<B> AA Interlines E-Tix</B>
<I>Links To Canadian Air Via Sabre Platform</I>
By Jay Campbell
<I>Ft. Worth, Texas</I> - Building on their common Sabre platforms, Oneworld partners American and Canadian Airlines last week became the first carriers in the airline industry to offer interlining and exchangeability for electronic tickets.
While certainly a breakthrough, the accomplishment excludes one fundamental need of corporate buyers--the capability to issue electronic interline tickets using computer reservations systems. American's Frank DiNuzzo, managing director of marketing performance, is hoping AA and Canadian can develop that functionality by the end of the year.
Part of the problem relates to the still paper-dependent settlement processes of the Airlines Reporting Corp. and other billing and settlement plans. However, ARC's efforts to facilitate interactive agency reporting and electronic exchanges and refunds will support the effort, DiNuzzo said.
He warned, however, that since airlines and CRSs are planning a programming freeze in late fall to prepare for the year 2000, further development both in CRS functionality and in interlining with other carriers could be delayed. He said AA actively is engaged in discussions with all four CRSs, but Sabre likely will be first.
"Not being available in the CRS is a severe limitation and will have to change rapidly if the airlines want e-ticketing to be widely used by managed travelers," said Douglas Fioresi, vice president of the western region for Management Alternatives Inc. of Stamford, Conn. Through May, electronic tickets processed by ARC accounted for 37.05 percent of total volume.
For those tickets purchased from either American's or Canadian's reservations lines, Web sites or airport/city ticket offices, the new capability allows travelers to use e-tickets when their itinerary includes travel on both carriers or on codeshare flights operated by either carrier, including the airlines' regional affiliates. The new capability also allows travelers to exchange an e-ticket issued by one carrier for one on the other carrier without having a paper ticket reissued.
"That's the real meaningful one, that exchangeability, and it's when two head-to-head competitors develop it that we'll have really big news," said Randy Malin, principal of Malin and Associates in Los Gatos, Calif. "But I commend them on this first step. The big one is to come, but every little step is important."
Indeed, DiNuzzo said this development will serve as the foundation for the same feature with other Oneworld alliance partners, although it likely will be next year before more partners come aboard. He added that American's separate project with United Airlines (<I>BTN,</I> May 18, 1998) may slow down during the busy summer and in the face of Y2K as the two carriers attempt to work out a number of issues. Yet to be settled are decisions about which transactions should be eligible, how far in advance of a flight the competitors' databases should be opened up to one another and how to protect proprietary information.
Christopher Frawley, Continental Airlines' director of electronic commerce, said those decisions are ironed out through "bilateral agreements between the airlines to allow each other to reach in to respective systems and grab tickets."
But, he added, developing interlining is at least as difficult as the original creation of e-ticketing because programmers have to create so many Edifact messages, written to the IATA standard developed last year (<I>BTN,</I> March 16, 1998).
Edifact (Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport) is the standard protocol for mainframe-to-mainframe communications that the new OpenTravel Alliance is attempting to replace with Internet computer languages such as XML (<I>BTN,</I> June 7).
"Once you've implemented the first, the rest are simple," said Frawley. "The bulk of the programming is a one-shot deal, and after that, hooking up each new airline with communications and testing is about 10 percent of the effort."
"I'd say that percentage is a bit low," said DiNuzzo. "But, yes, projects with each new airline will certainly have a far smaller scope than the launch project did."
Malin guessed that US Airways, which also uses the Sabre host system, might get there sooner with AA. DiNuzzo agreed that it would be simpler with US Airways than non-Sabre airlines, but the fact that US Airways has a different accounting system than AA presents complexities not there with Canadian, part of which is owned by AA parent AMR Corp.
"It was beneficial that we were both on Sabre," DiNuzzo said. "Our communication link was within the computer and we had similar protocols and accounting procedures because of our extensive relationship. But it's still a complex project from a technical standpoint, so we're thrilled to be the first in the industry to actually offer this capability with another carrier."
America West and Continental are targeting mid-September for their own e-ticket interlining implementation. Frawley said the carriers likely will offer the functionality in at least some of the four major CRSs at that time. United partner Air Canada, meanwhile, said it plans to offer e-ticket interlining by year-end but did not name the partner with which it is working.
"After September, we'll continue indefinitely until we have it with all the airlines, even the small ones," said Frawley, who noted Continental already is in discussions with other airlines beyond America West. He warned, though, that these developments will slow after November, when the CRSs and airlines enter the Year 2000 programming freeze. But DiNuzzo said a slew of announcements can be expected after February, when the airlines' comfort level with information systems rises again.
Although Continental and United spearheaded the initial development of e-ticketing for hub-and-spoke carriers, American last year became the first to offer e-ticketing throughout its worldwide system.
"When e-ticketing was invented, our research of Corporate America indicated that interlining was the major concern," said Ed Boyle, vice president of strategy in global supplier relations for American Express. "The airlines said this capability would be available within months, but those months have turned into years."
The development of e-ticket interlining, "while important, is well overdue," added Boyle, who was formerly Amex's director of electronic ticketing and smart card. "Not only that, but it doesn't change anything because you need a critical mass of probably the five major airlines working with each other.