Advantage Business Travel

So, Monarch airlines decide that the GDS system (the world wide computer reservation system for airlines) is not for them.

This is hardly surprising when you think about what a GDS is all about.

Monarch are a very regional, erstwhile charter, airline whose routes are firmly planted in the leisure resorts of the Med. They are a strong and steady airline and have been around for a while. Indeed, my first job, back in 1972 involved working for Airport Catering Services who were responsible for the flight catering at Luton and Stansted. There was, during that time a big kerfuffel when a catering truck driven by er…. best not say, eh… took the wing tip off a Monarch 720b. That’s how long they have been around. Monarch didn’t really interline (that is, play in the big pool) and were quite happy with what they did – and were quite efficient at it, to boot. RyanAir also left the GDS system, though again, their style of operation did not suit the GDS system – localised, only want to play by themselves and if you did not bother them, they would not bother you. The common feature of both these airlines (as indeed with many local airlines) is that their market is just that – local.

The GDS is strictly (or should be) for global players -stroke – more than regional point to point players. If you want the big tickets, you need to be on a GDS, if you want to be able to mix with others and get a piece of the action, you need to be on a GDS, if you want to be able to sell a ticket from Sydney to Brisbane to someone arriving from Europe, you need to be on a GDS (and, Amadeus, be able to multi-hub).

As a business travel agent, I view my job as adding value to a client’s booking and have in the past, told a client who wants to go from Luton to Amsterdam to go and book it with Easyjet online – I do not add any value to that process and neither does a GDS (which is why Easyjet are finding that going on a GDS with a fee is getting them nowhere) BUT if I am asked for London to Addis Ababa of if I am asked for LHR to ADD to JNB to LUN to LHR then I really earn my fee, Further, you cannot do that on the web (well, you can but you will get a daft fare) and nowadays, the reaction from an airline will be “Well, I can get you to Addis (and, perhaps, back from LUN) but that’s it”.

This sort of ticket will generally be of high or at least, good, value and to make it cost effective for the client, one needs to be able to interline and above all, interline the fares. Oh! And have an agent that knows a few, er… wrinkles! Here, the GDS is King. It also reflects on those airlines that want a goodly part of such a high(er) value ticket. For global business, the GDS system is also vital. If, suddenly, I have to book one sector on one website and another on another, then all of the minimum connecting times go out the window. Further, it is no good booking a cheap ticket because you do not know what is going to happen – in short, anything other than simple point to point travel becomes totally unworkable and many airlines will lose those low hanging plums of high value sectors within complex itineraries.

So, Monarch, RyanAir are not on a GDS – so what? They never really wanted to play in that pool anyway in fact, for Monarch, the GDS was a luxury and as with all luxuries in this day and age, they have to be cut.

The exception to this is Aer Lingus. The premise of Our Wullie, before he came to British Airways. Aer Lingus cannot decide what they want to do and have wound up with the worst of both worlds. Aer Lingus need transatlantic traffic and medium haul traffic, they are not, naturally, a low cost carrier. They want to be able to interline, but only on their terms using only their highest fares. The upshot of this is that they have condemned themselves to offering cheap flights from London to Ireland and from Dublin to a few places in Europe (despite an attempt to expand the routes from Gatwick – which Easyjet will allow them to do until Aer Lingus have drained off all their resources and then Easyjet will wipe the floor with them in a typical “Skytrain” wipeout) No agent wants to use them within high value tickets because they interline badly, their reservations centres are rubbish (almost as bad as certain Indian sub-continent based centres) and there are minimum connecting time issues. So, book to an Aer Lingus flight, allow lots of time for a connection and book the cheapest Aer Lingus via their website. Okay, Aer Lingus have saved their distribution costs of 4 bucks or so but have just sold a seat for £20 instead of £200. Bravo!

So, for airlines operating in highly regionalised and mainly localised markets the GDS is a luxury that they can manage without. What one needs and would be useful, however, is a directory of low cost airlines throughout the world. It does not need to be fancy, just a note of who they are and where they, roughly – Some of us have made a stab at it such as on my website but I am sure others can do better!