American Airlines' integration with SAP Concur TripLink is live, enabling corporate travel managers to capture the data of travelers who book directly on the airline's website. Announced in July 2016, the partnership went live this week for North America-based TripLink users, according to Concur. American is the third airline to go live with TripLink, following British Airways and United. Delta, Air Canada, Lufthansa and Eithad Airways have announced partnerships with TripLink, but those integrations have yet to go live.
Under the integration, TripLink customers can connect their AAdvantage numbers with their SAP Concur accounts. Then, when booking through the American Airlines website, they receive their company's negotiated rates. The system also sends the booking data to the traveler's SAP Concur Expense account, enabling corporate travel managers to see the booking and monitor for policy compliance.
New data from the GBTA Foundation shows that out-of-channel booking remains a significant issue for corporate travel managers, as 15 percent of air bookings are made outside a travel management company or online booking tool, according to a survey of U.S. travel buyers conducted by GBTA this year.