Agents rankle airlines with fare-checking programs
Article Abstract:
Associated Travel develops a fare-checking software program that scans airline reservation systems more thoroughly than agents can, and airlines respond by charging travel agents a fee to search their systems. The program locates low fares for travelers by extensively searching the reservation systems and keeping abreast of fare changes. Airlines typically change the availability of fares by the minute to monitor the number of bargains they sell; agents cannot keep up with the nearly 200,000 changes airlines make daily. The three major reservation systems, Sabre, Apollo and Worldspan are owned by major airlines including UAL Inc's United Airlines and USAir Group Inc, which will impose fees on agents every time they access the systems for checking fares to booking tickets. The airlines justify the fees by claiming increased inquiries are overloading their computers. Agencies using the fare-checking program make as many as one hundred inquiries.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1991
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Air-fare deadline causes reservation-system gridlock
Article Abstract:
Travelers scrambling to meet a low air-fare deadline on Aug 29, 1990, caused gridlock on the airlines' reservation systems. The special fares were the lowest the industry has offered for a year but many travelers were denied access to reservations because of the record-breaking demand at the last minute. Sabre, which is the largest reservation system in the US, received an unprecedented 100 million messages on Aug 29, 1990; the reservation system normally handles 75 million messages a day. Critics stated that the airlines should have been prepared for the volume but spokespersons for the airlines pointed out that they could have handled the volume if travelers had not waited to the last minute before making reservations.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1990
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Manville's asbestos plan may exclude many claimants
Article Abstract:
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Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1985
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