WestJet, the Canadian low cost carrier, signed a multiyear full content agreement with Travelport GDS, upgrading to last-seat availability, as well as e-ticketing and interline e-ticketing.
As part of the announcement, Travelport revealed that "in the future" WestJet will make available its prereserved seats through Travelport's Apollo and Worldspan GDS systems. (Apollo is the sister system to Galileo, which is used outside of North America.)
WestJet has offered prereserved seats with varying fees per segment online and through its call centers since 2008.
Many airlines sell such ancillary services only through their own channels, but WestJet is reaching out to travel agents for further distribution.
Sabre GDS-connected travel agents can already pre-book WestJet seats for their clients, according to a Sabre spokeswoman. They've had that ability since October 2009.
Here's a depiction of a MySabre desktop display of a WestJet seatmap related to booking prereserved seats.
Midwest Airlines and United Airlines also sell their premium seats through the Sabre GDS.
A WestJet spokesman says the ability for the airline to sell these ancillary services through the GDSs is unrelated to the airline's recent switch from Navitaire to the SabreSonic reservations system.
Travelport says its WestJet full-content agreement makes the airline Travelport's 300th linked carrier.
Sabre signed a full-content agreement with WestJet earlier this year.