Delta: ‘We Are Not Trying to Bypass the GDS’

Delta Air Lines plans to connect directly with travel management companies and corporate travel managers while cultivating personalized relationships with business travelers.  But it’s not looking to circumvent the GDSs, according to Jeff Bernier, managing director, Pacific sales and affairs.

“We want a direct relationship with decision makers,” Bernier told travel managers during a panel discussion at Corporate Travel World in Bangkok earlier this month.

Targeted communications
“We are not trying to bypass the GDSs. We want a multichannel approach to sales, because that is what our customers want. The end consumer wants a personal experience in travel, not a commodity. That is a game changer for the airlines.”

Delta’s goal is to sell travelers on the brand, not the price. The carrier wants to boost brand loyalty with personalized communications and products targeted to specific travelers. But that’s not compatible with the traditional one-size-fits-all pitch delivered via GDS channels.
 
Asked directly, Bernier played down business traveler-direct sales. “We don’t want to bypass the travel manager. They play a critical role,” he told Travel Market Report.

“We envision a multichannel approach. Hopefully we can do that in cooperation with the travel manager.”

Evolving distribution
Delta isn’t alone in moving toward multichannel sales. Depending on the market, carriers are selling via travel agencies, call centers, websites, post offices, ATMs, mobile devices, and direct to travelers, noted Ho Hoong May, division head, airline distribution, Abacus International.  

In the U.S., agency sales of air tickets, including by business travel agencies and corporate travel management companies, are holding firm, he said.  

But other markets are seeing a sharp decline in agency sales and corresponding increases in online and direct sales.

“The future belongs to the airlines that are adept at managing multichannel markets,” Ho predicted.

Getting a grip on mobile
“You have to have a way to jump channels with a consistent product and a consistent look, because that’s what your customers are doing,” Ho said. “Computer access dominates during office hours, but mobile access rules the early evening. You have to manage mobile.”

Just how difficult it will be to manage mobile also depends on the market. About 77% of the world population has a mobile phone, and next year more people will access the Internet on their phones next year than via computer, Ho noted.

But there is no one dominant mobile platform. In the U.S., for example, carriers must be able to support Android, BlackBerry and iPhone.

Juggling platforms
Business travel buyers, TMCs, and travel managers must be equally adept at juggling all three platforms unless they can somehow restrict travelers to a single type of mobile platform.

Companies with travelers based in other countries may find themselves managing different mobile platforms in different markets. The iPhone rules Singapore, Ho noted, while BlackBerry owns the market in Indonesia, and India is divided between BlackBerry and Nokia devices.

Shopping cart model
Changing consumer behavior is already changing the way airlines sell their product on their own websites, or at least the way they expect to sell in the near future. Familiar sales engines that are designed to sell one ticket at a time are being replaced with the shopping cart model that dominates other retail sectors.

Buyers can still buy just a ticket, or they can load the shopping cart with ticket, a seat upgrade, priority boarding, luggage fees, and other ancillary purchases to be included in a transaction, Bernier explained.

Delta, for example, will offer an upsell to Economy Comfort to purchasers of tickets for long-haul international flights.  If the flyer has Elite status, the offer will come at a discount.

Bernier called the shopping cart approach a convenience for travelers as well as for travel buyers.