<FONT SIZE="+3"><B>Inside Track</B>
10/28/96
<B>Another Cap Suit?</B>
Some corporate travel agencies might submit a plea to federal judge James Rosenbaum-who presides over the commission cap case (BTN, Sept. 9)-to assure that the settlement formula accounts for the fact that corporate agencies sell a greater share of tickets priced at $500 and up, and thus were hit harder by the $50 cap on those tickets. According to one analysis, the loss rate for corporate agencies was three times as great as for leisure-oriented agencies. Sources said if the final formula, due to be approved on Nov. 15, does not account for this disparity, another suit could be filed. The settlement is expected to cost airlines $87 million.
<B>Implementing Mantis</B>
BTI Americas and technology partner EDS are putting key pieces of their Mantis travel management architecture in place at the agency, and two corporate clients are beta testing their automated booking product.
BTI is switching to single back-end and mid-office systems throughout the agency, said president Ralph Manaker, and will begin implementing a common front end at as many of the company's six major reservations centers as it can by year-end. By the end of next year, the same front end-called Mantis POS-will be used at the agency's 30 or 40 other reservations sites and at client sites, "wherever it's economically beneficial," Manaker said. EDS is supporting the effort by providing the back-end processing and training all BTI employees on the new systems during a one-year process begun in August. A Sabre client and an Apollo client are the first to use the PC point-of-sale system for travelers and travel managers, Portico Travel Planner, linked with the new front, mid and back-office systems at BTI's Kansas City center.
Meanwhile, Manaker would neither confirm nor deny reports that BTI member Hogg Robinson is negotiating to buy BTI Americas, but acknowledged that the BTI's four principal participating agencies have been working on creating a single entity and establishing shared equity.
<B>IATA Coding System To Debut</B>
The International Air Transport Association will begin selling to airlines its client coding system-which tracks corporate business on tickets by assigning an eight-character code to each corporate customer location (BTN, Oct. 23, 1995)-following a final meeting of the client-code working group this month. Two-thirds of airlines surveyed said they were interested, although none of those included U.S. carriers. Those showing interest included British Airways, Japan Air Lines, KLM, Lufthansa, SAS and Swissair.
<B>IBM's Voice Recognition Entry</B>
At the recent International Air Transport Association conference, IBM demonstrated a prototype of voice recognition and reservations software that would use airline Websites to book air travel simply by speaking into a microphone. Although two airlines are interested in the product, no tests have yet begun.
IBM said the system offers 85 to 95 percent word accuracy and more than eight out of 10 requests understood.
<B>10 Buyers Fly United Booking disk</B>
United Airlines is gearing up to launch the corporate version of United Connection, its disk-based booking product. The airline said it now has 10 corporate customers and will be announcing a name change for the product.
<B>Lawsuits To Come On Hidden-City Tix</B>
Two lawsuits on hidden-city ticketing are in the works. The first, seeking $500 million on behalf of travelers, results from Northwest Airlines nabbing a passenger at the airport and charging him the full fare. The passenger turned out to be a lawyer. The second suit will be filed on behalf of travel agents, some of whom have been hit by airlines with debit memos amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.