In an apparent industry first, Sabre last week announced a feature that will enable travel professionals to view and compare airline ancillary fees and summarize them based on factors such as customer preferences and frequent flyer status.
Sabre's Air Total Pricing feature, which made its debut Sept. 17, will be available to the company's 57,000 agency clients worldwide through the GDS's Sabre Red interface platform, which debuted this summer.
Although ancillary services could not actually be booked when the product launched, Sabre said in a statement that in the coming months subscribers "will be able to display, book and sell a wide variety of ancillary services, settling these through traditional processes or directly with the airline."
It is anticipated that agents will report ancillary sales on a new ARC document called the Electronic Miscellaneous Document, described as an electronic version of the Miscellaneous Charges Order. ARC has said it expects this capability to be in place in November.
Sabre breaks down the ancillary services into nine categories: baggage, in-flight entertainment, meal and beverage service, lounge, medical, ground transportation, pets, prereserved seat assignment and unaccompanied travel/escort.
Because the industry still lacks a single real-time database of ancillary services and fees, Sabre is gathering information from various sources, including airline websites and its own Flight Fee Explorer at www.exploreflightfees.com. Any airline information filed through the Airline Tariff Publishing Co. also will be used.
"Once airlines begin sharing complete ancillary services data via industry technology standards, travel agencies and consumers will receive more comprehensive and timely information," the company stated.
ASTA, however, remained skeptical last week that airlines will voluntarily make all their services widely available in agency channels, and it is pressing the DOT to require airline participation (See Paul Ruden, In the Hot Seat.)
A 'big deal' for agents
Ancillary fees have been a point of contention for the past couple of years as travel agents, travel management companies and customers have struggled to keep up with a growing list of services no longer included as part of the ticket price.
Airlines' worldwide revenue from so-called ancillary charges jumped 43% last year, to $14 billion, according to a July report by IdeaWorks and Amadeus.
Douglas Quinby, senior director of research at PhoCusWright, saw Sabre's service as a breakthrough.
"Even though booking is not implemented yet, it is an important step in being able to have visibility into total pricing for airfares," Quinby said. "Enabling agents to at least quote accurate 'full fares' to their clients is a big deal for agents at the point of sale, and for consumers."
Chris Kroeger, senior vice president for marketing at Sabre Travel Network, said in a statement: "This kind of detailed information is what our travel agents tell us they need and what consumers reasonably demand. This is a first step developed for travel agents and consumers so they have complete insight into their true travel costs."
But Eric Ardolino, president of Wallingford, Conn.-based A&S Travel Center, said he saw two potential problems with the Air Total Pricing service. While Sabre's display capability is a step forward, Ardolino said, its effectiveness could be limited both by airlines' unwillingness to publish such information and by the inability of travel agents to book such fees in advance.
"If [airlines] want us to sell them ahead of time, they've got to put it in Sabre to allow us to do that," Ardolino said. "There's no reason they can't put script in there to allow us to do it."
Sabre introduced Sabre Red in June, enabling subscribers to upgrade their user-interface systems to a Windows-based interface and supplying agents with complete listings of airline ancillary fees and better communication features for travelers with smartphones.
Sabre is looking to pull market share from other GDSs by making it easier for agents to navigate the widening spectrum of unbundled fees charged by airlines and enabling them to better serve a growing legion of travelers who book and update their travel plans with their iPhones, Blackberrys and other smart phones.