Welcome to BTN's monthly roundup of business travel distribution and technology topics as discussed on social media channels. Insiders debated many topics in recent weeks.
AirPlus' Upcoming Exit from the Chinese Market
Jonathan Kao
Ole Hammer Mortensen, partner at AMM Consulting in Denmark, and independent consultant Martijn van der Voort, who also is the former CWT director of product delivery technology, each recommended a LinkedIn post by Jonathan Kao, BCD Travel managing director for North Asia, on payment player AirPlus' plans to pull out of the Chinese market, as well as other areas, by mid-2025 to focus on Europe and North America.
Kao wrote that this decision "sent shockwaves through the travel management world," and that it will have "significant implications for many multinational companies," as these companies and travel management professionals "have long relied on AirPlus's services for their business travel payment in China."
Choon Seng Ng
AirPlus notified clients in China that all refunds must be completed by June 30, Kao wrote. "Companies are now faced with the daunting task of finding alternative suppliers quickly." He then provides information about some of those alternatives, including Antu Jinxin (a subsidiary of Travelsky), Billink, Mastercard, American Express, and major banks in China, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICMC), China Construction Bank (CCB) and China Merchants Bank (CMB).
Choon Seng Ng, FCM Travel Asia's Asia commercial payment leader, also wrote about what's happening with AirPlus on LinkedIn.
Goutam Basu
Goutam Basu, manager at FCM Travel Solutions India, commented that he has worked with AirPlus for the past six years. "Their exit poses a major challenge, particularly when it comes to handling refunds. Since TMCs heavily rely on airlines to process refunds, it's crucial that airlines take a proactive role in resolving all pending cases before AirPlus completes its exit from the APAC region."
One Order Single Reference Number
Ann Cederhall
The International Air Transport Association's "One Order" standard promises a single reference number for all aspects of a traveler's air journey. Travel technology strategist Ann Cederhall questioned that promise. "What will the Order reference number look like?" she asked. "Will a booking made on Uber be 'translated' into the Order reference number?" She added that the order never dies, and the order number must be unique and cannot be recycled. Yet, "I have seen systems out there who have designed the Order reference in a way that it can come up again, making it error prone."
Herve Prezet
"Ultimately we should not worry about this, do you know your order reference when buying on Amazon?" wrote Herve Prezet, VP of platform and industry expertise at Amadeus. "We should move from order centric to passenger centric, the entry will be you, not any records."
Dirk-Vincent Gemke
Dirk-Vincent Gemke, who specializes in airline transformation and formerly worked for Air France-KLM, agreed that "the entry point should be the customer, who is unique with a Digital ID and Wallet to store, for example, Orders. So, all orders of Customers taken by the Retailer (using e.g. Mosaic) will have unique references that customers do not need to remember. But this unique reference to the customer order is the starting point for the real-time dialogue between the Retailer and the various Suppliers to order the various order-items/services that the customer searched for with the Retailer. …"
AI and Travel Search
John Morhous
Flight Centre Travel Group chief experience officer John Morhous posited on LinkedIn that "AI hasn't yet changed the fundamentals of how we search and book travel. Even for a frequent business traveler like me, there's something about the thrill of the search." He added a poll that asked if respondents wanted AI to take on travel search. The results of the 51 votes were nearly evenly split, with "No, I love the rush" at 49 percent and "Agents or AI can do it for me" at 51 percent.
"This poll requires demographic insight of the responders. ... New generations will know no better, and speaking from my own perspective, I couldn't care less if it is a human or an AI agent servicing me, as long as it is quality service," commented Martijn van der Voort. "As for the booking aspect, right now, it's pretty tedious, especially corporate online booking tools. No matter what they tell you, they all are more or less the same, no 'travel evolution project' or innovation-washing will change that."
James Dent
"Surely it depends how frequently you travel for work," replied James Dent, co-founder and CCO of ForgeAI. "If your company has 2 main offices and you travel every month for meetings and you take the same flight at the same time, get on the same train journey, get the same taxi ride. I want this automated into my calendar as soon as the meeting is arranged. If I’m travelling somewhere new for a conference, a different story. We built an agentic solution with a diary integration that solves the first use case. Everything can do done in the calendar."
Greg Apple
"I appreciate your point about 'enjoying the search.' But I also think the search process can be improved," wrote Greg Apple, CEO at Amgine. "If we think about Google Maps as an example, where we’re all led to choose from pre-selected routes for our trips, this is where I think AI can help us. Think about how much better the search experience would be if the traveler was presented with curated options based on their preferences and their previous trip history. They could pick from one of these or if they wanted to continue shopping, they would have the control and flexibility to do so. I think this combination of curation and shopping is something travelers might embrace."