CASMA Event Sold-Out

The CASMA 2006 Annual International Conference in Shanghai, China has been closed to registration and the hotel is completely sold out. CASMA reports this will be their biggest event ever. We suspect that the recent changes in GDS pricing models have put GDS projects on the front burner at most airlines. The 200 registrants will be sharing more than drinks this year.

In the Wake of New GDS contracts

Grabbing opportunities in the wake of new carrier GDS contracts in North America

Interview with Rajiv Aggarwal, director - business development, Farelogix


Has 2006 emerged as a defining year for those associated with the airlines industry? Rajiv Aggarwal, director - business development, Farelogix certainly feels so.

With the expiration of carrier GDS contracts, most North American carriers took the opportunity to introduce wholesale changes in the way they manage their distribution. And Farelogix has been at the forefront of this evolution, says Aggarwal.

British Businessman Flies with 2-Year Old Daughter's Passport

No, you can't bring water on the plane but a grown man can successfully fly to Amsterdam with the passport of a 2-year old girl. A British businessman mistakenly took his daughter's passport with him on a recent trip to the Netherlands and managed to get through 2 passport checks at London's Luton airport and board the plane. In fact, he brought up the error to passport control in Amsterdam. The airline he flew, EasyJet, will likely face a fine.

Etihad Airways Revenue Management

"Etihad understands how important it is to keep up-to-date with industry trends and ticketing activity, which is why we believe that this new system will prove to be an invaluable tool," said Ali Saleh Al Bloushi, head of revenue management at Etihad Airways.

"After an extensive review we have identified Airlogica's Zeus as the best available product to manage the challenging area of our distribution costs across the GDSs. Furthermore, Zeus will allow us to gain a deeper understanding of all travel agent bookings, which we are confident will lead to a decrease in GDS costs and, in turn, will enable us to continue offering our Guests a superior service."

At its core, Etihad Airways continues to seek new ways in which to expand its services and provide innovative benefits for its Guests.

Eric Speck to Retire from Sabre

Sabre Holdings have announced the retirement of Eric Speck, their chief marketing office. Speck is a relatively young guy, so it is amazing to read that he spent 26 years with Sabre. The GDS industry just hasn't been around very long. It will be interesting to learn where Speck will settle for Act 2 of his career.

Hacked Airline Seats

Computer hacking is a serious crime. The fact that many young people think that its ‘way cool’, doesn’t make it any less criminal. Hacking is just a modern-day take on vandalism or shoplifting, that is taking or defacing something that doesn’t belong to you. A recent posting of how to hack a Southwest Airlines Boarding pass is nothing more than advocating taking a seat that doesn’t belong to you. Airline consultant Nick Bredimus also writes about how hackers have been arrested. Stealing an airline seat is not far removed from downloading hacked music files.

A Former Sabre Geek

Have you seen “A Former Sabre Geek” - Gary Potter's weblog with 'stuff' that sometimes matters? I’m not sure from the title whether Potter used to be a geek or used to be with Sabre. In any case, he has some interesting links and some posts that are on the topics we all love best, Airlines and GDSs. I can’t tell yet from my reading whether he holds any grudges against his former employer, but many of their alums do.