Continental and United to go with alternative GDS Farelogix

Farelogix Inc., a provider of independent faring and multi-source distribution technology to the global travel industry, recently announced it has signed a agreements or letters of intent with Continental Airlines and United Airlines, with Northwest in the final stages of discussions.

These new deals, travel agents using the Farelogix FLX Platform can bypass traditional Global Distribution Systems (GDS) and gain access to a broad base of airline inventory, at a lower cost to airlines.
 
“These direct connect agreements represent an important trend in the industry,” said Jim Davidson, President and CEO of Farelogix. “Airlines want to improve their competitive presence in the market, and the only way to do that is to have more flexibility and control over the distribution channel and the way their products are displayed. With the power of the FLX Platform, they can broaden their reach, save costs on distribution fees and compete more effectively on their own terms.”

The Farelogix FLX Platform is a low-cost distribution technology that aggregates content from all four major GDS’, and also provides direct connections to a wide range of airline, private and Internet fare sources to meet the needs of suppliers, travel agents, and travelers. Carriers that are making their inventory available via the FLX Platform can maintain control over their reservation systems while lowering their distribution costs and strengthening their customer relationships through market differentiation. Agents in turn gain access to privileged inventory that is not readily available on the GDS’. With a single dashboard view of available content, agents can also improve their booking and response times, and upsell products that generate incremental revenue.

“The Farelogix direct connection allows us to distribute our product to travel agencies and corporations at 10% of the current GDS costs. This kind of distribution model gives us the ability to provide third parties access to all our fares and inventory in a very economical manner,” said Scott Stachowiak, Senior Manager of Distribution Strategy at Continental. “Further, the use of an open source XML platform reflects the ongoing travel industry evolution away from inefficient, decades-old, technology and distribution systems.”

Al Lenza, Vice President of Distribution and E-commerce at Northwest Airlines said, “We look forward to our future participation in Farelogix’ product, which will allow us to offer a new electronic distribution alternative to travel agents and corporate accounts at lower costs to Northwest.”