GDS news from Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus - November 2012

Product news, releases, projects and more from the global distribution systems during November 2012 - all here, in one easy read.

More recent updates first:

Friday 30 November 2012:

• Amadeus to participate in European Commission-backed tourism promotion initiative. The TourismLink project aims to connect small and medium sized tourist businesses to larger and global organisations, with Amadeus having an advisory role on the development of technology and flow of information. Organisations include tourism service  suppliers (accommodation providers, transport and destination tourism enterprises) and intermediaries (travel agents and  tour operators).
• Airlines face new and unexpected security threat – loyalty fraud

Thursday 29 November 2012:

• Travelport parts company with another senior manager. Lee Golding, executive vice president and chief human resources officer, will leave in April 2013. A "compromise agreement" was noted with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US yesterday. Golding is the second senior figure in the space of two months to leave Travelport following the announcement of the departure of chief marketing officer Gillian Gibson.
• Another travel startup story: Why iGottaGuide failed

Wednesday 28 November 2012:

• Aviacenter signs technology agreement with Travelport. The consolidator, whch was created in 2005, has renewed its existing partnership until 2015 and will use both Travelport's Galileo Web Services and SmartPoint App through its network of agents around Russia. The pair have worked together since 2009.
• Travelport signs distribution agreement with Alaska Airlines. The new, multi-year agreement gives Worldspan, Galileo and Apollo-connected agencies access to the carrier's fares, schedules and seat availability.
• Hotel prices in North America – November 2012 to January 2013
• A US e-petition questions airlines’ ancillary sales practices, and UK authorities warn travel sites about fare display rules
• Deregulation of the air distribution in China and what it means for airlines

Tuesday 27 November 2012:

• Copa Airlines signs IT agreement with Travelport. The Panama national carrier will use the Travelport Rapid Reprice technology  to automate exchanges, reissues and refunding of tickets. Travelport GDS-connected agents will be able to tap in to the facilities on Copa Airlines as part of the deal.
• Putting the supplier cart before the distributor horse in travel
• Social loyalty in action – airport check-ins on social media for air miles

Monday 26 November 2012:

• Abacus renews technology agreement with Oasis Travel. The five-year agreement sees the travel management continue to use a number of Abacus tools including its Workspace and PowerSuite services. The integration is aimed at tying together the front, mid and back-end technology for Oasis.
• Farewell Octopus Travel – consumer brand axed as Kuoni focuses on B2B
• Travelport squeezes more juice out of customer feedback
• Hotel prices in Australia and New Zealand – November 2012 to January 2013

Thursday 22 November 2012:

• Abacus signs distribution deal with BB Airways. The partnership is said to be the first GDS deal for the Nepal-based airline and gives Abacus-connected agents access to the carrier's full fares and content from January 2013. The deal also sees BB Airways take on-board a number of tools from Abacus to handle ticketing and booking.

Wednesday 21 November 2012:

• Sabre CEO urges politicians to "turn back from fiscal cliff". In a statement, Sam Gililand commends the US president and congressional leaders for putting aside their differences, but they must "finish the work of averting this looming crisis without delay". He adds: "An agreement between the White House and Congress that averts the fiscal cliff is sure to generate confidence in the national economy and in personal well-being, and to lead more people to reserve airplane seats, hotel rooms, car rental vehicles and cruise ship staterooms, and make other travel related expenditures, next year and beyond."
• Travelport and GOL up technology partnership. The new long-term agreement sees the Brazilian airline adopt the Travelport Check-In Interchange to push deployment of so-called Inter-Airline Through Check-in (IATCI) tools with other carriers, ground handlers and other industry partners around the world. GOL already uses Travelport ETDBase system for hosting of data for online and interline e-tickets.
• Tnooz-Datalex Webinar VIDEO – Traveller experience: bridging divide between merchandising and loyalty
• Can airline merchandising and loyalty co-exist?

Tuesday 20 November 2012:

• GetThere appoints country manager for India. The Sabre-run travel management service has brought in Swapnil Sawant to run the division in India, based in Mumbai. He has previously worked at Thomas Cook and the Taj Mahal Group (part of TaTa) and will report to APAC regional director, Grant Rattray.
• The global all-stars of upselling and cross-selling have tricks to teach the travel industry

Monday 19 November 2012:

• TripCase develops mobile messaging service. The Sabre-owned platform created the Connect add-on so that agencies, corporations, airlines, hotels and other suppliers can send personalised and branded messages to travellers during a trip. The idea is that important notifications such as weather and schedule changes as well tips on things to do and taxi details can be sent directly to the customer's handset. The service will be available in 20 languages.
• Travelport signs technology agreement with Grupa Travel. The Polish travel management company will use a number of tools including the SmartPoint app for its agents.
• Google switch – says it now has a cautious approach to taking Google Flight Search global
• For the sake of innovation in the travel industry, it is time to unleash the (Big) data

Wednesday 14 November 2012:

• Apptricity unveils deal with GetThere. The Sabre-owned travel management tool will be fed into Apptricity's new Jetstream system, allowing customers to book hotels, airfare, and car rentals, manage pre-trip details and create expense reports from travel booking data.
• Travelport signs IT agreement with Azul Brazilian Airlines. The partnership will see the carrier use Travelport’s interline e-ticketing and its e-ticket database hosting service (ETDBase). The deal is long-term agreement between the pair.
• Amadeus tests latest flight search tech on Vayama
• A rough guide to eight big travel industry battles
• Tnooz-Sabre FREE Webinar – App explosion: how B2B apps reinvent travel and create new services

Monday 12 November 2012:

• Amadeus enlists Hazem Hussein to head airline group operations in Asia-Pacific. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Hussein will have responsibility for airline strategy for both the Amadeus airline IT and distribution businesses. He has previously worked at First Data Corporation (regional vice pre