Southwest Airlines for the first time recently authorized an outside entity to interface with its Web site in an automated fashion, thereby opening unprecedented opportunity for corporate travel agents to book the low-cost carrier. BookingBuilder Technologies plans an official launch this month for a product already bridging global distribution systems and airline Web sites. Once it is available, agents would be equipped to book, for example, Southwest more easily from within Amadeus, Galileo and Worldspan platforms, in addition to the Sabre GDS.
The BookingBuilder software works on most agency platforms, but does not interface with third-party corporate self-booking tools. It automatically issues alerts when a supplier in its database—representing roughly a dozen GDS-shy airlines and growing—has availability on an itinerary for which an agent is searching. Should an agent select that option, BookingBuilder prepopulates the necessary fields in that supplier's Web booking engine with profile information stored in the GDS. After the booking is completed, BookingBuilder compiles relevant data and pushes it back into passenger name records via passive air or non-air GDS segments.
Because BookingBuilder operates in the agent environment, the only corporate self-booking tools with which it interfaces are those powered directly by participating suppliers' Web sites, such as Southwest's Swabiz.
"Making bookings on supplier Web sites is a reality, it's a necessity," said Seth Perelman, president of BookingBuilder Technologies in Mahopac, N.Y., "but when you step out of the GDS, you lose profile information and you have to capture all the data manually."
The system is in place on a test basis on more than 600 computers spread across more than 40 different travel management companies, ranging in size and GDS preference.
The BookingBuilder database already includes AirTran and JetBlue Airways in the United States, CanJet and Jetsgo in Canada and such European low-cost carriers as EasyJet, Germanwings, Hapag-Lloyd and Ryanair.
The real coup was obtaining permission from Southwest, which is renowned for its strict and occasionally litigious actions to control product distribution.
"We have given them authorization to link to our Web site," confirmed Southwest corporate sales director Rob Brown. "We continue to focus on listening to customers, and they asked us for visibility in more places."
Brown specifically said BookingBuilder Technologies has been given clearance, which therefore also applies to its earlier and more limited Flight Integrator tool, specifically developed for Cendant Corp.'s Galileo to bring Southwest to Apollo users
(BTN, April 26, 2004). A spokesperson for Galileo declined to comment.
Southwest participates only in the Sabre GDS and only to a limited degree. Heretofore, agents connected to any other GDS were unable to automate Southwest reservations, forcing many companies to book directly through Swabiz. The idea of direct channels, however, makes some corporate buyers nervous for several reasons, not the least of which is the inherent elimination of comparison shopping. Now, Southwest fares and availability can be considered and booked in the agent environment without cumbersome, manual processes previously required, such as calling Southwest directly, manually completing Swabiz bookings or using the TRX Southwest Direct dial-up solution.
Perelman, who began developing interactive GDS software 15 years ago and founded Automated Travel Systems before selling it to GetThere in 2000, said manual travel agent transactions on supplier Web sites take at least twice as long as BookingBuilder-assisted transactions. "Our goal is to make it easier to book on those sites," he said.
BookingBuilder software routinely checks an updated database of city pairs flown by carriers not listed in GDSs. Since some GDS participants offer fares exclusive to their own sites—and others will have that choice when content-for-discount deals with GDSs expire—BookingBuilder also can link to those airlines' booking sites and corporate portals.
"There are reasons we'd prefer to book on the AirTran Web site," said Rebecca Martin, president of Memphis-based A&I Travel, a $40 million corporate agency beta testing the Worldspan version of BookingBuilder. "For example, they pay commissions through that channel."
Martin is one agency executive who praised the BookingBuilder interface for improving agents' point-of-sale productivity. "It is the prettiest little piece of software we have ever used," Martin said.
"We think it will be good for us and good for Southwest, because booking that airline previously was telephonic and a real pain," said Dan Boehm, president of Atlanta-area Boehm Travel, a $20 million corporate agency testing BookingBuilder on the Amadeus platform. "It delivers comprehensive fare searches, but the priority is gaining access to Southwest."
Amadeus soon will make the product available via site licenses to all connected agents. "It integrates completely with the Vista desktop," said Amadeus director of marketing Owen Wild.
Why did Southwest provide authorization now, after objecting to nearly every other attempt by an outside distributor to automatically search Southwest content? "Our reluctance has been because no one offered a proposal that allowed us to stay true to our low costs and control how our product is being distributed," Brown said. "This is okay because it is authorized within Swabiz."
In other words, BookingBuilder is not screen scraping nor displaying Southwest inventory in a channel outside Southwest's direct control. Brown added that Southwest would consider additional proposals that do not jeopardize its distribution philosophy.
"We took all of Southwest's needs and sensitivities into account to get the approval," Perelman said. "We are very excited and feel very honored to be the first. This system doesn't try to do too much, but what it does, it does well and seamlessly."
If it lives up to Southwest and BookingBuilder's expectations, it would bring even more users to Swabiz, which has seen tremendous growth since launching a few years ago. The airline said September Swabiz bookings rose 86 percent year over year, as it enrolled more companies of all sizes.
"There already has been an increase in our Southwest bookings. The prompting piece itself has been the most amazing aspect," said A&I's Martin. "Previously, we had to rely on agent knowledge about where Southwest flies since it is not listed in Worldspan."
Martin agreed that BookingBuilder's absence from corporate self-booking tools "would be a major source of frustration for big companies" that advocate such tools, "but this will keep them coming back to us to add value. It is ironic that this capability exists in the brick-and-mortar environment, but not in online booking tools."
BookingBuilder, however, does integrate traveler booking data from such supplier sites as Swabiz and automatically imports it into the GDS for tracking and reporting. Because those types of bookings—whether initiated by the traveler or the agent—occur outside of the GDS, the supplier in question would not charge users for passive segments. Therefore, aside from the transaction fee paid by clients to their agents, "this is an expense-neutral channel," said Andrew Menkes, president and CEO of Partnership Travel Consulting. "The agency productivity costs are lower to rebuild the PNR because the system is robotic, making it faster and accurate," he said. "It also gives agents more credibility because they can access inventory they could not previously access."
"We still feel that most efficiencies come from full distribution into the fare quote and that agents using live segments rather than passive ones still have the advantage," said Amadeus' Wild. "But this product makes the situation better than it had been and definitely is a step in the right direction."