With the European Commission soliciting comments through April 27 about several aspects of global distribution system regulations, including data privacy, the question of how so-called MIDT booking data is used was a popular topic during a discussion here last week with industry executives.
In particular, EC has asked the industry whether provisions forcing GDS firms to "make the data from Marketing Information Data Tapes (MIDT) available to groups of airlines and subscribers" are "still pertinent in the present market context. EC also asked whether "travel agents' identity" should "no longer be revealed in the MIDT."
Asked about these topics at this week's first-ever National Business Travel Association Business Travel Financial Forum, executives representing an airline, a GDS firm and a travel management company offered a few specifics.
When asked how his company's GDS firm passes data to airlines without identifying which corporate client made which bookings, Sabre Holdings chairman, president and CEO Sam Gilliland said, "We scramble the data. It's difficult for an airline to know specifically what corporation it is."
While acknowledging that there may not be provisions in Sabre's contracts with corporate clients that limit the "amount and types of MIDT data shared with airlines," Gilliland said, "Certainly in many of the contracts with corporations and travel agencies, there are provisions around protection of customer data. It's not in all contracts. It's in many."
Obviously a certain amount of data already is passed to airlines, hotels, third parties and other firms in order to service travelers. "I'm sorry, we have no record of your reservation," joked Continental Airlines president Jeffery Smisek, mocking a service agent breaking some of the worst news a traveler can hear.
Beyond the requirements of service, though, MIDT booking data is aggregated and sold to airlines as a legacy of regulations in the United States and elsewhere. Because GDS firms in the U.S. were completely or majority-owned by certain airlines, regulators insisted that any booking data provided to those owners also be supplied to non-owning airlines. Before it deregulated most aspects of GDS operations in 2004, the Department of Transportation considered restricting the sale of MIDT information. Ultimately, rules related to data sales were simply eliminated as DOT promised to watch for anticompetitive behavior.
Carriers traditionally use the information for route planning and marketing programs, but they have also been accused of "poaching" or identifying lucrative bookings on competing carriers and making offers to get those travelers to switch. Sabre's "scrambling" began in 2002 largely to address poaching.
"I'm impressed by the information in MIDT," said Carlson Wagonlit Travel CEO Hubert Joly. "There are very few industries where each competitor has as much information about all of the activities of each of its competitors. I understand there's a need and value for it ... but it raises competitive issues and privacy issues, as well. It raises the question of pricing and how you make that information available to smaller airlines. And one issue that we as a TMC are sensitive to is the issue of who the booking agent was. We can see how an airline could potentially abuse having that information. Inasmuch as there's a need for airlines to have access to this information, probably it should be the minimum necessary."
Asked the more general, age-old question of who owns data, Sabre's Gilliland said, "You get into an awful lot of trouble when you try to assert ownership of data. We are a custodian of the data on behalf of a corporation or travel agency. It's not our intent to assert any ownership of it."
Joly noted that he is not a lawyer and said, "My understanding is that the data of the bookings belongs to the customers. We may be working with that data to help the customers, but the customers own it." Smisek, who is a lawyer, said, "Ownership of the data and the terms under which we can use the data are set forth on our Web site. The one thing I do know is we own the inventory."
Smisek also noted that he is "comfortable" with the level of passenger detail now being passed to federal authorities by airlines. "There are legitimate concerns about data privacy," he said. "Certainly post-Sept. 11, there was a certain looseness of data. People have been more thoughtful over time, and I don't see data right now that we share with the government that gives me any problems."
Related resources:
Information on the European Commission's review of GDS regulations