<B> Inside Track</B>
<B>Airlines Creating New Language...</B>
An ad hoc group that includes members of the Air Transport Association's Electronic Marketplace Committee and hotel, car and other vendors, has begun developing a new communications protocol for the travel industry. The goal of the Open Travel Initiative is to replace the standard Edifact protocol for mainframe-to-mainframe communications with a simpler one that embraces Internet computer languages, such as XML. Organizers want writing an application to interface with a reservation system to be as simple as writing a sentence. This would greatly enhance communications between any airline, hotel, car rental, corporation or agency. Work began more than a year ago, but the group likely will take another year to decide on the language and draft a common industry dictionary that would be used to write any applications. "It's a concept much like when the banks solved the issue of how to use any ATM for any bank account," said Al Lenza, vice president of distribution planning for Northwest Airlines. "If you're going to bypass the CRS and you're booking one airline, this is the common language that would tie it all together."
<a name="2"><B>...Pressing Penalties In Negotiations</B>
Some airlines are considering financial penalties for corporations that fail to meet contractual performance goals. Said one travel manager, Delta and United have been asking travel agencies whether they think corporate clients would go for the idea. Without naming names, Dan Tappan, director of consulting services for American Express, confirmed that he had seen such attempts "on a couple of occasions, and never really before this year. It's simply a function of the continued seller's market. We're advising our clients to resist such penalties." As many as half of corporate clients do not fulfill their goals in air contracts (<I>BTN,</I> June 23, 1997).
<a name="3"><B>DOJ Puts Mastercard, VISA on Hot Seat</B>
The U.S. Department of Justice last week sued MasterCard and Visa, contending that they stifle competition and innovations. In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan, DOJ said the bank associations collaborated to block competitors to the detriment of consumers, and that their actions delayed U.S. smart card deployment for more than a decade. The suit states that the associations, which jointly account for 75 percent of credit and charge card spend in the United States, are essentially owned by the same large banks. One way they block competition, the government said, is with rules that prohibit banks that issue their cards from also issuing other brands. The associations deny the charges, arguing that competition has never been more intense.
<a name="4"><B>ACTE To Serve As EC Sounding Board</B>
Philips Electronics' director of worldwide corporate travel Herman Mensink will soon meet with Frederik Sorensen, head of the European Commission's air transport policy unit, to define a new relationship in which the Association of Corporate Travel Executives would serve as an international business travel industry sounding board for the EC. Mensink is a member of ACTE's Board of Governors.
<a name="5"><B>Marriott To Educate Agents</B>
Marriott International late last week announced a $2 million agency certification program to increase industry-wide hotel bookings through travel agencies. Marriott expects within a year to graduate 50,000 agents and earn back its investment through increased bookings.
<a name="6"><B>House Bill Seeks Override Disclosure</B>
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) last week introduced legislation seeking to require airlines to disclose information about travel agent overrides, code sharing arrangements, frequent flyer statistics and Internet air fares. But with Congress scheduled to adjourn shortly, it is unlikely any action will be taken on the proposed bill this year.