Travel Blog
The latest news and notes from the Travel team
What do Air France-KLM travelers get with Affinity Search?
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The best airfare deals across their combined global network, instantly!
Affinity Search uses ITA Software’s pricing and shopping technology to let travelers search the AFKL global network for the best deals. Results immediately display the lowest price for each destination with an intuitive Google Maps solution. It also includes filters that make it easy for travelers to select flights based on price, dates, duration and more.
When travelers select a point of departure, the new feature instantly returns prices to AFKL destinations worldwide for travel during a period of up to 180 days from the departure date. The traveler can then explore the results returned and complete a booking in a few simple steps.
Martijn van der Zee, SVP of eCommerce, AFKL said they selected ITA to develop Affinity Search because, “We knew they were the best partner for the job. We’ll be able to give our travelers useful features with ITA’s technology and we like their commitment to solving difficult airfare search problems.”
A global leader in air travel and Europe’s largest airline, AFKL has long been focused on driving value for their customers. They soft launched Affinity Search on
airfrance.com
for the Austrian, Finnish, Greek, Italian, Spanish and UK markets, and on
klm.com
for Finland, Greece and Austria. Now, they are progressively extending the functionality to their other country websites.
We can’t wait to see what AFKL does next.
To learn more about ITA, visit
www.itasoftware.com
.
Posted by Nicola Simionato, Head of Account Management, EMEA
Club Premier uses QPX to launch new frequent flyer programs
Monday, March 19, 2012
Mexico’s leading coalition loyalty program and the operator of Aeroméxico’s frequent flyer program, Club Premier, recently launched a completely new website,
www.clubpremier.com
that allows Club Premier members to redeem awards online. Powered by our QPX™ pricing and shopping engine, the new website makes it much easier for members to shop and redeem kilometers for Aeroméxico flights.
As part of the launch, Club Premier introduced two ways for members to use their awards -- using Classic Awards or Always Awards. The Classic Award program offers members the best value for their kilometers. This program uses traditional, fixed mileage awards based on limited availability. As you can see in the example below, Classic Awards are only available for the top two flights traveling from Mexico City to Cancun:
However, the Always Awards program is more flexible. Always Awards point requirements are based on the current availability and price of tickets, but are always available for redemption. This means if a Classic Award is sold out, Club Premier members can still book an Aeroméxico award seat with their Always Awards. This is great for popular routes that sell out quickly.
Using the same example where a traveler wants to go from Mexico City to Cancun, you can see they now have access to all Aeroméxico flights, even those that were previously unavailable using their Classic Award kilometers.
“We’ve been very happy with the product and the people who helped us implement QPX. It was a pleasure working with them” said Jeremy Rabe, CEO, Director General, Club Premier, Aeroméxico. “And, because of the new functionality, our Club Premier members will get even more flexibility and value for their loyalty.”
We’re really pleased to have Club Premier as part of the ITA Software by Google family. We look forward to seeing what comes next.
Posted by Mike Mo, Sales and Business Development Manager
Find flights to destinations worldwide
Thursday, March 15, 2012
(Cross-posted on the
Google Inside Search blog
)
If you’re in the U.S. and thinking of hitting the slopes in the Swiss Alps or heading to Sydney for a getaway, you can now use
Flight Search
to find and book a flight quickly and easily.
Since we
launched
Flight Search, we’ve heard from many globetrotters eager to use the feature to search for destinations outside the U.S. Starting today, you can find flights, including international destinations, from the U.S. quickly and conveniently.
As you consider vacation possibilities, maybe you’d like to go to Australia but are flexible to fly into either Sydney or Perth based on whichever fare is more affordable. A quick click over each city on the map will show the different options available to you almost instantly -- and click the chart next to the dates to show alternative dates so you can make the best choice for your trip.
Likewise, if you’re looking to hop over to Europe for a weekend from New York City and are flexible with your departure and arrival airports, you can see the options for your gateway. We hope you have fun with our latest update to Flight Search.
At this stage we've included more than 500 airports outside the U.S. If your ideal destination isn't yet available, we're working hard on expanding our global coverage and adding more routes in the future. Our goal is to make booking travel as fast and enjoyable as possible.
Posted by Eric Zimmerman, Product Manager
Cape Air takes off with ITA Software’s new airline reservation system
Thursday, March 01, 2012
We’ve long been focused on making travel planning easier and faster for travelers, and helping airlines and travel companies deliver great travel experiences. We started with airfare shopping; today we’re pleased to introduce our new
airline platform
.
Cape Air
, one of the largest independent regional airlines in the U.S.,
launched our new airline platform
this past weekend. Dan Wolf, the CEO of Cape Air, said “It has been about the smoothest technology rollout as I have ever seen. It went so smoothly in fact most customers probably didn’t notice.”
The platform contains software required to run a passenger airline, including a reservation system, inventory control system, departure control system, and more.
We’ve built this system from scratch using modern, modular, scalable technologies. The system’s modern user interfaces make it easy to learn and use. The system’s modern, comprehensive database lets airlines offer customers more personal attention. The modular technology makes it easier to change the system as airline needs change. The system is built to scale to support airlines of all sizes.
The new websites for
capeair.com
and
nantucketairlines.com
enable Cape Air customers to quickly find and book the most relevant flights, and manage changes to their reservations.
We’ve worked to develop a system that is very easy to learn and use, and we’re pleased that Cape Air was able to train its reservations and airport agents in only two days.
Dan Wolf said “Our employees love the system, and we think our passengers will find the way they search, book and travel to be faster, easier and more personal. We’re also excited about our partnership with ITA Software by Google. We will have even more innovative and visionary things coming in 2012.”
In conjunction with this launch, Cape Air also rolled out a
Google+ Page
for its business to promote deals, hang out with customers, announce new products, services, and routes -- and build relationships with a greater number of people.
The system that Cape Air used until last week was first launched 48 years ago. Thank you to the hundreds of people from ITA Software/Google and Cape Air whose dedication and hard work have helped us launch Cape Air into the future.
Posted by Jeremy Wertheimer, Vice President, Travel
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