Tool Lets Agents Use Familiar GDS Commands – on Any PNR

A new tool allows travel agents to perform tasks on any PNR – regardless of which GDS it was created in – using the GDS commands they know. The tool, called GDS Translator, was launched by eGlobalfares, the technology-based supplier of published and unpublished fares.

Using the tool, an agent can enter a familiar GDS command and click “enter,” and the translator will enter the required equivalent command in the GDS of the PNR.

A Sabre-trained agent, for example, can use Sabre commands to manage a PNR created in Worldspan, simply by selecting “Sabre/Abacus” from a dropdown menu.

Initially for air only
The debut release, available for air only, translates more than 75 commands in Sabre/Abacus, Amadeus, Worldspan, Galileo and Apollo formats. Hotel commands will be added in later releases.

The Web-based portal can be interfaced with existing GDS pseudo city codes.

David Rifkin, president and chief executive officer of eGlobalfares, said he sees several uses for GDS Translator.

Eases transitions for new staff
It will make it easier for agencies to hire new counselors who were trained on other systems, he said. It also will ease the pain of migration from one system to another. And if one agency buys another that uses a different system, they can still work together.

Agents still will have to be trained on the new systems, but they can ease the frustration of trying to remember a slew of new commands by using GDS Translator to “fill in the gaps” of their knowledge, Rifkin said.

Useful for call centers
GDS Translator also could be useful for call centers and after-hours service centers, which typically are organized according to skill sets, such as “domestic or international and the GDS that you know,” Rifkin said.

When major snowstorms or other disruptive events occur, service centers have to be staffed up with agents who can cover all the systems. “If you have a shortage of Galileo agents that day, it won’t be a problem,” Rifkin said.