[Editor's note: A previous version of this article contained
incorrect information about American Airlines' technology plans to
facilitate free preferred seating for corporate accounts. BTN regrets
the error. Article last updated 5/20/2016 at 5:15pm ET]
All those seats that frequent-flyers can access for
free—American Airlines plans to make them free to corporate customers.
American eastern sales division managing director Jim Carter
told BTN corporate customers will be able
to access preferred seats—those aisle, window and forward-cabin seats that are
upsold to layperson customers when they reach the seat-map page during the booking
process—at no cost. This nod to corporates does not extend to American's
Main Cabin Extra seats, which offer extra pitch and legroom and typically
occupy the first three or four rows of the main cabin.
According to American Airlines managing director of
distribution and data commercialization Cory Garner, the change is part of a
larger strategy of extending to all travelers access to American’s products and
services that have not been available in the GDS.
Corporate traveler access to preferred seating content will
be powered by the same technology that sits behind American’s SalesLink
website, a site that travel agencies have used for several years to access high-touch corporate services and benefits. Garner explains:
“It will be a standalone website separate from AA.com,
corporate online booking tools and SalesLink,” he said, “but it will borrow
from SalesLink technology on the backend to make the seat assignment
functionality available to individual travelers.”
Exactly how the separate website would link to the various channels
where individual corporate travelers book their tickets was not immediately
clear. Garner said that American plans to work with corporate accounts to
ensure they know where to find the website and how best to refer their travelers
to it once it is available this summer. He added that American's eventual goal is to be the first carrier to offer
free preferred seating to corporate accounts through its website and mobile app as well as through online booking tools and
GDS channels. The latter two, he said, would be powered by the
airline's New Distribution Capability technology, i.e. its direct-connect API.
That said, free preferred seating for corporates is a separate
initiative from the paid
seating initiatives currently underway with GDS providers via
American’s direct connect API. Garner said Sabre is up and running with that
connection, with Amadeus rolling out next and Travelport farther back in the
process. As far as American Airlines’ overall strategy, though, Garner said the
two initiatives are related.
“It’s all part of our effort to get more customized products
directly into the hands of our customers.”
Why American Is
Making Preferred Seats Free
Any passenger with status already could access preferred
seats for free, Carter acknowledged, but "it's startling how many
corporates don't have status," he said. And on American flights, those who
don't have frequent-flyer status and who don't buy preferred seats don't
receive a seat assignment until they check in, he said. Considering U.S. carriers'
global load factor has risen from 77.6 percent in 2005 to 83.8 percent in 2015
and American's has risen from 78.6 percent to 83.6 percent, according to the
U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, preferred seats may be the only way
for main-cabin corporate customers to avoid the dreaded middle seat.
Despite all those packed planes and thus no trouble selling
preferred seats, American claims simply to be giving corporates what already is
theirs. "The expectation from our [corporate] customers is that [preferred
seats] ought to be included in the seat assignment, and we agree," Carter
said.
Premium Economy Cabin
Update
Carter also told BTN
that American's Premium
Economy cabins for long-haul flights, which will debut on its upcoming Boeing
787-900s before appearing on other new aircraft and retrofits, "probably"
will begin to roll out in 2017. American originally planned to introduce the cabins
in late 2016.