All smiles during airline fare war

Cheap tickets, quick! QDAT Corp. all smiles during airline fare war

By Dawn Gilbertson The Phoenix Gazette

Nick Bredimus

"Something that used to take a week and now can be done in a day we want it done in an hour. That's what we are trading on." NicholasBredimus, President and chief executive officer of QDAT Corp.

While travel agents were cursing the recent airline fare cuts that jammed phone lines had them staring into computer screens well into the night, one Scottsdale travel company was reveling in the madness. "This is great for our business," said Nick Bredimus, president and chief executive officer of QDAT Corp. "Our volume is huge over a week ago."

QDAT (Quick Delivery Airline Tickets) runs a national airline ticket delivery service called QuikTix. The

5-year-old company has contracts with about 10,000 travel agencies to print and deliver tickets for customers who need or want their tickets in a hurry.

Speed was the operative word this week as bargain-hungry travelers jammed agency phone lines in search of half-price tickets. Many travelers wanted their tickets immediately to make sure they had locked in the low fares, so agencies called on QuikTix in record numbers, Bredimus said.

"They (agencies) don't have time to ticket and deliver" this week because the volume of calls has kept everyone glued to the phone and has taxed their primary delivery systems, he said.

Mike Irvine, supervisor of a Carlson Travel Network branch in New York City, can attest to that. Agents there who need to get tickets to clients outside New York usually rely on other Carlson offices to handle delivery, but not this week. “Around the country all our offices have been so overburdened by this mess (that) they have had their own ticket and delivery problems, so we’ve had to rely on QuikTix a lot more this week and they’ve been wonderful”.

The backbone of QDAT's operation is a network of 150 satellite ticket printers. They are located in airports and hotels in cities across the country, including Phoenix, as well as at Federal Express headquarters in Memphis, Tenn. In the case of the airport and hotel locations, Bredimus likens the

service to a will-call window. Participating travel agents who want to rush delivery of tickets for a client simply queue the relevant flight information to QDAT computers after booking a flight. They also indicate what form of delivery they have arranged with the customer: airport or hotel pickup, Federal Express or local courier. QuikTix, a 24-hour operation with about 50 employees, handles the rest,

primarily electronically. The company also collects the ticket commission from the airlines and forwards it to member agencies minus QuikTix fees. Fees range from $6.50 for delivery to a participating airport to $28 for night, weekend or holiday delivery via courier within five hours of booking a flight.

Bredimus said most agencies, that subscribe to QuikTix offer the service free to their clients who need tickets See _ TICKETS, Page E8

quickly. Additionally, the popular computer software program Prodigy offers ticket delivery via QuikTix to members who book airline tickets through its system.

Business is mainstay.

Although the bulk of the tickets QuikTix has delivered this week are for vacationers taking advantage of the half-price bonanza, the company's mainstay is business travelers because they usually need tickets on short notice.

One of the ways the company markets its service is as an alternative to so-called prepaid tickets, which are booked and paid for in advance and picked up at the airport when the traveler checks in.

               

Travel agents use this method when there is not enough time to get tickets to a client.

Bredimus says travelers can avoid the long lines at airports (provided they aren't checking luggage) as well as the $25 charge for prepaid tickets by using QuikTix airport pickup for $6.50. The company's satellite ticket printers generally are located at airport business or information centers.

"It's like an extension of their office," he said.

Bredimus and a group of investors including the venture capital arm of brokerage firm Smith Barney bought then 2-year-old QDAT in 1989 and moved its headquarters and operations center to Arizona. The bulk of the company's business is done out of state, however.

Bredimus, who headed a sister company of American Airlines before joining QDAT, selected Arizona over Texas and California because he was impressed with the workforce in the Valley from 10 years of experience with three travel-related companies: American Express, Ramada, and now-defunct Hughes Air West.

New strategy.

The new owners have spent about $6 million developing the QuikTix printing and delivery network and recently received approval from the Airlines Reporting Corp. to allow travel agents to collect their own commission when they use QuikTix.

That change, combined with expected repeat business from travelers introduced to the service this week, is expected to broaden the company's customer base, Bredimus said. QDAT now prints about $1 million worth of tickets a week, about five times more than it did at the beginning of the year.

Bredimus said QDAT hopes to extend its service locally with a ticket printing machine at Sky Harbor International Airport this fall. On the drawing board are plans to expand the quick delivery concept to other kinds of tickets, including concerts and sporting events.

"We (consumers) are never satisfied with time, right?" he said. "Something that used to take a week and now can be done in a day - we want it done in an hour. That's what we are trading on." Nicholas Bredimus, President and chief executive officer of QDAT Corp.

 Nicholas Bredimus