Star Alliance has widened its distribution channels for its fare products. Travel agents connected to the Sabre Global Distribution System (GDS) can now book and automatically calculate the corresponding Round the World (RTW) and circle fares. In the past pricing often had to be calculated manually, due to the routings involved in RTW traffic. Star Alliance offers globetrotters a total of 14 RTW fares to choose from; three for travel in first class, four for travel in business class and seven for travel in economy class.
Horst Findeisen, VP commercial and business development, Star Alliance said, “We are pleased to be working with Sabre to open a further distribution channel through which our Round the World and Circle Fares can be easily booked and automatically priced. Leveraging technology to simplify and accelerate complex processes is a key benefit which an alliance can provide. In this case, we now enable even more travel agents in even more markets to quickly and easily respond to customer wishes for round the world travel, which often involves highly individualised and complicated routings.”
Harald Eisenaecher, senior vice president EMEA, Sabre said, “We are pleased that together with Star Alliance we can now offer a simpler way of booking and pricing RTW fares. We were keen to respond to industry demand to automate this process, and we are proud to be the first GDS to introduce a new industry framework earlier in the year. Since then, we have had a hugely positive response to this new technology from our travel agent clients. This agreement further proves the industry’s need for the automation of these types of complex itineraries. We expect this to drive more bookings from agents of RTW fares.”