a leisure booking.
Delta said it provides travel managers real-time reports for
overall bookings on Delta.com, bookings between specific city pairs and
transactions made by each traveler.
A spokesman at Chicago-based McCord Travel Management said
Delta's corporate customers may want to analyze the numbers to see
if they can save money by booking directly with Delta. Some could
very well find that they won't.
Most companies large enough to have a corporate deal with Delta
may very well have similar agreements with other carriers.
For many large corporations, said the spokesman, it's
financially more important to keep that travel data consolidated
through one source -- the travel management company -- than it is
to save on transaction fees.
Also, most travelers need to book a hotel and/or car rental in
addition to their plane ticket, said the spokesman. Therefore,
booking directly with Delta will require travelers to make another
step in the booking process, either through the travel management
company or with the hotel/car supplier directly.
Citing the "time is money" credo, corporations might not want
travelers making multiple steps when booking a trip, said the
McCord spokesman. American Express echoed those opinions.
"We feel there are significant cost savings to be had through
automated booking and we've made great strides in that," said a
spokeswoman from American Express. "But the value of [Delta's]
discounts has to be huge to overcome the costs in time spent
booking by travelers."
Delta.com For Corporations is a different e-commerce project
than Mind Your Own Business Travel, a Web site that will enable
small businesses to book air, car and hotel with a multitude of
suppliers, not just Delta.
That project is in the beta-test stage with a launch scheduled
for March or April 2001, said Delta.