Travelport Unveils Its Airline Merchandising Platform

DUBLIN – Travelport unveiled its Airline Merchandising Platform, which allows airlines to distribute their ancillary products and services using a variety of technologies – application programming interface (API), ATPCO standards or a hybrid of the two.

Travelport, which made the announcement on the eve of the CAPA Airlines in Transition conference here, said the move will enable travel agents to access the full range of airline products, including ancillaries, in their familiar, consolidated and integrated workflow.

Derek Sharp, Travelport’s managing director of global distribution and sales, said that Travelport’s “concept is simple: We want to enable airlines to distribute their products any way they choose.”

Template for the future?
Air Canada, whose relationship with Travelport may provide a template for the future, connects with Travelport’s agency subscribers via its own API, AC2U, with fares filed through ATPCO.

That relationship, which has been in place for several years, provides access to the carrier’s full array of fare families and optional services.

When American Airlines connects with Travelport via its AADC “direct-connect” API, the arrangement will be technically similar to the Air Canada setup.

Solution for Delta
Delta Air Lines, whose Economy Comfort seating just became available to Travelport subscribers this week, can be accessed by agencies via Travelport Options Integrator, a software application installed on the GDS workstation.

When a Delta segment is booked, Options Integrator will alert the agent that Economy Comfort is available. When the agent confirms interest in the purchase of the seat, a web-based application is automatically launched and the purchase of the optional service completed directly with the carrier.

Remarks information is added to the PNR and the agent is “dropped back” into the GDS. The PNR can then be run through any agency business process to capture the seat purchase information and prepare that information for transmission to the back office.

Earlier this month, Travelport launched Aggregated Shopping with EasyJet. It displays on the same screen the shopping results for both traditional carriers that connect through ATPCO and those that connect with Travelport via an API.

Next up: Rich Content and Branding
Later this year, Travelport plans to launch Rich Content and Branding, a component of the platform currently under development with several airlines.

It will allow airlines to communicate to agents the value of their products. Agents will have access to all information on an airline’s product within the booking flow, with the goal of improving efficiency and levels of service.