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BTC Applauds American Airlines / Sabre Deal

RADNOR PA., September 1, 2006–The Business Travel Coalition (BTC) today applauded the agreement reached between industry leaders American Airlines and Sabre for full content distribution and protections against airline-imposed fees and channel discrimination for corporate travel managers (CTMs) and travel management companies (TMCs). In the end, each company listened to the concerns of its very best customers and acted responsibly in not letting next week begin a very punishing period for all industry stakeholders.

BTC wants to acknowledge 1) the hundreds of travel industry participants who stepped up and peer-reviewed a recent BTC white paper; 2) the 84 CTMs who went to senior management and secured approvals to be Signatories to a very direct letter to American Airlines’ CEO; and 3) the scores of CTMs and TMC executives who wrote directly to Sabre and American encouraging them to do the right thing. The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) likewise deserves enormous credit for engaging and leading on this issue for the benefit of its members and the industry.

BTC Chairman Kevin Mitchell stated, “The industry will likely be thankful for this deal and has much respect for both Sabre and American Airlines. The executives of these firms are visionaries, leaders, innovators, and obviously, risk takers! Perhaps there are lessons to be learned from this process that will inform the industry on other issues in the future. However, the first order of business now is to sort out the near-term implications of this just-achieved agreement for North American-based CTMs and TMCs and to look toward the longer-term implications for global airline, hotel and rental car distribution strategies, especially in Europe as distribution system reform is about to become a front-burner issue.”

To this end, Friday, September 8, on behalf of the Midwest Business Travel Association, BTC will lead a 2-hour educational session on distribution system reform in Chicago. This must-attend event will be broadcast live (audio & video) over the Internet for all industry participants’ benefit. There will be no charge to participate; the URL is http://powerlink.powerstream.net/002/00267/20060908MBTA/20060908MBTA.asx.